Coming off the panel “Soon 9.6 billion: Addressing the challenges of population growth” at last week’s Convergences World Forum in Paris, Joe Cerrell, head of donor government relations at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was awed by his co-panelists, one in particular.
“Jean-Michel Severino — I always feel honored to be in his company,” Cerrell said of the former director of the French Development Agency. Severino was an early pioneer in convening private and public players in development — something Cerrell thinks a lot about these days.
Cerrell’s job is to build the foundation's relationships with donor governments in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. He is trying to go further, expanding the foundation’s work with corporations, other foundations and nongovernmental organizations to support the organization’s work on global health and agriculture. A former adviser to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in Clinton administration, Cerrell is relaxed and off-the-cuff, quick to praise the work of colleagues and new acquaintances alike.
About the author
Molly Andersmollyanders_dev
Molly Anders is a former U.K. correspondent for Devex. Based in London, she reports on development finance trends with a focus on British and European institutions. She is especially interested in evidence-based development and women’s economic empowerment, as well as innovative financing for the protection of migrants and refugees. Molly is a former Fulbright Scholar and studied Arabic in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco.
