Transitions at global development's top posts

Last November, the new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker started office. Christos Stylianides took the helm from Kristalina Georgieva — now the vice president for budget and human resources — as commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, while Neven Mimica became commissioner for international cooperation and development. This month, Rajiv Shah is expected to vacate his post as U.S. Agency for International Development administrator. Deputy Administrator Alfonso Lenhardt will serve as acting administrator until a permanent replacement is nominated and confirmed. Nancy Lindborg has also left as USAID assistant administrator to serve as president of the U.S. Institute for Peace. Next month, Valerie Amos will leave the top post at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Below are other major appointments across the international development community over the past few months. Abt Associates Jack Downey was named Abt Associates’ senior vice president for business development and new market initiatives last December. Before he joined Abt Associates, Downey worked at the Academy for Educational Development, where he reached the position of senior vice president and chief operating officer. He started his career in international development as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1975 to 1978. Counterpart International Derek Hodkey was named Counterpart International’s chief operating officer last October. Hodkey was previously the executive director of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative’s research and development, where he oversaw operations in the United States, Europe, Africa and India. He also brings private sector experience from Cambridge Healthtech Associates, Inc., Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Merck & Co. Engagement Global – Service for Development Initiatives Jens Kreuter was announced as the new managing director last November. Kreuter has held senior positions at the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Seniors Citizens, Women and Youth, a cabinet-level ministry of Germany. He also brings extensive experience in public sector cooperation with civil society organizations to Engagement Global – Service for Development Initiatives. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Formerly the regional vice president for South Asia at the World Bank, Philippe Le Houérou took up his new position as vice president for policy at EBRD last month. Le Houérou spent 27 years at the World Bank, where he started as part of the Young Professionals Program in 1987. Reporting directly to the EBRD president, he is also a member of the bank’s executive committee. Ford Foundation John Bernstein was announced as Ford Foundation’s new chief operating officer last November. Bernstein served as the founding president and chief financial officer of the Leon Levy Foundation, an organization dedicated to arts and humanities, human rights and civil liberties, and neuroscience research. Last month, he was elected trustee of the Leon Levy Foundation. Francisco Cigarroa was appointed member of the board of trustees. Cigarroa was previously the chancellor of the University of Texas System, where, as a Mexican-American, he became the first Hispanic to lead a large university system in the United States. In 2011, he was appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama to serve as a commissioner on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. Alfred Ironside is now the foundation’s vice president for global communications. Since 2006, Ironside worked as its director of communications. Before joining the group, he worked as chief of global media relations at UNICEF. Kenneth Monteiro was appointed vice president, secretary of the board and general counsel of the foundation last September. Monteiro, who joined Ford Foundation in 1995 as resident counsel, previously served as assistant secretary and deputy general counsel. Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Mouhamadou Diagne, currently the director of strategy and operations at the World Bank Group’s internal audit, was appointed the Global Fund’s inspector general last December. Diagne, who is fluent in French, English and Wolof, has also worked for Deloitte, Andersen and Ernst & Young. He will start his new position in March. International Relief and Development Roger Michael Ervin became president and CEO of IRD last December. Ervin has held executive positions at the Department of State, the Foreign Commercial Service and the African Development Bank. Before joining IRD, he was part of the executive team of nonprofit government consulting firm LMI. International Union for Conservation of Nature Previously the vice president for Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank, Inger Andersen began her new role as IUCN director general last month. Andersen started her career working on desertification issues in Sudan. She also served as the Arab region coordinator for the United Nations Development Program, a position she held until she joined the World Bank in 1999. Save the Children Robert Clay, formerly the deputy assistant administrator at USAID’s Bureau for Global Health, became Save the Children’s vice president for health and nutrition last November. He spent over three decades with USAID, where he received the agency’s Distinguished Career Service Award in 2013. Last year, he also received the Lifetime Achievement Award, U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. United Nations U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed David Nabarro as the special envoy on Ebola last August. A month after, Nabarro spoke with Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar about how the Ebola crisis is making families in the affected countries poorer — whether or not they are directly affected by the disease. Meanwhile, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed succeeds Anthony Banbury as special representative and head of the U.N. Mission for Ebola Emergency Response. Ahmed has over 28 years of development and humanitarian experience with the United Nations in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Oscar Fernandez-Taranco succeeds Judy Cheng-Hopkins as assistant secretary-general for peacebuilding support. Previously, Fernandez-Taranco was assistant secretary-general for political affairs. He also served as UNDP representative in Tanzania. Carole Wainaina, who has been appointed assistant secretary-general for human resources management, replaced Catherine Pollard, who now assumes the role of assistant secretary-general for general assembly and conference management. Wainaina has over two decades of leadership experience at the national and international as well as corporate and non-profit spheres. U.N. Environment Program Former E.U. Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potočnik became co-chair of the International Resource Panel, a scientific forum for scientists and experts involved in natural resource management. Potočnik has worked on policies that strike a balance between conserving natural heritage and pursuing growth opportunities. At UNEP, he succeeds Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, a German scientist and politician. U.K. Department for International Development Lindsay Patricia Northover, a Liberal Democrat British politician, became DfID’s parliamentary undersecretary of state for international development last November. Northover has most recently served as a vice chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV/AIDS, vice chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Aid, Debt and Trade, and secretary of the All Party Group on Overseas Development. U.S. Mission to the United Nations Obama has announced his intent to nominate Isobel Coleman for U.S. representative for U.N. management and reform. Coleman has been a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations since 2002. Her experience includes working at NursingHands, Inc., where she served as its founder and CEO, and McKinsey & Company, where she first became an associate, and later, a consultant. U.S. State Department Antony Blinken was recently confirmed as the deputy secretary of state. Blinken has served as national security advisor to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and senior director for European affairs at the National Security Council during former President Bill Clinton’s administration. Within the White House, he is also known as a key influencer on foreign policy issues, especially Syria. Wellcome Trust Tim Livett was named Wellcome Trust’s chief financial officer last December. Livett has previously worked as CFO at Virgin Atlantic, where he held the position since 2004. Meanwhile, Ted Smith was appointed director of people and development. Smith was previously group HR director at the Medical Research Council. Women Thrive Worldwide Patricia Morris joined Women Thrive as its president last month. A gender mainstreaming expert, Morris has worked in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. She has previously worked at Development and Training Services, Inc., where she managed a wide-ranging portfolio of social and economic development projects. World Bank Replacing Le Houérou as the World Bank’s vice president for South Asia is Annette Dixon, who was previously the World Bank’s country director for Southeast Asia. Dixon was also sector director for human development and strategy for Europe and Central Asia and director of strategic planning in the Budget, Performance Review and the Strategic Planning Vice Presidency. Meanwhile, replacing Andersen as vice president for the Middle East and North Africa is Hafez Ghanem, who has worked at the World Bank for 24 years. In 2000, he became country director for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles, and in 2004, he became country director for Nigeria. Check out more insights and analysis for global development leaders like you, and sign up as an Executive Member to receive the information you need for your organization to thrive.