Who's who in #globaldev: March 2020 executive appointments

Council on Foreign Relations Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is joining the Council on Foreign Relations as a senior fellow for global health. He will be contributing to the work of CFR’s newly launched Think Global Health page. Frieden is currently president and CEO at Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative under Vital Strategies that focuses on preventing epidemics and saving lives from cardiovascular disease. He was the first director of international health programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Marie Yovanovitch is now a senior fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Yovanovitch is a multi-awarded American diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Armenia, and the Kyrgyz Republic. United Nations Marianne Gasser is the new head of the Damascus office of the U.N. special envoy for Syria. Gasser was most recently head of the International Committee of the Red Cross’ delegation in Libya. She worked with the ICRC for over three decades. Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Philippe Lazzarini of Switzerland as the new commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Prior to the role, Lazzarini has served in senior roles in the U.N. system, as well as in ICRC. The U.N. Human Rights Council also appointed Mary Lawlor as U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. Lawlor is a human rights advocate who founded Front Line Defenders, an Irish-based human rights organization. Australia Dr. Stephanie Williams is Australia’s new ambassador for regional health security, succeeding Peter Versegi. One of Williams’ tasks is to help guide the implementation of the country’s 300 million Australian dollars ($183.8 million) health security initiative in the Indo-Pacific region. Williams, a public health physician, was previously a senior officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. URC Earl Gast is the new president at the University Research Co., LLC, a global company focused on health care and social services. He joins URC from Creative Associates, where he was executive vice president for programs. Gast worked for over two decades in the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he served in different capacities, including as assistant administrator for USAID’s Africa Bureau. Save the Children Eric Howell, former CFO at Chemonics International, is the new COO at Save the Children U.S. He will be joined by Greg Ferrante, a former executive at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in April as the organization’s new CFO. “Both Eric and Greg bring extensive experience in financial and operational strategy, and we look forward to their contributions as we adapt our ways of working to be more agile and impactful in an increasingly changing world,” said Janti Soeripto, Save the Children president and CEO, in a news release. Bread for the World Christian charity Bread for the World has a new president. The Rev. Eugene Cho, who founded the grassroots movement One Day’s Wages, officially assumes the role in July. Canada Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed Bob Rae, his former special envoy to Myanmar, as the country’s new special envoy for humanitarian and refugee issues. In this role, Rae is expected to continue the work he started in resolving the Rohingya crisis, while working with the international community to address other humanitarian issues. Farm Africa Farm Africa has a new chief executive: Dan Collison, currently director of programs and advocacy at U.K.-based NGO War Child. Collison will join Farm Africa in May, succeeding interim CEO Mike Saxton, who leaves the organization at the end of March to join the Clean Air Fund as chief operating officer.