Global Fund Hits Reset On Executive Director Search 28/02/2017 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is deliberating on how to start over on its search for a new executive director after questions arose near the end of the process. Global Fund Board meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel today The decision to reopen the search at the Geneva-based international health financing institution came at the Global Fund Board meeting yesterday at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, according to a Fund press release. The meeting is continuing today. [Update: a decision on the procedure for restarting the selection process was not reached at this week’s meeting, according to a Global Fund spokesperson.] “Due to issues encountered in the recruitment process, the Board felt they were unable to bring the process to conclusion. While expressing its complete support for the work of the Nominations Committee, the Board decided to restart the process,” the release said. “The Board’s overarching priority is to continue looking for a new Executive Director to provide visionary leadership and implement an ambitious new strategy to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics,” it added. It was unclear at press time why the two remaining candidates did not represent visionary leadership and an ambitious new strategy. Outgoing Executive Director Mark Dybul of the United States announced over two years ago that he would step down in May 2017 at the end of his four-year term. But the Global Fund Board only announced the opening of the search in November 2016, when it established a nomination committee. The Board is meeting from 27-28 February. Global Fund press officer Seth Faison told Intellectual Property Watch today that “The Board is considering various options on restarting the process.” He said they will provide more information when it is available. The selection process for this time was spelled out on the Global Fund website here. According to the November Board meeting press release, the 2016 Executive Director Nomination Committee was chaired by Jan Paehler, the vice-chair of the Board’s Ethics and Governance Committee. “It includes six other members from the Board, as well as two independent members. The members from the Board are: Amy Baker, Michèle Boccoz, Sarah Boulton, Hristijan Jankuloski, Vinand Nantulya, and Filipe da Costa. The two independent members, Eric Goosby and Mphu Ramatlapeng, are both former Board members,” it said. Heading into this week’s meeting, there were three finalists for the post: Muhammad Ali Pate, former health minister of Nigeria; Subhanu Saxena, former chief executive of Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla and former executive at Novartis; and Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and former New Zealand prime minister. Questions about the process arose earlier this month, as reported in the New York Times. Clark reportedly withdrew at the start of this week’s meeting, and concerns were raised again about Pate having retweeted some negative tweets about now-US President Donald Trump. Pate has reportedly declared he will not be a candidate the next time around and raised questions about anti-Muslim bias. According to reports, the United States is the source of about one-third of Global Fund funding. IP-Watch reported indepth on the 2012 selection process that led to Dybul’s appointment, coming after the previous director, Michel Kazatchkine, resigned under pressure (IPW, Public Health, 15 October 2012). Separately, the Global Fund is also searching for a General Counsel and a Chief Financial Officer, according to the job posting website it uses. The full Global Fund press release is reprinted below: Global Fund Board to Continue Search for Executive Director 27 February 2017 The Board of the Global Fund announced today that it will continue to search for a new Executive Director. “The Board is committed to a process that adheres to the highest possible standards, and is fair, transparent, merit-based, and conducted with due diligence and professionalism,” said Norbert Hauser, the Chair of the Board. The Board convened in Geneva on 27 February to review finalists recommended by the Board’s Nominations Committee. Due to issues encountered in the recruitment process, the Board felt they were unable to bring the process to conclusion. While expressing its complete support for the work of the Nominations Committee, the Board decided to restart the process. The Board’s overarching priority is to continue looking for a new Executive Director to provide visionary leadership and implement an ambitious new strategy to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics. More information will be provided as soon as possible. Image Credits: William New Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Related William New may be reached at wnew@ip-watch.ch."Global Fund Hits Reset On Executive Director Search" by Intellectual Property Watch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
[…] over on its search for a new executive director after questions arose near the end of the process. Go to Source Author: William […] Reply
[…] A week later—on the day that the Board had planned to announce who the new Executive Director would be—we got an announcement that the process would be reopened. What exactly that new process will look like is entirely unclear at this point. […] Reply
[…] It has been unclear why the final two candidates for the executive director post were not acceptable to the secretive organisation’s Board, but speculation has suggested concerns about angering US President Trump (IPW, Public Health, 28 February 2017). […] Reply
[…] The announcement comes some eight months after restarting the search process for a new executive director. The Fund had hit the reset button on the director search last February after unnamed issues arose with the recruiting process, it said (IPW, Public Health, 28 February 2017). […] Reply