Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced the appointment of a new board of trustees—including members from outside the Gates and Buffett families—to provide additional input, strategic guidance, and fiduciary oversight to the foundation.
The new members include; Strive Masiyiwa, Minouche Shafik and Tom Tierney.
In a statement by Mark Suzman CEO, Board Member, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said the appointment is in part, a response to the sad death in late 2020 of Bill Gates Sr., Bill’s father, an honorary co-chair, and a long-time guiding voice at the foundation, as well as the decision by Warren Buffett last year to step down after nearly 15 years of service as a Trustee.
“But it also represents an explicit recognition by Bill and Melinda, especially in the wake of their divorce, that the foundation will be well served by the addition of strong, independent voices to help shape our governance.”
“We are honored that as an initial step three deeply knowledgeable and respected individuals have agreed to join us,” said Suzman, adding that, they will bring diverse perspectives and expertise that will help to ensure the future stability and impact of the foundation.”
He says the appointees bring an incredible track record of impact across global business, philanthropy, and development, and “we couldn’t be more excited to have them join the board.”
Suzman says that the COVID-19 pandemic has been both a profound shock and a clarion call to action to support the countries and communities that have been hardest hit.
He adds that in addition to its direct impact measured in millions of lives lost, the pandemic has slowed, halted, and even reversed hard-won gains in global health and development.
“After nearly two decades of unprecedented progress, we have seen tens of millions of people thrown back into poverty, childhood vaccination rates drop, and diseases from malaria to tuberculosis resurge. All of this has been exacerbated by climate change, which has been especially hard for the rural poor who depend on agriculture for food and income. And in the United States, we’ve seen massive setbacks in education due to the pandemic, with the impact falling hardest on Black, Latino, and low-income students.”
“Meanwhile, income and wealth inequalities continue to grow, and this has contributed to increased scrutiny of the very wealthy and skepticism about the motives and role of philanthropy,” he said.
“At a time of such profound challenges, we must ask ourselves: What is the role and value of a foundation like ours relative to governments, the private sector, and civil society around the world? How should we be measured and evaluated? How can we better hold ourselves accountable and make sure our contribution is additive and complementary to that of others?”
About the appointees
Strive Masiyiwa – Board Member
He is a Zimbabwean based in London and an international business leader. He has served on the foundation’s board of trustees since January 2022.
I&M Bank launches IMBRISK to facilitate cross-border banking across East AfricaMasiyiwa is the Founder and Executive Chairman of South Africa-based Econet Group and Cassava Technologies and is one of the pioneers of the mobile telecoms industry on the African continent. He has also been involved in the development of Africa’s independent media.
In May 2020, Masiyiwa was appointed to serve as an African Union Special Envoy to help coordinate Africa’s private sector efforts to procure medical supplies and fight the spread of COVID-19. As Special Envoy he also heads up the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team. He led a similar private sector initiative to fight Ebola in West Africa in 2014-2015.
He is a member of the Giving Pledge. In 1996, he and his wife, Tsitsi, cofounded what is now known as the Higherlife Foundation which has supported the education of over 250,000 orphaned, vulnerable, and gifted children across Africa, as well as health, disaster relief and preparedness, and rural transformation programs.
Masiyiwa holds a Bachelor of engineering degree from the University of Cardiff.
Minouche Shafik – Board Member
Shafik is a leading economist, whose career spans public policy and academia. She has served on the foundation’s board of trustees since January 2022.
She is the Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science, appointed to that position in September 2017. Her past positions include the youngest ever Vice President of the World Bank—at 36—the Permanent Secretary of the UK Department for International Development, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, where she sat on all the monetary, financial and prudential policy committees and was responsible for a balance sheet of over £500 billion.
Shafik has authored, edited, and co-authored a number of books and articles. Her book What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract—a rethinking of how we can better support each other to thrive—was published in 2021.
She completed her BA at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, her MSc at LSE and her DPhil at the University of Oxford.
Tom Tierney -Board Member
Co-founded The Bridgespan Group, Tom Tierney is an independent global non-profit focused on helping philanthropists and non-profit leaders achieve breakthrough results. Over two decades, his leadership has nurtured Bridgespan’s growth and innovation. He is a recognized thought leader in philanthropy, having collaborated with a wide range of grantmakers on issues ranging from strategy to organization. His aspiration is to help increase the flow and effectiveness of philanthropy in ways that reduce inequities. He has served on the foundation’s board of trustees since January 2022.
Prior to launching Bridgespan, Tom served as Bain & Company’s worldwide managing partner, where he successfully led the firm through an aggressive phase of innovation and global expansion. A co-author of two highly respected books, Aligning the Stars, and Give Smart: Philanthropy That Gets Results, he has also advised, served on and/or led numerous boards. Most recently he served as chair of The Nature Conservancy, eBay, and Stanford’s Hoover Institution. He is the longstanding chair of the Harvard Business School’s Social Enterprise Initiative and he co-chairs Bridgespan’s board. Tom was the fifth person to hold the class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership at West Point. In 2016, he was the recipient of HBS’s Alumni Achievement Award.
