The Global Fund Board has appointed Simon Bland as Chair for the remainder of the term previously held by Martin Dinham, who resigned on 16 August 2011 for health reasons. Thus, Bland will serve as Chair until the end of the first Board meeting in 2013. The appointment was made on 19 October 2011. Bland was nominated by the donor country bloc, and then confirmed by the full Board. Bland was already Acting Chair, having been appointed to that position shortly after Dinham resigned. Bland is Head of the Global Funds Department in the United Kingdom's Department for International Development. His professional career has spanned more than thirty years working in mostly developing countries in the Africa, Asia and Pacific regions.