GLOBAL FUND BOARD SELECTS MARK DYBUL TO BE THE FUND’S NEXT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Author:

Bernard Rivers

Article Number: 1

Decision was close

ABSTRACT The Global Fund Board has selected Dr Mark Dybul to serve as the Fund’s next Executive Director. He previously served as head of PEPFAR.

The Global Fund Board has selected Dr Mark Dybul to serve as the Fund’s next Executive Director. He previously served as head of the US President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The decision was made by the Board on 15 November at its 28^th meeting in Geneva, and the appointment will take effect in early February. (Gabriel Jaramillo will step down as General Manager on 31 January, as was always intended.)

The selection of Dr Dybul was the final step in a lengthy and carefully-planned recruitment process (see GFO article). The Board’s Ad-Hoc Nominating Committee – whose work was praised by many Board members – carried out the search and the shortlisting process, eventually delivering four names to the Board. Those names were Monique Barbut, the French outgoing chief of the UN’s Global Environment Facility; Mark Dybul; Robert Greenhill, the Canadian Managing Director of the World Economic Forum and former President of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); and Barbara Stocking, the British outgoing head of Oxfam.

The four shortlisted candidates were all interviewed by the full Board on 14 November; observers were not present. GFO understands that prior to the interviews, the Board had agreed on a precise process whereby Board members would provide scores for each candidate. The outcome was that Dr Dybul and one other candidate received total scores very close to each other, with the other two far behind. After considerable discussion and some re-voting, it was clear that this situation would not change. The Board then abided by its agreed process and formally voted, with no votes against, to select Dr Dybul, the candidate with the highest score.

Dr Dybul helped create, and later led, PEPFAR, the bilateral US AIDS programme that is comparable in size to the Global Fund, and is the largest global health initiative ever undertaken to address a single disease. Trained as a medical doctor with a specialty in immunology, he became an expert on AIDS as a clinician, scientist and administrator. Dr Dybul, born in 1963, is openly gay.

“Mark Dybul is a true leader, who can take the Global Fund to the next level,” said Simon Bland, the Fund’s Board Chair. “He has a really impressive vision of how to achieve global health goals. He is passionate, energetic and focused.”

Dr Dybul currently co-directs the Global Health Law Program at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University.

Dr Dybul’s first position at PEPFAR was as Deputy Chief Medical Officer, in 2004. He was rapidly promoted, and in 2006 was appointed to head the organisation as US Global AIDS Coordinator. He served until 2009.

Dr Dybul has considerable understanding of programmes to treat and prevent AIDS, TB and malaria in developing countries, and has experience working with health administrators at many levels, especially in Africa. During his years with PEPFAR, he worked closely with the Global Fund, and in 2007–2008 served as Chair of the Fund’s Finance and Audit Committee.

The Global Fund’s press release announcing the appointment is available here.