We Are an Independent Foundation That Is Unique in the Area of World Health

Thomas Zeltner, former Swiss Secretary of Health (1991-2009), has a long history as an innovative leader in health. He regularly represented Switzerland at the World Health Assemblies and was a member of its Executive Board. Since 1992, he has been Professor at Bern University and is a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is also board member of the Medical University of Vienna and chairman of Swiss UNESCO commission. Zeltner is born in Berne. He graduated with a MD from Bern University and is a Doctor of Law (honoris causa) of the University of Neuchâtel.

Rebecca Enonchong is founder and Chief Executive Officer of AppsTech, a leading global provider of enterprise application solutions. She is cofounder of I/O Spaces, a coworking and event space in the Washington DC area for African diaspora entrepreneurs.

She is Board Chair of Afrilabs, a network of over 225 hubs in 47 African countries, supporting a community of over 1 million entrepreneurs. She is cofounder and board member of the African Business Angels Network (ABAN), Board Member of the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa Center for Digital Excellence and several other companies and organizations. She was recently appointed to US Export Import Bank’s Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Board. Named as one of Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women by Forbes Africa, she is best known as @africatechie on Twitter.

Ms. Clare Akamanzi is an International Trade and Investment Lawyer, who is currently the CEO of the Rwanda Development Board and a Cabinet Member. She has served the Government of Rwanda in several senior positions for the last 15 years.

Ms. Akamanzi is a Harvard Kennedy School MPA alum, and also holds an LLM (International Trade and Investment) from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

She was a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and was named one of Africa’s Top 50 Powerful Women by Forbes in 2020.

Bob Carter is a recognized global expert in institutional strategy and fundraising. He is chair of Carter; an international consultancy dedicated to advancing philanthropy worldwide. He previously was Senior Advisor for Changing Our World and Omnicom Non-profit Group and spent 26 years with Ketchum, 15 as President and CEO.

Mr. Carter is past chair of the Association of Fundraising Professionals International, the National Aquarium, and Boys’ Latin School. He has been a trustee for numerous others, including The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

He is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and a Certified Fundraising Executive.

Professor Senait Fisseha is a globally recognized leader in the advancement of reproductive health education and gender equality in Ethiopia and around the world. She currently serves as the Director of Global Programs at the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, as well as Chief Advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization.

She has received numerous awards, including the recognition of her transformative contribution to the Ethiopian Health Sector by the Nobel Peace Prize Winner Abiy Ahmed. Furthermore, she was named as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans for 2018 by New African magazine.

Professor Fisseha earned an undergraduate degree from Rosary College in River Forest, Illinois, M.D. and J.D. degrees from Southern Illinois University, and a certificate in International Human Rights and Comparative Law from the University of Oxford.

Dr. Silvia Gold is the President of Mundo Sano Foundation, whose vision is to change people’s lives affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), by promoting field research across Latin America, Europe, and Africa, contributing to public health policies. Dr. Gold holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she is a member of the National Academy of Pharmacy and Biochemistry. In 2019, she was awarded the Gold Medal from the Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery of Murcia, Spain. Dr. Gold also leads the Consortium for Research, Development and Innovation (R&D+i) on innovative oncology therapies. Together with Hugo Sigman, she founded Groupo Insud and Insud Pharma, a multinational pharmaceutical company. Additionally, she sits on the: Uniting to Combat Executive Board; Advisory Council of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health; Board of Trustees of the Reina Sofia Foundation in Spain; and Economic and Social Council of Universidad Torcuato di Tella.

Dr. Nahed Taher is the founder and CEO of Gulf One Investment Bank, headquartered in Bahrain. She is the first female CEO of a bank in the region and an expert in Islamic finance. She is also the founder, chairman and CEO of SEEDS consulting company, which finances major privatization projects and structures debt for GCC companies. She has represented the Saudi government, the private sector, and chamber of commerce in many high-level areas of international business and banking.

Dr. Taher holds dual Masters Degrees in Financial Economics and a PhD in Monetary Economics from Lancaster University in the UK. Dr. Taher has served as a professor and head of the Economics Department at King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU). She is a board member of numerous Saudi private companies and committees.

Professor Thuli Madonsela, an advocate of the High Court of South Africa, is the law trust chair in social justice and a law professor at the University of Stellenbosch. She is the founder of the Thuma Foundation, an independent democracy leadership and literacy public benefit organization and convener of the Social Justice M-Plan, a Marshall Plan-like initiative aimed at catalyzing progress towards ending poverty and reducing inequality by 2030, in line with the National Development Plan (NDP) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Thuli Madonsela was the Public Protector of South Africa from 2009 to 2016 and is one of the drafters of South Africa’s Constitution and co-architect of several laws that have sought to anchor South Africa’s democracy.
She was named one of Time 100’s Most Influential People in the World in 2014, Forbes Africa Person of the Year in 2016 and one of BBC’s 100 Women.

Raul Thomas has served the World Health Organization for 20 years, in the regions of the Americas, Western Pacific, Eastern Mediterranean and Africa, as well as with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). He is currently Assistant Director-General, Business Operations. Areas of Mr Thomas’ expertise are budget, finance, administration, audit, risk management, accountability and compliance, and general management. His experience with WHO has also included managing administrative and security responses to environmental disasters, emergencies and high risk areas of civil unrest and conflict.
Prior to his employment with WHO, Mr. Thomas worked for two years for the United Nations Development Programme in New York City. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr Thomas holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

Anil Soni is the Chief Executive Officer at the WHO Foundation. A proven innovator in global health, he has worked for 20 years in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to expand healthcare access in low and middle-income countries. Before joining the WHO Foundation, he was Head of Global Infectious Diseases at Viatris, working across the pharmaceutical company to accelerate availability of new treatments.
Anil was closely involved in the early years of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, serving as the Advisor to the Executive Director and then Founding Executive Director of Friends of the Global Fight. He later served as CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, where he oversaw the rapid expansion of the organization.
Anil has been a senior advisor to the Gates Foundation and Born Free Africa. He is an alumnus of McKinsey and Harvard College and serves on the board of The Marshall Project.

Karen Hitschke is the Chief Operating Officer at the WHO Foundation.
She is also a Board Member at Yunus Social Business Global Initiatives. She has extensive expertise and experience in fund structuring, early-stage investing, and fundraising. At YSB, Karen is a member of the Investment Committee. Prior to YSB, she was the Chief Financial Officer at Affectis AG and an advisor to Swiss Business Angel Network B-to-V. Karen has also served for several years as an investment manager at Apax Partners in the life science sector and as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. She holds an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, and an M.Sc. in Biology from the University of Constance.

Dr Emanuele Capobianco is the Chief Strategy & Impact Officer at the WHO Foundation.
He was the Director for Health and Care at International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Before Emanuele was the Deputy Executive-Director of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and joined the Partnership from the Global Fund where he worked as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Executive Director, leading the development of the 2017-2022 Global Fund Strategy.
Emanuele is a global public health expert with 20 years experience in international institutions at country, regional and headquarters level. He was the Chief of Health and Nutrition in UNICEF Mozambique, where he worked for four years to advance health outcomes for Mozambican children and women. Previously he was at the World Bank as Senior Health Specialist, managing a large portfolio of grants, particularly in South Asia and Eastern Africa. He also worked in Somalia to support the EPI, Polio and Tuberculosis programs; and at the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean promoting the STOP TB partnership in the Middle East.
Emanuele holds a Medical Degree from Pavia University, a Master in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a MSc in Humanitarian Assistance from Rome University.

Eric Kostegan is Chief Development Officer at the WHO Foundation.
Bringing over 20 years of experience, he is aligned with the Foundation values and is passionate about our mission to mobilize more resources from more partners to advance the mission of WHO.
Prior to joining the Foundation, he was the managing director of philanthropy at the Climate Leadership Initiative (CLI), where he worked closely with philanthropists and the CLI team to foster increased interest and commitment to breakthrough approaches to combat climate change. Eric spent his career building and leading large-scale programs in fundraising, partnership, growth and investment in climate, healthcare and medicine. He has extensive experience in program development, new ventures, and international relations. Eric has successfully managed complex multilateral relationships, and built programs to inform and engage leaders in industry, government, private families and non-profit institutions, worldwide.
He formerly led the Mount Sinai Health System’s efforts to elevate strategic support for innovative programs and collaborative partnerships worldwide and served as Senior Director of Global Initiatives at Massachusetts General Hospital. In both, he led resource and partnership development efforts, identifying and cultivating international and U.S.-based investors and philanthropists, corporate and foundation funders, government leaders, and program partners in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America.

Geetha Tharmaratnam is the Chief Impact Investment Officer at the WHO Foundation.
She is an investment executive with 19+ years of experience in Private Equity, venture capital, development finance, impact investing and insurance in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Geetha was the CEO of Aequalitas Capital Partners and led the Impact Investment practice. She advised Investors, intermediaries, international development actors and companies interested in creating and implementing impact investment and Sustainable Development Goals related financing products.
Previously Partner – Africa & Head of Impact for LGT Impact, she was a member of Global Investment Committee and deal partner. Geetha was a founding partner of T5 Africa Capital Partners. She worked in the global Portfolio Management team and in the USD 1 Billion global impact health fund of the Abraaj Group. Earlier, Geetha was a principle in the CIO Office at Aureos Capital, the preeminent SME PE firm originally owned by the British and Norwegian DFIs (CDC and Norfund). Prior to that, she worked in Corporate Finance at Alea Group.

Geetha is an advisor to Capria Ventures, an accelerator for impact fund managers. She is on the Investment Committee of Aleyo Capital, a USD 50 Million Botswana Investment Fund and on the Board of Okavango Capital Partners, a fund addressing environmental sustainability and conservation. She is a trustee of the Royal African Society and an Eisenhower Fellow.

Geetha invests in early stage businesses in Africa as a venture capital investor.

Education: MBA and MSc in Management Research (Private Equity as an instrument of development in Africa) at Oxford University (Saïd Business School), BSc (Finance) at University of Bridgeport.

Geetha’s favourite place in the world is under a clear Southern African night sky.

Regina Lewis is the Chief Communications Officer at the WHO Foundation.

She is a transformational communications leader with an accreditation in public relations, certification in crisis management and expertise in reputation management, executive communications, thought leadership, and brand storytelling. Her experience spans both nonprofit and for profit, inhouse and agency where she mentored CEOs and counseled clients across the Global 2000, Fortune 500, within the public and private sectors, and venture-backed startups. She has also led awareness campaigns for HIV/AIDS, mental health, maternal/child health, and other health disparities impacting marginalized communities disproportionately, and issues response initiatives for social, and criminal justice, gender, economic and educational equity. She began her career in Silicon Valley representing a wide spectrum of technology firms.