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Members of The Vaccine Fund's Board of Directors:

[ Vaccine Fund Board - Mandela ] Nelson Mandela, Board Chair Emeritus

Graça Machel, Chair
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan
Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt
Dwight L. Bush
Michel Camdessus
Jocelyn S. Davis
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
Charles J. Lyons, Executive Committee
Mary Robinson
Mstislav Rostropovich
Amartya Sen, PhD
Rita Süssmuth
George W. Wellde
Wayne Berson

Nelson Mandela, Board Chair Emeritus

Nelson Mandela was the first black president of South Africa and a legendary figure of the African National Congress (ANC). From 1964 to 1990, Mandela was imprisoned for opposing South Africa’s white minority government and its policy of racial separation. In 1993, Mandela and the president who released him, F.W. de Klerk, shared the Nobel Peace Prize. Mandela was elected president of the Republic of South Africa in 1994 and served until 1999. He is the founder of The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, which addresses the needs of marginalized youth.

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Graça Machel, Chair

Graça Machel, former first lady and minister of education in Mozambique, is widely recognized for her dedication to education and for her leadership in organizations devoted to the children of her war-torn country. She currently serves as chairperson of the Commonwealth Foundation, chancellor of the University of Cape Town, and president of the Foundation for Community Development. Machel is also a member of the Advisory Board of Disarmament Matters at the United Nations, where she has focused on the impact of armed conflict on children, and serves on the boards of the UN Foundation, the UN University and the South Centre.

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Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan currently serves as President of the Arab Women’s Summit, a rotating position she will hold until November 2004. Queen Rania’s activities encompass issues of national concern, such as the environment, youth, human rights, tourism, and culture among others. In 1995, she established the Jordan River Foundation (JRF), which aims to assist vulnerable segments of Jordan's population. Working closely with various international agencies, the Ministry of Social Development and the Jordan River Foundation, Queen Rania oversaw the launching of the Child Abuse Prevention Project, the first of its kind in the Arab region. In addition, Queen Rania sponsors numerous events that promote economic growth as well as the educational, artistic, and cultural diversity of Jordan.

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Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt, Vaccine Fund Chief Executive Officer and GAVI Executive Secretary

Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt, who recently took over from Jacques-François Martin as head of The Vaccine Fund and Dr Tore Godal as Executive Secretary of the Geneva-based Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), brings a wealth of experience to the Alliance—both from his work at the international health policy level and from his extensive work in developing countries. Until recently, Dr Lob-Levyt, a UK national, worked for UNAIDS as Senior Policy Adviser to the Executive Director, Peter Piot. Prior to that appointment, Dr Lob-Levyt was the Chief Health and Population Adviser (latterly Chief Human Development and Health Adviser) at the UK Department for International Development (DFID), with overall policy responsibility for health, population and HIV. Dr Lob-Levyt, is no stranger to GAVI as he has represented the UK Government and donor constituencies as a member of the GAVI Board. He also represented the UK as a founding board member of the Global Fund to Fight TB, AIDS, and Malaria and has been involved in the provision of bi-lateral support to a range of public-private health initiatives such as the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the International Microbicides Partnership, as well as WHO programmes including Roll Back Malaria, STOP TB, and the lymphatic filariasis and guinea worm programmes. He was also closely involved in the work of the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, which reported in December 2001. More recently, he has worked with the UK Treasury and other donor governments on the development of new innovative financing instruments—the International Finance Facility (IFF)—aimed at increasing international development assistance to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Read Dr Lob-Levyt’s complete biography here.

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Dwight L. Bush

Mr. Bush has been a Principal of Stuart Mill Capital, LLC, an Arlington, VA, based investment firm, since 1997. From 1999 through 2002 Mr. Bush also served as Chief Financial Officer of SatoTravel Holdings. From 1994 through 1997, Mr. Bush served as Vice President-Corporate Development of Sallie Mae Corporation, a $60 billion financial service corporation, and the nation’s leading provider of education credit. At Sallie Mae, Mr. Bush was responsible for mergers and acquisitions and business development, credit and investment policy, and investor relations. In addition, Mr. Bush was part of the senior management team responsible for the successful re-chartering of Sallie Mae as a fully privatized corporation. Previously, Mr. Bush worked for Chase Manhattan Bank as Managing Director, Project Finance and head of the Public Utilities Group.

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Michel Camdessus

Michel Camdessus is currently Honorary Governor of the Bank of France. He is also President Chirac's Personal Representative on Africa and has recently been appointed as the French representative for NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa Development). From January 1987 to February 2000 Camdessus served as Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prior to his position with the Fund, Camdessus was appointed Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, (August 1984) and then Governor (November 1984). Camdessus held several positions in the French government; he started his political career as “Administrateur Civil” in the French civil service, then joined the Treasury in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs in 1960. From 1966 to 1968, he served as financial attaché to the French delegation at the European Economic Community in Brussels. Camdessus holds a postgraduate degree in economics from the University of Paris and is also a graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA).

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Jocelyn S. Davis

Jocelyn Davis is currently head of the Nelson Hart LLC, a financial services consulting firm with specialized expertise in not-for-profit organizations, strategy development and implementation, governance, project management and staff development especially for senior managers and executives. She is also an Independent Trustee of the Allmerica Investment Trust and an Independent Member of Investment Committee for the American Psychological Association. In 2001, she joined the Washington CPA firm of Beers & Cutler as Chief Operating Officer and from 1996 to 2001 she was Chief Financial Officer for AARP (“American Association of Retired Persons”), one of the largest not-for-profit organizations in the United States. Davis holds a BBA in Accounting and is a certified Public Accountant.

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Uffe Ellemann-Jensen

The Honorable Uffe Ellemann-Jensen is a former Minister for Foreign Affairs and a longstanding leader of the Liberal Party in Denmark and abroad. He was first elected to the Danish Parliament in 1977 and was the political spokesman of the Liberal Party from 1978 to 1982 before serving as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1982-1993. Over the course of his political career, he has served as National Chairman of the Liberal Party ("Venstre"), President of the European Liberal Party - European Liberal, Democratic and Reform Party, and Vice-president of Liberal International. He remains very active in foreign affairs and human rights and is currently the Chairman of the Foreign Policy Society in Denmark, the Baltic Development Forum, INTERFORCE Committee, and the Danish Centre for International Studies and Human Right as well as a trustee of the International Crisis Group. Mr. Ellemann-Jensen has authored a number of books on economics and politics and received several international awards, including the Robert Schuman Prize (1987), the Hansa Prize (1992), and the Ebbe Munk Prize (2002).

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Charles J. Lyons

Charles J. “Chip” Lyons was appointed president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF in 1997. In that capacity, Lyons is responsible for raising American public awareness of children’s needs around the world and the work of UNICEF. Before assuming this position, Lyons served in a variety of roles with UNICEF, including chief of staff to the executive director. Lyons serves on the boards of Baby-Friendly USA, an organization working to promote breast-feeding as the optimal care for babies, and Rugmark USA, an organization working to reduce exploitative child labor in the carpet industry.

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Mary Robinson

Mary Robinson is the Executive Director of the Ethical Globalization Initiative. She served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002 and as President of Ireland from 1990-1997. She is a founder member and incoming Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders. Before her election as President, Mrs. Robinson served as Senator, holding that office for 20 years. In 1969 she became Reid Professor of Constitutional Law at Trinity College, Dublin and now serves as Chancellor of Dublin University. She was called to the bar in 1967, becoming a Senior Counsel in 1980, and a member of the English Bar (Middle Temple) in 1973. Educated at Trinity College, Mrs. Robinson also holds law degrees from the King's Inns in Dublin and from Harvard University.

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Mstislav Rostropovich

Mstislav Rostropovich is the most esteemed cellist of his generation and a relentless defender of human rights. Born in Azerbaijan, he studied and later taught at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1974 Rostropovich and his wife left the USSR, and in 1978 their citizenship was revoked. Having immigrated to the United States, he became music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., a position he held from 1977 to 1994. Rostropovich has given benefit concerts to aid earthquake victims, and undertaken fundraising efforts for the first modern, fully equipped children’s hospital in Moscow. In 1974 he received the Annual Award of the International League of Human Rights and in 1985 the Albert Schweitzer Award.

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Amartya Sen, PhD

Amartya Sen is a Nobel Prize-winning economist whose contributions to the field of welfare economics have helped explain the causes of famine, inequality and poverty. Sen taught at Harvard University, the London School of Economics, Oxford and New Dehli University before becoming head of Trinity College in Cambridge, England. He is the author of numerous books, including Poverty and Famine: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation and Collective Choice and Social Welfare. Sen is the recipient of the Alan Shaw Feinstein World Hunger Award, the Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award, the Indira Gandhi Gold Medal Award of the Asiatic Society and the Edinburgh Medal.

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Rita Süssmuth

Dr. Rita Süssmuth is a member of the Global Commission on International Migration. She served for 10 years (1988-98) as President of the German Bundestag. Prior to this, she was a Minister in the German Government (1986-88) with the portfolio for health, youth, family and women. Since 1971 she has been a member of various federal commissions and advisory committees on social issues. She received a number of honorary doctorate awards from universities worldwide, including Hildesheim University, Ruhr University and Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Süssmuth is currently serving as the Commissioner of the Global Commission on International Migration.

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George W. Wellde

George W. Wellde, Jr. is the Head of North American Sales for Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities at Goldman, Sachs and Co. He has worked in fixed income sales since joining the Goldman Sachs Group in 1979. Prior to his current responsibilities, Mr. Wellde was the branch manager of Goldman Sachs’ Tokyo office. Previously, he worked at the Federal Reserve Board and Union First National Bank in Washington, D.C.

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Wayne Berson

Wayne Berson is a Partner and National Director of Not-for-Profit Services at BDO Seidman LLP, the fifth largest accounting firm in the world. He also serves as the Assurance Office Business Line Leader of BDO Seidman’s Washington, D.C. metropolitan area office. With more that 22 years experience in professional accounting, Berson is responsible for developing the infrastructure in the department and also expanding the department while preserving and increasing profits. Berson has extensive expertise in the fields of non-profit and governmental auditing and consulting. In addition, Berson serves as the Director of BDO Seidman’s Institute for Nonprofit Excellence based in Bethesda, Maryland. He is an active member in the following professional affiliations: Maryland Association of CPAs, Greater Washington Society of CPAs, American Institute of CPAs, American Society of Association Executives, and National Association of Corporate Directors. Berson is currently serving on the Editorial Advisory Board of CPA Government and Nonprofit Report, a nationally issued newsletter serving the government and nonprofit industry.

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