Leadership

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors consists of global health experts and management professionals. In addition to overseeing operations by the Leadership Team, it also resolves important business matters including approval of major rules, strategic plans, annual operational plans/budget, and funding decisions based on recommendations from the Selection Committee.
Chair & Representative Director
Hiroki Nakatani, MD, PhD, MHPEd
Former World Health Organization (WHO) assistant director-general
Visiting Professor, the School of Medicine of Keio University
Invited Professor at Osaka University Post Graduate School of Medicine
Advisor on International Affairs, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
Senior-Advisor, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia(ERIA)
Director, Human Resource Strategy Center for Global Health

Dr. Hiroki Nakatani has been a veteran public health specialist for over 40 years who started his career at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan. He worked extensively in the area of health policy, public health, international health, and health science and technology. His national career includes serving as Director-General of Welfare and Health Services in Hiroshima Prefecture, where he was in charge of integrating health and welfare services in preparation for the arrival of a rapidly ageing society. With regards to his international career, he served the WHO Headquarters twice. From April 1988 to March 1993, he was a Policy Analyst in the Department of Human Resources for Health. From March 2007 to May 2015, he served as Assistant Director-General of WHO, leading the largest technical cluster of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria, and Neglected Tropical Diseases. During his tenure, the morbidity and mortality of these three major infections showed trends of decline, and a few tropical diseases were on track toward elimination and even eradication (dracunculiasis or guinea worm disease). Since the completion of his tenure, he has continued to serve the WHO as Member Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (2016-2018); Member, WHO Executive Board (2017-2020, 2021-2022); Chair WHO Executive Board (2019-2020); Chair, Committee A of the 75th World Health Assembly (2022); Chair of the Expert Group on Ageing, WHO Regional Office for South East Asia (2019-present) and Member of various other organizational governance, audit, and advisory committees within WHO. Dr. Nakatani received his MD from Keio University School of Medicine, MHPEd from the University of New South Wales, and Ph.D. from Keio University.

Vice Chair
Peter Piot, MD, PhD
Professor of Global Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Special Advisor on COVID-19 to the President of the European Commission

Peter Piot is the Handa Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and was its Director until July 2021. He was also founding Executive Director of UNAIDS and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations (1995-2008), and has served in numerous other international and academic leadership roles. He is Special Advisor on Covid-19 to the President of the European Commission, and serves on numerous boards and has received numerous scientific and civic awards, including the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, Robert Koch Gold medal, and Prix International INSERM, Paris. He was a 2014 TIME Person of the Year (The Ebola Fighters), and received the Prince Mahidol Award for Public Health. In 2013 he was the laureate of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize for Medical Research. Professor Piot co-discovered the Ebola virus in Zaire in 1976, and led research on AIDS, women's health, and public health in Africa. He was knighted as a baron in his native Belgium, and received an honorary knighthood in the U.K., and the Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun in Japan. He has published over 600 scientific articles and 17 books.

Executive Director
Osamu Kunii, MD, MPH, PhD
CEO, GHIT Fund

Dr. Osamu Kunii is CEO and Executive Director at the GHIT Fund. He served as a Management Executive Committee member of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund), as Head of the Strategy, Investment and Impact Division. He was responsible for leading one of the largest divisions of the Global Fund, consisting of five departments (Health Finance; Strategy Information; Technical Advice and Partnerships; Access to Funding; and Community, Rights and Gender). He started his career as an internal medicine physician in Japan and made a shift to work for both governmental and non-governmental organizations, as he finds his passion in global health and feels it is his life’s work to contribute to this field. With his strong international experience working for multiple international organizations such as UNICEF and the Global Fund, coupled with his extensive interactions with other global organizations, he is interested in leveraging what he has learned and experienced to give back to Japan and Japanese organizations and lead innovation in global health.

Member
Mahima Datla
Managing Director, Biological E. Limited

Mahima Datla is Managing Director of Biological E. Over the past 13 years at BE, she has been involved in strategy and has also served as Senior Vice President of the company. She is currently responsible for strategic operations and projects. She drives Biological E.’s engagement with Government of India as well as the DCVMN and has been a GAVI board member since 2011. She is a graduate in Business Administration Management from Webster University, London.

Member
Satoshi Ezoe, MD, MPH, MPA, PhD
Director, Global Health Strategy Division, International Cooperation Bureau
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Dr. Satoshi Ezoe has worked in Japans public health and global health arena over decades. Currently, he serves as Director, Global Health Policy Division, International Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), since August 2020. Prior to joining MOFA, he was engaged in health care and public health policy in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, including in the areas of global health, universal health insurance system, non-communicable diseases including mental health and cancer control. He was seconded to UNAIDS Headquarters in Geneva (2009-2012). He was the first appointed Senior Coordinator for Global Health (2015-2017), where he was involved in the WHO emergency reform, coordinating health agendas for the G7 Iseshima Summit in 2016. He was most recently Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations (2017-2020), where he was instrumental in facilitating UN General Assembly High-Level Meetings on tuberculosis (2018) and universal health coverage (2019). He is a medical doctor with PhD, and completed two masters of public health and public administration from the Harvard University.

Member
Tetsuya Itani
Director, Office of Global Health Cooperation
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Mr. Itani joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in 2004, where he was in charge of foreign policy in various areas such as environment, science and technology, and space. He also dealt with development cooperation policy and Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, and international organizations including the United Nations and specialized agencies. From 2019 to 2022, as Head of Political Section at the Embassy of Japan in Malaysia, he was responsible for strengthening cooperation with local think tanks in the marine field, Malaysia's regulations on COVID-19, and providing information to Japanese residents in Malaysia. He contributed to the further deepening of Japan-Malaysia relations on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Malaysia's Look East Policy. He has been in his current position since July 2022. He graduated from the Faculty of Law, Kobe University.

Member
Daikichi Momma
Vice Chairman
Institute for International Economic Studies

Mr. Momma worked for the Ministry of Finance (MOF), Cabinet Office, and Ministry of Defense covering various responsibilities including budget, tax, finance, international finance, multilateral development banks, external aid, global health, and national securities issues. He also served as International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Director for Japan, Counsellor, Permanent Delegation of Japan to OECD, and Senior Advisor to Executive Director of World Bank Group representing Japan. He has in-depth experiences and knowledge particularly in the fields of international economic cooperation and development assistance to the developing countries. Mr. Momma currently assumes several positions including Special Researcher at MOF’s Policy Research Institute, and Senior Research Advisor at the Institute for International Policy Studies.

Member
Ann M. Veneman, JD
Former Executive Director, UNICEF
Former Secretary, United States Department of Agriculture

Ann M. Veneman has a distinguished career in public service, including serving as Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2005-2010) and as the United States Secretary of Agriculture (2001-2005). Ms. Veneman graduated from the University of California, Davis, received a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and a juris doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. In 2009 she was named to the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women list.

Supervisory Board Member
Hikaru Ishiguro, LLM
Statutory Auditor, INSPiRE Corporation

Hikaru Ishiguro serves as Statutory Auditor at INSPiRE Corporation, among other board positions. He is a graduate of the University of Tokyo and holds a LLM from Harvard Law School. Starting with Sumitomo Bank, he worked with a variety of global financial institutions and also served as President of Health and Global Policy Institute. Mr. Ishiguro became Comptroller of the University of Tokyo in 2004 and served in this role for 8 years. He is a member of the New York Sate Bar Association.

Supervisory Board Member
Saori Nakamura
Attorney at Law
Hirayama Nagareya Shirai Law Office

Saori Nakamura is an attorney at law who is a member of the Dai-ichi Bar Association in Japan and a member of the New York State Bar Association.  As an international lawyer she represents both Japanese and non-Japanese clients in a wide variety of corporate matters, including corporate governance and compliance.  Also she has been actively engaged in the pro bono matters and assisted non-profit organizations from the time of being a partner at Morrison &Foerster.  She currently belongs to Hirayama Nagareya Shirai Law Office.   She is a graduate of Kyoto University and holds a LLM from University of Michigan Law School.

Supervisory Board Member
Ko-Yung Tung, JD
Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School,
Former Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the World Bank

Professor. Ko-Yung Tung is an international lawyer, with extensive experience in both the public and private sectors. He has served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the World Bank, where he was instrumental in establishing The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Secretary General of The International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). He is Lecturer at Law at Harvard Law School where he teaches a course on international law. He practiced law at the international law firms of Morrison & Foerster, O’Melveny & Myers, and Debevoise & Plimpton. The GHIT Board benefits particularly from his expertise in international organizations, development and corporate governance. He received his undergraduate degree in physics from Harvard University and his law degree from Harvard Law School, and did graduate studies at the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law.

Ex-Officio
Katey Einterz Owen, PhD
Director, Neglected Tropical Diseases
Pharmaceutical Industry Leadership Engagement
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Dr. Katey Einterz Owen is the Director for Neglected Tropical Diseases at The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has responsibility for the Gates Foundation / Pharmaceutical Industry CEO Roundtable. Katey has end-to-end responsibility for the Gates Foundation’s investment portfolio in controlling, eliminating, and eradicating the diseases of the London Declaration. This includes active investment in lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, STH, trachoma, Guinea Worm, HAT, and visceral leishmaniasis, diseases that collectively put at risk more than one billion people in the world. The portfolio funds projects with global private and public partners across the value chain, from research and innovation to project demonstration through on-the-ground delivery of interventions in Africa and Asia. In her role with the CEO Roundtable, Katey facilitates regular interaction between the CEOs of pharmaceutical organizations with Mr. Gates, resulting in joint work in global health that can most effectively be accomplished by the organizations together. Previously, Katey was the Deputy Director for Vaccine Development at the Gates Foundation. She joined BMGF in 2013 from the pharmaceutical industry. She combines a technical end-to-end view of product development and quality manufacturing, with a commercial understanding of the for-profit pharmaceutical business, coupled to practical solutions for funding and delivery in LMICs, all with a solutions-focused mindset and disposition. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Katey carried out academic research on influenza at the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill (London). She earned her PhD in molecular virology from Purdue University.

Ex-Officio
Richard Seabrook, PhD, MBA
Independent Senior Advisor, Wellcome
CEO 360Biomedical Ltd
Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence University of Bristol

Currently Richard runs his own advisory business 360Biomedical Ltd through which he is a senior advisor for Wellcome, various businesses and other biomedical charities. The Royal Society recently renewed his Entrepreneur in Residence role for University of Bristol. He is co-founder of clinical stage biotech company Vivifi Biotech Ltd, Chair of the PREPARE Clinical Trial Steering Committee (Minxervax, Copenhagen), member of the International Polycap Cardiovascular (TIPs3) Trial Steering Group (PHRI, Toronto), Advisory Board member for the Structural Genomics Consortium, non executive director NRG Therapeutics Ltd and board observer Acesion Pharma Aps (Copenhagen). Previously he led the Business Development Team at Wellcome and managed £750M of product development funds put to work with pharma, biotechs, not for profits and universities that raised over £3Bn in co-investment. This includes the Seeding Drug Discovery Initiative that has yielded multiple partnerships with pharma or biotech. He was one of the architects for the Hilleman Labs, an Indian based vaccine JV with Merck. He was a non-executive director for both Wellcome Trust Trading Ltd and Wellcome International Ltd and a board observer for the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (2000-2011).

Committee

Standing Committees of the Board are established to serve specific functions.

Governance and Ethics Committee

Conducts an overall review of governance of GHIT to determine whether the governance has been operating in accordance with relevant documents. Provides recommendations and advice to the Board and the Management Team on conflicts of interest, governance, and ethics matters to support decisions to execute operations.

Executive Review Committee

Reviews performance of the CEO and makes recommendations regarding annual compensation and bonuses to the Board of Directors.

Remuneration Committee

Considers remuneration for the Board of Directors, excluding the Executive Director who is concurrently serving as CEO, and the Supervisory Board Members and makes proposals to the Board of Directors.

Nomination Committee

Nominates and assesses candidates for the Board of Directors and Supervisory Board Members to support the Board of Directors in making decisions to propose the appointment of the new Board of Directors and Supervisory Board Members to the Council.

Resource Mobilization Advisory Committee

Supports the Management Team pursuing the replenishment goal of GHIT 3.0 by obtaining financial resources from new funders.