As the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to expand its governance, it announced Thursday that it has added two trustees to its board. Helene Gayle, president of Spelman College, and Ashish Dhawan, founder and CEO of the Convergence Foundation in India, will join the three other outside board members named in January: Strive Masiyiwa, Baroness Nemat (Minouche) Shafik, Thomas J. Tierney. The foundationās CEO, Mark Suzman, is also a board member. Along with Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, they will oversee the $70 billion philanthropy, which was recently enlarged when Bill Gates announced he was pumping $20 billion into the fund.
The philanthropy world has been eagerly awaiting news about new board members ever since last year when the foundation announced plans to expand the number of trustees. The first four outside board members were appointed in January.
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Melissa Berman, chief executive of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, says she thinks the Gates officialsā decision to bring on two or three new trustees at a time rather than a larger number all at once is good strategy.
āIt helps build a better board culture and makes it easier to transition people in,ā says Berman.
The new trustees were appointed after some changes among the foundation leaders. Bill Gatesās father, William Gates, was a longtime trustee; he died in 2020. And Warren Buffett, who has donated a significant chunk of his fortune to the Gates fund, resigned from the foundationās soon after Bill and Melinda French Gates announced their divorce.
Gayle has experience with the foundation, where she oversaw its grant making on HIV, tuberculosis, and reproductive health. She began her career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she spent 20 years focusing primarily on HIV/AIDS prevention and global health.
Before becoming president of Spelman College, Helene Gayle was CEO of the Chicago Community Trust and spent nearly a decade as president and CEO of the international humanitarian organization CARE.
āGayle is a remarkable leader who knows a lot and is going to be a real asset to the board,ā says Berman. āSheāll be able to translate the inner workings of the foundation and bridge the gap between the āback of the houseā of the Gates Foundation and the trustees.ā
Dhawanās foundation is focused on accelerating Indiaās economic growth and development and is chairman of Ashoka University, a leading liberal-arts university in India, and Central Square Foundation, a nonprofit foundation working to improve the quality of education for all children in India.
He is based in New Delhi, where the Gates Foundation has been working in collaboration with the Indian government and other partners since 2003 on health care, sanitation, gender equality, agricultural development, financial empowerment, and other issues.
The addition of Gayle and Dhawan brings the number of trustees to eight people. Whether the board will continue to grow isnāt yet known, but Berman says she and many others in the philanthropy world are eager to see how the boardās size develops in the future.
Says Berman: āI and many others are wondering what the optimal size of the board is going to be.ā
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This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Maria Di Mento is a senior reporter at the Chronicle. Email: maria.dimento@philanthropy.com. Stacy Palmer is the editor of the Chronicle. Email: stacy.palmer@philanthropy.com. The AP and the Chronicle receive support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The AP and the Chronicle are solely responsible for all content. For all of APās philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.