Board of Directors

Chair, Board of Directors

Kate Dodson is the Vice President for Global Health at the United Nations Foundation. In this role, she works to ensure that the UN Foundation delivers on its commitments to address the health-related Sustainable Development Goals, and builds synergies with UN agencies and other key multilateral partners. In its global health work, the UN Foundation supports UN agencies and partners that deliver vital health services to people around the world, including campaigns to vaccinate children against measles, polio, and other diseases, family planning services, and millions of anti-malaria bed nets. Increasingly, we focus on supporting the work of the World Health Organization and others to prepare for pandemics, tackle antimicrobial resistance, and strengthen global systems to provide Universal Health Coverage, ensuring we reach the most vulnerable and leave no one behind.

Kate is currently chair of the board of the Global Health Council, and a board member of Women in Global Health. She sits on the UHC2030 Steering Committee, representing the Foundation Constituency, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine’s Forum on Public-Private Partnerships in Global Health.

Previously, Kate spent several years as the UN Foundation’s Director of Global Health and has also served as Executive Director of Program Integration, focused on cross-department and cross-issue collaboration. Kate joined the UN Foundation in 2004 and spent her first five years in the sustainable development program in various positions, focused on the intersection of poverty reduction and environmental stewardship. Kate held positions at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and has traveled, worked, and studied in several countries. She has a master’s degree with distinction from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a bachelor’s degree with departmental honors from Bates College in Maine.

Term Expires: December 31, 2024

Chair, Membership & Development Committee

John Ariale joined Husch Blackwell Strategies with nearly 30 years of senior-level experience in congressional relations, legislative politics, and advocacy. He brings a comprehensive knowledge of the intricate and complex details of the appropriations process to the practice with policy expertise in the areas of effective foreign assistance, international relations, defense, the foreign assistance framework, global development, global health, homeland security, defense, and financial services.

Prior to joining Husch Blackwell Strategies, Mr. Ariale founded Ariale Strategies, LLC and worked as a Senior Government Relations Consultant at the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff.  Before leaving government service, Mr. Ariale served as Congressman Ander Crenshaw’s Chief of Staff and his Appropriations Associate, the Member’s liaison to the House Committee on Appropriations, working extensively on the portfolio of issues under the jurisdiction of the Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, Homeland Security, Financial Services, and Defense.

Mr. Ariale graduated from Stetson University and received his J.D. from Stetson University’s College of Law. Mr. Ariale resides with his wife Susan and their family in Northern Virginia.

Term Expires: December 31, 2023

Byron Austin leads corporate responsibility at Organon, a new pharma company focused on the health of women. He is also responsible for managing how the company engages its relevant stakeholders on a variety of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues. Prior to Organon, Byron led  ESG communications at Teva Pharmaceuticals, where he also had responsibility for the company’s corporate social responsibility efforts in the United States and Canada while supporting the company’s global health and access strategy around the world. Before joining Teva, Byron led the healthcare practice at Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), a global business network and consultancy focused on building the capacity of large companies to become more sustainable and socially responsible. At BSR, he advised over 25 companies in the biopharmaceutical and medical device industry on their ESG and sustainability strategies. Prior to BSR, Byron managed and developed global health partnerships at Johnson & Johnson, where he engaged a variety of stakeholders in the fields of NCDs, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and digital health. Byron began his career in global health at an HIV/AIDS NGO based in South Africa called mothers2mothers International and later served as a management consultant at Rabin Martin in New York City.

Byron earned his MBA from Columbia Business School and his BA from Princeton University.

Term Expires: December 31, 2023

Chair, Finance Committee

Vickie Barrow-Klein has over three decades of experience in strategic corporate operations, with at least two of those spent serving in a financial role within the international NGO sector. Throughout her career, she has enjoyed a reputation for mentoring staff as an accomplished leader, expertise in change management, and a proven record of providing strategic direction and oversight to ensure an organization’s financial soundness.

Ms. Barrow-Klein currently serves as CFO for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Inc. where she leads the finance and accounting functions and is a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Prior to Planned Parenthood, Ms. Barrow-Klein served as the CFO for Management Sciences for Health (MSH). At MSH, she strategically led the organization of more than 2,500 employees, over 40 offices, and revenues near $300 million working in the areas of finance, internal audit, grants and contracts, procurement, legal and compliance, marketing and fundraising, and facilities.

She also served as CFO for two of the largest international humanitarian and relief organizations in the US—CARE USA and Save the Children Federation, where she led finance, information technology, grants, and contracts. At Save the Children, she created knowledge management processes to enable information and knowledge sharing in more than 50 countries. She has also led financial operations at Population Council and the Peace Corps. She grounded her career in the management consulting practice at PwC serving both private sector and government clients.

Ms. Barrow-Klein received her Masters of Business Administration from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, and her undergraduate degree from George Washington University in Washington, DC. She has served on the boards of the Partnership for Supply Chain Management, InsideNGO, NetHope, Inc., Society for International Development Washington Chapter, and Access Africa Fund.

Term Expires: December 31, 2024

Chair, Nominating Committee

Amy Boldosser-Boesch is a recognized leader and passionate advocate with more than 20 years of experience in both global and U.S. domestic health policy and advocacy, with a focus on women’s and adolescents’ health and rights. She is currently Senior Director and Practice Area Lead for Health Policy, Advocacy & Engagement and Senior Director for Integrated Health Care at Management Sciences for Health (MSH), a global non-profit organization that works with countries and communities to build strong, resilient, sustainable health systems. She oversees MSH’s work and teams dedicated to improving women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health and person-centered primary health care and leads advocacy and accountability efforts for improved sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, and adolescent health and universal health coverage. She manages the Secretariat for the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism of UHC2030, which advocates ensuring marginalized groups are not left behind in the push to achieve universal health coverage.  

Previously, she was interim president and CEO, and vice president of global advocacy, at Family Care International (FCI), an NGO dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safer in the developing world; she led the integration of FCI’s programs and staff into MSH in late 2015. Before joining FCI, she was director of local advocacy initiatives at the National Institute for Reproductive Health, led a NYC Department of Health-funded initiative to increase emergency contraception access among adolescents and immigrant women, was deputy director at the International Organization for Adolescents, and worked in the Health Equity program of the Rockefeller Foundation on initiatives to redress health disparities in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Ms. Boldosser-Boesch is an active member of a number of global advocacy initiatives, including the Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality Working Group, the Advance Family Planning Leadership Group, and serves on the UNFPA Global Advisory Council. She holds a Master of International Affairs in Human Rights from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Romance Languages and Politics from New York University. 

Term Expires: December 31, 2024

Chair, Audit Committee

Anthony Brown is Vice President, Legal at Resolve to Save Lives. Anthony oversees the legal function, advising the Senior Management Team and the Board of Directors on organizational strategy, operations, and other matters with legal implications.

Anthony is an attorney and business professional with more than 20 years of experience advising global public health organizations and international NGOs and businesses. Throughout his legal career, Anthony has focused on being a business partner to the teams he supports, not only identifying legal risks but also seeking to unlock issues and propose solutions. Before joining Resolve to Save Lives, Anthony was with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for 15 years. As Senior Legal Counsel, he assisted with the setup and implementation of innovative financing initiatives, was responsible for negotiations on funding agreements with corporations, governments, and foundations, and provided legal advice on the provision of funding to implementing organizations and countries. He also supported the development of numerous policies and procedures to address risks and ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Most recently, Anthony was the lead attorney on the design and set up of COVAX, a global collaboration aimed at accelerating access to COVID-19 vaccines.

Anthony received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, his M.B.A. from the Wharton School, and a B.A. in Latin American Studies from Columbia University. He enjoys reading and writing (or trying to write) literary fiction and science fiction. He also enjoys watching and competing (or trying to compete) in tennis tournaments. Anthony is an avid lifelong learner, as it seems as if he’s been trying to learn Spanish and French for nearly his entire life. After 10 years in Switzerland and France, he has just moved back to the US with his adorable 2-year-old son, Julian. Anthony is based in San Antonio, Texas.

Term Expires: December 31, 2023

Chandresh Harjivan is the President, Chief Operating Officer, and Co-Founder of SaponiQx, funded by AgenusBio and GingkoBioworks, and has over 15 years of experience in management consulting.

Dr. Harjivan has dedicated his career to improving public health, first within the pharmaceutical and health care industries, and then in the public sector.  His career has led him to work at such companies as Boston Consulting Group and PwC and where he led global public health consulting. He has advised companies, multilaterals NGOs, and governments on crucial issues in global health and security, including understanding the epidemiology of existing and emerging diseases, and the development and delivery of technologies against those diseases—whether new diagnostics, drugs, vaccines, or digital tools—as well as on advising where to make healthcare investments.

Dr. Harjivan graduated from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and received a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Business Administration from Oxford University, and a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Maryland. 

Term Expires: December 31, 2024

Vice Chair, Nominating Committee

Margaret Miller is a public health communicator who strives to elevate the voices – and work – of others. Margaret is a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she leads working tracking progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.  

Prior to joining the foundation, Margaret was the Director of Communications at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. She shaped and advanced the Center’s communications strategy, message, and brand. She helped lead the Center’s COVID-19 response efforts which focused on analyzing data and researching and proposing policy solutions to complex problems that have stemmed from the pandemic. She positioned the Center and its experts as a go-to source for information in the pandemic and managed unprecedented media coverage during the public health crisis. 

Margaret has fifteen years of experience in global communications including working in academia, at corporations, and a leading global health NGO. Margaret has a Master of Science in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Bachelor of Science in communications from Boston University, and a certificate in global health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Term Expires: December 31, 2024

Angela Nguku is the Founder and Executive Director of the White Ribbon Alliance Kenya, a people-led movement for reproductive, maternal, and newborn health and rights. A passionate maternal, newborn, and adolescent health champion, Angela’s career spans over 16 years of dedicated work towards ending preventable maternal and newborn deaths globally and amplifying the voices of marginalized and vulnerable populations in Kenya, throughout Africa, and around the world. A graduate midwife and an accomplished thought leader, Angela combines her proven influencing and negotiation skills in advocating for the accountability for the health of mothers, newborns, adolescents, and frontline health workers mainly nurses and midwives. She has extensive knowledge and hands-on experience managing and evaluating multi-donor, multi-year and multi-country programs, particularly in the field of Global Health with a special focus on Maternal and Newborn Health, Adolescent, Sexual reproductive Health, and Human Rights and Gender Mainstreaming. Angela serves as a member of the Peoples’ Advisory Board of the Lancet Global Health Commission on High-Quality Health Systems in the SDGs Era, the Civil Society Advisory Group for the Global Action Plan for Healthier Lives and Well Being as well as the Deliver for Good Campaign Advisory group in Kenya. Angela, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 2018 Goalkeeper is an ardent writer and speaker on matters of accountability in the global health space and has written varied articles on accountability for maternal, newborn, and adolescent health, quality of health care as defined by women and girls self-expressed needs, citizen engagement in the UHC design and implementation, self-care as the root of health care, why we need to decolonize global health, philanthropy and its role in driving quality UHC implementation, why investing in frontline health workers is the best buy and most recently why the COVID-19 response should not overshadow maternal newborn health care among mothers. In 2020, Angela was selected to the joint USAID and Bill and Melinda Gates Global Maternal and Newborn Health Align MNH Steering Committee that seeks to advance learning and investments toward a reduction of the high maternal and newborn health deaths in low and middle-income countries mainly in Africa and Asia and the steering committee for National Advocacy Funding that advocates for national CSOS funding for national-level advocacy for health accountability.

Term Expires: December 31, 2023

Vice-Chair, Membership & Development Committee

Susan L. Polan, Ph.D., is the associate executive director for public affairs and advocacy with the American Public Health Association. She oversees the Association’s departments of government relations and affiliate affairs, communications, and membership. She is responsible for planning and directing APHA’s legislative, regulatory and legal activities, communicating those initiatives and Association news to members and the public, and overseeing membership recruitment and retention and Affiliate, Caucus, and Section relations. Prior to joining APHA, Ms. Polan worked as the director of government relations at the Trust for America’s Health, a public health advocacy organization. There, she served as lead staff lobbyist to Congress, federal agencies, and the administration on priority issues, including public health infrastructure development, and chronic disease prevention, and where she advocated for new funding for a nationwide health tracking network. Ms. Polan has almost two decades of experience in public health, government relations, and associations. She has drafted legislation for Senate consideration on tobacco control and Safe and Drug-Free Schools as an American Association for Advancement of Science Congressional Science and Technology Fellow for the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. She served as director of federal government relations at the American Cancer Society and as president and senior advisor of Partnership for Prevention, where she represented the nonprofit to government officials, congressional offices, the Congressional Prevention Coalition, and other partners. She has also worked as a health policy consultant whose projects included encouraging an increase in funding for environmental health concerns and grant writing for several health clients. Ms. Polan earned her bachelor of science degree in psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She later earned a master’s of science degree in health psychology from San Diego State University and a doctorate in social ecology from the University of California, Irvine.

Term Expires: December 31, 2023

Yvonna Stevens is IYF’s Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President. In this role, she oversees global finance, accounting, compliance, operations, and information technology. She previously served as IYF’s Director, International Finance and Administration from 2007 to 2018, during which time she provided financial management expertise in the oversight of international branch offices, project operations, and regional financial portfolios. Prior to this and since joining IYF in 2001, she worked in a variety of roles diversifying her financial and project experience including Project Finance Officer and Assistant Controller. She has worked in the field of international non-profit finance and operations for 20+ years, and has traveled to support a variety of programs in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East to develop financial management systems, set up infrastructure for international branch offices, and provide capacity strengthening to local community organizations. Before joining IYF, Yvonna worked as a paralegal with a local attorney network. She received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Morgan State University. 

Yvonna volunteers as a Scholars Program Mentor with the Obama Foundation and serves on several boards including Global Health Council, LAYC (Latin American Youth Center) where she is Chair of the Audit Committee, and Poets & Writers. Additionally, Yvonna serves as the USA country representative for IFR4NPO (International Financial Reporting for Non Profit Organizations), a global consortium that advises on the implementation of international financial reporting standards for nonprofit organizations. Yvonna was recognized by Women We Admire as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in Finance 2022.

Term Expires: December 31, 2023

Board Secretary

Carla Eckhardt Taracena is drawing on more than 30 years of experience in nonprofit and organizational management in various leadership roles from Chief Operating Officer in a US healthcare system to Country Director for International NGOs, Carla provides strategic and operational leadership to effectively guide organizations to fulfill their mission.  Carla hopes to help organizations and clinical practices reach larger audiences, contribute to positive social impact, support innovation, build strong teams, and create meaningful solutions to address the societal challenges of our time. Carla holds an MSc in global management from the Robert Kennedy College business school in Zurich and her BA from Yale University. She lives in Palo Alto with her children and her beloved mutt Olive.  While California will always be home, Carla is truly a global citizen at heart.

Term Expires: December 31, 2023