Alliance welcomes two new trustees and says a big thank-you to Jens Van Roey
25 November 2008
The Alliance welcomed two new trustees at its November 2008 board meeting. Kevin Ryan and Fatimata Sy both have extensive HIV experience and joined as another board member Jens Van Roey stepped down after nine years of loyal service.
“We are very pleased to welcome Kevin and Fatimata to the Alliance board and look forward to working with them and benefiting from their years of experience and expertise,” said Alvaro Bermejo, executive director of the Alliance.
Fatimata Sy from Senegal is country director for Family Health International in Ghana. She has 20 years experience in development and public health programming including more than ten years in the HIV response. She has worked for both USAID and the World Bank in Senegal and has considerable experience in design, management and evaluation of programmes in several African countries.
“I’m very excited to be a new trustee for the Alliance. I’m very committed and focused on helping the Alliance reach its goals and contributing to the response to the HIV epidemic. It’s an honour to join the board. I like the ambiance, the frankness and the good relationship between secretariat staff and board,” said Fatimata.
Kevin Ryan is from Australia and the volunteer project director of the global HIV education programme ‘Positive Lives’, as well as a trustee of the HIV information charity NAM. He works as a consultant for a variety of organisations on issues of human rights, advocacy, discrimination and HIV.
Kevin was previously a partner on the international board of a leading London law firm and for many years combined a professional legal career with work as a volunteer lawyer for a variety of organisations.
“It’s humbling to be associated with such a dynamic organisation which creates positive change in the world. It’s the people in the Alliance who have such passion and commitment and I really look forward to working with them,” said Kevin.
After nearly a decade of service the Alliance also thanked Jens Van Roey for all his work as a trustee. Jens has many years experience in healthcare in resource-poor settings and for many years has been an active technical advisor on HIV programmes.
“Jens has really contributed to the growth and development of the Alliance, and on behalf of the organisation I want to thank him for all the years of work and support he has given us, particularly through the development of our current three year strategic framework. His HIV experience, his HIV research and development background, as well as his advocacy know-how have all been a tremendous benefit to the Alliance,” said Alvaro.
