For more than a decade, GBCHealth has recognized companies making exemplary achievements in health with the Business Action on Health Awards. As part of our Every Women Every Child commitment, GBCHealth introduced a new award category in 2016, Women and Girls, to recognize companies that have demonstrated leadership and commitment to improving the health and well-being of women and girls, through high-impact, evidence-based health programs. Additionally, we have added a sub-category under Community Programs to focus on the growing impact of private sector engagement on global health security concerns.
Winners are determined through a rigorous evaluation process by an internationally-respected external panel of judges—comprised of experts from across government, multilateral, NGO, academic and business sectors. The wealth of experience and insight of our judges ensures GBCHealth is bestowing the Business Action on Health Awards on the companies that have made the most meaningful impact in driving improvements to health and wellness around the world.
The 2016 Awards Judging Panel:
Partnerships, Community Programs and Workplace & Workforce Engagement
Women & Girls
Judge Biographies:Partnerships, Community Programs and Workplace & Workforce Engagement
Barbara Bulc
Founder and President, Global Development
Barbara Bulc has over 20 years of leadership and advisory experience in business, diplomacy and international development in Europe, the U.S, Africa and Asia. She has been a driving force in catalyzing transformational public-private partnerships in global health to scale up solutions and improve people’s lives. As Senior Advisor and a founding management team member at the Clinton Foundation, she was instrumental in developing the Clinton Health Access Initiative, which provides access to affordable and equitable healthcare in over 60 countries. She was a founding Director of GBCHealth in Geneva and CEO of KRKA Pharmaceuticals in the US. She is a founding member of Friends Africa, a member of the UN Secretary General’s Innovation Working Group, WEF’s Leapfrogging Health Systems Initiative, Board member of D-Tree International and of Japan Institute for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Vanessa Candeias
Head of the Future of Health Initiatives, World Economic Forum
As Head of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the World Economic Forum, Vanessa Candeias leads the portfolio which aims to enable healthy lives and health security for 9.7 billion people by 2050. The program covers 2 pillars: health security (focused on public private cooperation for the prevention and preparedness for epidemics) and healthy lives (focused on public and private cooperation for the prevention of non-communicable diseases). Prior to leading this Practice, Candeias led the portfolio on Healthy Living, Non-Communicable Disease and Ageing which focused on positioning healthy populations as a driver for socioeconomic growth. She previously worked with the World Health Organization in the Department of Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion on policy and programming for primary prevention of noncommunicable diseases through diet and physical activity. Before joining the WHO, Candeias worked on implementing health promotion policies with the Directorate General for Health of the Ministry of Health in Portugal and the Institute of Preventive Medicine of the University of Lisbon.
Adam Flynn
Senior Strategic Communications Manager, Sumitomo Chemical
Adam Flynn is the Senior Strategic Communications Manager for Sumitomo Chemical, one of Japan’s leading chemical companies and a leader in the development and innovation of vector control tools for public health. A delegate of the Global Fund and Roll Back Malaria Partnership for over 10 years, Flynn has seen first-hand how the global community has used data, policy and funding to reduce significantly malaria rates globally. Prior to joining Sumitomo Chemical, Flynn worked for Vodafone bringing consumer products to the African and Middle Eastern markets, as well as Cap Gemini in their EMEA business start-up division.
Celena Green
Independent Consultant
Celena Green helps entrepreneurs and nonprofits to build thriving social enterprises that create shared value and sustainable good. She brings 20 years of experience strengthening nonprofits, associations, and social enterprises in the United States and in Africa, serving women and youth. Most recently, Green served as Director, Africa at Vital Voices Global Partnership, where she led programs serving women leaders in sub-Saharan Africa. She co-developed and led the Vital Voices’ GROW Africa Fellowship, a year-long accelerator program providing leadership and entrepreneurship training, technical assistance, and grants to women entrepreneurs leading small/medium enterprises. Green also developed and led SPARC—Strengthening Public Advocacy for Regional Competitiveness, a four-year public-private partnership providing technical assistance, grants and training to businesswomen’s associations in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, and Nigeria advocating to expand economic opportunity and remove legal barriers for women in business.
Elizabeth Ivanovich
Director of Global Health, United Nations Foundation
As Director of Global Health for the United Nations Foundation, Elizabeth Ivanovich leads the Foundation’s work on Global Fund advocacy and provides technical backstopping to the Nothing But Nets campaign. Before joining UN Foundation, Ivanovich worked as a malaria monitoring and evaluation (M&E) specialist on the USAID-funded MEASURE Evaluation project. She has also previously served as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador, focusing on rural health and sanitation.
Tim Martineau
Chief of Staff, Executive Office, UNAIDS
Tim Martineau joined UNAIDS in 2006, first working as the Director of the Executive Office, before taking up his the position in May 2008 of Director, Program Effectiveness and Efficiency. Returning to the Executive Office as Chief of Staff, Martineau leads the office of the Executive Director promoting and effecting strategies and organization-wide processes to implement the vision of the UNAIDS Executive Director; putting in place practices to enhance collaboration, implementation and performance monitoring; and information sharing within the Secretariat, Regional and Country Offices, Liaison Offices as well as partners. Prior to joining UNAIDS, Martineau worked with the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development in a number of country and regional posts, advising on bilateral health and AIDS programs in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Dr. Nafsiah Mboi
Envoy, Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance; Pediatrician; Former Minister of Health of Indonesia
Prior to her role as Envoy of the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance, Dr. Nafsiah Mboi was Minister of Health of Indonesia (2012-2014), and Chair of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (2013-2015). In addition to extensive community level experience, she has been a national and global leader in health – serving as Director of the Department of Gender and Women’s Health at WHO (1999-2002) and Secretary of Indonesia’s National AIDS Commission (2006-2012) before her appointment as Minister of Health. Having developed her professional career with the Indonesian Ministry of Health for over 40 years, human rights, women and gender rights, and child rights remain central to her professional and personal lives.
Shuma R. Panse
Senior Program Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Shuma Panse is a Senior Program Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the United States’ largest philanthropy focused solely on health. Her work at RWJF focuses on increasing business action to build a Culture of Health and catalyzing cross-sector partnerships that result in healthier communities across the United States.Previously, Panse was director of global programs at GBCHealth, where she advised leading global brands on their workplace health and community investment strategies. As the organization’s global lead for TB and NCD activities, she worked closely with its field offices in South Africa, Kenya, China and Russia to develop innovative member programming and forged partnerships with key global health stakeholders including UN agencies and U.S. government institutions. Panse’s prior work experiences include a fellowship at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Peace Corps, and health departments in New York City, Massachusetts and Louisiana.
Marvi Rebueno-Trudeau
Program Manager, Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc.
Marvi Rebueno-Trudeau heads the Movement Against Malaria, a nation-wide Global Fund-supported malaria program which contributed substantially to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in the country. Her areas of specialization include project management, monitoring and evaluation, strengthening community and health systems. Rebueno-Trudeau also heads the Philippine Business Sector Response to HIV and AIDS, which aims to steer and encourage the private sector in supporting the fight against the disease, and serves as an advocate for children with intellectual disability, women’s health and community missions to address visual impairments.
Dr. Herbert Schilthuis
Global Director of Health and Safety, HEINEKEN
Currently responsible for driving the global health and safety agenda in HEINEKEN, Herbert Schilthuis continues to develop his expertise in infectious diseases, tropical medicine, health promotion and organization of health care. He has been supervising medical care for Heineken employees and their family members in Africa, including the Joep Lange HEINEKEN HIV Workplace Program and advising the Heineken operating companies in Africa on health and safety since 2007. Previous to joining Heineken, Schilthuis worked for the Netherlands’ Health Inspectorate, supervising public health across the country, founded the National Coordination Centre for Travel Health, served on Amsterdam’s Municipal Public Health Department, and worked for Médecins Sans Frontières in South Sudan and Cambodia.
Rima Shretta
MEI Deputy Lead for Finance and Policy, Global Health Group, University of California, San Francisco
Rima Shretta leads the MEI’s work on economics, financing and policy, in order to maintain and increase political and financial commitment for malaria elimination at national, regional and global levels. With over 14 years of experience in global health, strengthening health systems to improve access to medicines and medical products in low and middle income economies, Shretta has extensive experience in providing strategic guidance to pharmaceutical systems in Africa, Asia and Latin America in the areas of policy change, capacity building, development of tools and training materials and operational systems particularly in support of malaria programs. Her interest lies in using evidence based and innovative approaches to inform policy and practice. She serves on various advisory groups, working groups and committees including the ACTWatch Advisory Committee, Roll Back Malaria Board, the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP) II Task Force and has been part of the Global Fund Technical Resource Panel.
Judge Biographies: Women & Girls
Sheetal Bhadekar
Senior Corporate Affairs Manager, DSM North America
As Senior Corporate Affairs Manager at DSM North America, Sheetal Bhadekar is responsible for sustainability, culture change, and managing partnerships such as with the United Nations World Food Program and Department of Energy. She has completed a strategic project at DSM to build a nutrition business model in India to address malnutrition issues in women and children at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP).
Ruchi Dass
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, HealthCursor Consulting Group
Dr. Ruchi Dass is the Founder & CEO of HealthCursor, and is regarded as one of the leading global innovators in both Healthcare ICT and public health. She has embraced technology for the deployment of health services in developing countries and has been involved in several projects that seek to use mobile phones and wireless technologies to accelerate the achievement of the United Nation’s health-related Millennium Development Goals. Dass has previously held innovation roles with Apollo Group of Hospitals, World Health Organization, BOSCH, Commonwealth Connects Program, Religare Technologies and ASHOKA. Her many innovations have received international recognitions, most notably by the GSMA, IPIHD (World Economic Forum) and TED.
Frances Ganges
Chief Executive, International Confederation of Midwives
Frances Ganges brings vast global experience to the position of Chief Executive of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM). She has honed her expertise working in different settings and fulfilling different roles, including project manager, educator, advisor and clinician. Ganges has worked with a number of global agencies and prior to ICM, held the position of Technical Director at the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood. As well as being a midwife, Ganges holds an MPH from Johns Hopkins University. Born and raised in the USA, she has spent a significant amount of time living and working in the eastern-southern Africa region.
Sandii Lwin
Founder & Managing Director, Myanmar Health and Development Consortium
Sandii Lwin, founder and Managing Director of Myanmar Health and Development Consortium, is a public health specialist with over twenty years of experience in the international health and development area with regional and country operational experience in more than 20 countries across 6 regions. She previously worked for a number of organizations including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, International Monetary Fund, and National Network of Asian and Pacific Women.
Lwin served on the Roll Back Malaria Partnership Board from 2005-2008, represented the Global Fund as Speaker at the 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in October 2010, and served on WHO Global Technical Steering Committee for Malaria Control and Elimination (2016-2030). She is currently serving on the Board of Myanmar Business Coalition for AID; PATH’s Executive Working Committee for Myanmar; and Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance Regional Financing Task Force hosted by Asian Development Bank. Lwin is also a Charter Member of the Yangon Rotary Club.
Halima Mwenesi
Director, Infectious Diseases Division, Global Health Population and Nutrition, FHI 360
Dr. Halima Mwenesi brings immense expertise in research, program implementation and policy advocacy to the office of Director of Infectious Diseases Division for Global Health Population and Nutrition at FHI 360.
Over the years, Halima has been technical lead and overall director of 3 large and complex projects, coordinated research in 24 countries in Africa; worked with 49 ministries of health, research institutions as well as universities; and built lasting partnerships in the process. She has previously served FHI 360/AED in various capacities including as Director Public Policy Initiatives, Center for Health Policy and Capacity Development (CHPCD), GHPN; and Project Director, Malaria Taxes and Tariffs Advocacy Project (M-TAP).
Eric Ostern
Director of Global Partnerships for Health & Well-being, Unilever
Eric Ostern is responsible for developing partnerships that drive transformational change and support Unilever’s goal of helping more than 1 billion people improve their health and well-being. Additionally, he is responsible for managing relationships with global stakeholders in North America around Unilever’s sustainability agenda. Ostern is a key member of Unilever’s brand and business teams, providing on-going counsel and support. Prior to joining Unilever, Ostern spent more than a decade in a Fortune 10 corporation where he managed corporate responsibility strategies and programs.
Susan Rae Ross
Senior Private Sector Partnership Advisor at Global Health Bureau, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
With over 20 years of experience in Africa and Asia, Susan Rae Ross is a highly regarded multi-sector partnership expert, international health and development specialist, author and speaker. As the Senior Private Sector Partnership Advisor for USAID/Global Health, Ross engages with the private sector to facilitate successful cross-sector partnerships to achieve USAID’s development objective of ending preventable maternal and child deaths by 2030.
Ross’ award winning book, Expanding the Pie: Fostering Effective NonProfit and Corporate Partnerships, provides a meta-analysis of successful partnership cases studies from around the world and articulates a step-by-step decision-making framework on how to select and manage partnerships.
Patrik Silborn
Department Director, Private Sector Engagement and Innovative Financing, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Patrik Silborn works to secure contributions from private corporations, private foundations and high-net worth individuals as Head of Private Sector Engagement Department in the External Relations Division of the Global Fund. The Department leads the Innovation Hub—a partnership platform to engage business and other actors to support program implementation and strengthening country systems—as well as the Global Fund’s work on the development of innovative financing models.
Silborn has been at the Global Fund since 2007. Prior to taking on his current position in 2014, he served as a Senior Fund Portfolio Manager managing Global Fund investments in a number of countries in Southern and Eastern Africa. On his watch, Rwanda launched a first-of-its-kind grant with the Global Fund with evaluation and future disbursements directly tied to key outcome and impact indicators, known as results-based funding. Before joining the Global Fund, Silborn worked at Accenture and at the United Nations Development Program, both in the field and at headquarters.
Anastasia Thatcher
Global Health Lead, Partnership Services, Accenture Development Partnerships
Anastasia Thatcher is the Global Lead for Partnership Services at Accenture Development Partnerships, an impact consulting practice. In her career, she has facilitated dozens of multi-stakeholder partnerships—to strengthen healthcare infrastructure, build health worker capacity, create access to medicines, address nutrition challenges and create sustainable livelihoods. Thatcher works with INGOs, UN agencies, faith-based organizations and companies across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She is committed to collaborating to address the challenges that most impact the lives of women and girls.
Janeen Uzzell
Global Director of Operations, Global Research and External Affairs and Technology Programs (EATP), General Electric (GE)
As Global Director, Janeen Uzzell directs and oversees $100M P&L, and all operational and business development models of external funding for Technology Programs while carrying out the strategy and vision of the EATP organization. She and her team lead portfolios of GE core technologies (healthcare, aviation, energy, transportation) as well as new, innovative technologies funded by global commercial partnerships, external relationships and US and Global governments.
As a pioneer with the $6 billion healthymagination initiative since 2009, Uzzell spearheaded the design and positioning of the rural health platform for India and Asia, and in 2012 she expanded her focus in Africa. She has been a lead advocate in positioning GE as a trusted advisor in rural health. Uzzell strategizes with Ministries of Health, Heads of State, and global partners on how to best align GE’s innovation to solve global health challenges and expand access to healthcare through “disruptive” models. Her strategic focus on healthcare solutions in low resource settings has earned her leadership roles on United Nations and Global Health councils. She co-authored joint publications focused on maternal and newborn health.