Delivering on the Alliance Mission: Thoughts from the CEO (Interim)

David Marlow on what’s at the forefront of his mind as he takes up his new position leading the Gavi Secretariat.

8 August 2023
3 min read
by David Marlow
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<article> <h1> <span>Delivering on the Alliance Mission: Thoughts from the CEO (Interim)</span> </h1> <div><p>David Marlow on what’s at the forefront of his mind as he takes up his new position leading the Gavi Secretariat.</p> </div> <ul> <li> <b>8 August 2023</b> </li> <li> <b class="me-2">by</b> <span> <a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/authors/david-marlow" hreflang="en">David Marlow</a> </span> </li> </ul> <figure> <img src="https://www.gavi.org/sites/default/files/vaccineswork/2023/Header/RS40990_David-Marlow-_ACK0547_h1.jpg" width="1080" height="720" alt="David Marlow. Credit: Gavi/2023" loading="lazy"> <figcaption>David Marlow. Credit: Gavi/2023</figcaption> </figure> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <p> </p> <p>I am excited and humbled to start my interim assignment as CEO of Gavi, working with an Alliance that has already contributed so much to global health and has so much more to give. As I look to the Alliance’s even greater ambition for the years ahead, I am optimistic about what we can achieve together in the coming months.</p> <blockquote> <h2>As an Alliance, we have worked tirelessly through the years to reach and protect over a billion children, and lead a historic pandemic response, but we are all aware there are many more children and communities left behind.</h2> </blockquote> <p>During my tenure, I will focus on supporting the organisation in maintaining a laser-sharp focus on executing its current mission, setting an ambitious strategy for the 2026-2030 period defined and approved by the Gavi Board, and ensuring Gavi is properly resourced to accomplish our work in the coming years.</p> <p>The Secretariat’s leadership team’s roles and responsibilities will be aligned to these three priorities. To further ensure we deliver, we will double down on transparency, focus on having clear internal structures and governance, and strengthen our internal processes to track and monitor progress – to ensure ownership and accountability of our collective performance. In doing so, we will work through the Gavi Secretariat and draw on expertise from our Alliance partners to ensure we meet our ambitious programmatic goals.</p> <div> <h4>Have you read?</h4> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/vaccines-could-prevent-half-million-deaths-linked-drug-resistance-year" title="Vaccines could prevent half a million deaths linked with drug resistance a year">Vaccines could prevent half a million deaths linked with drug resistance a year</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/everything-you-need-know-about-hpv-vaccine" title="Everything you need to know about the HPV vaccine">Everything you need to know about the HPV vaccine</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/three-things-need-be-included-new-pandemic-accord" title="Three things that need to be included in the new Pandemic Accord">Three things that need to be included in the new Pandemic Accord</a></li> </ul> </div> <p>Since last year, I have spearheaded Gavi’s Operational Excellence (OE) work – our efforts to simplify day-to-day Alliance processes to help carry out our mission more effectively and efficiently. In a time of multiple priorities, this work will be essential to the Alliance’s ability to support countries to deliver immunisation. I will continue to provide strategic oversight to this work, which focuses on Gavi culture, strategic workforce planning, integrated data and analytics capabilities, and increased transparency and objective reporting across the Alliance.</p> <p>In my first days in this interim role, I want to take this opportunity to reassure all of our partners and stakeholders that our leadership team remains deeply and firmly committed to the Gavi mission. As an Alliance, we have worked tirelessly through the years to reach and protect over a billion children, and lead a historic pandemic response, but we are all aware there are many more children and communities left behind. These are some of the most vulnerable people in the world, and our country-focused work is essential to increasing their chances at living longer, healthier, and more productive lives. This continues to be my driving force and ambition as I lead the organisation into 2024.</p> <p>Finally, I want to reflect on the strength of Gavi as an Alliance – we would be nothing without our core partners, governments of both Gavi implementing countries and donors, private sector and philanthropic partners, civil society, vaccine manufacturers, academia and other health actors. Each of our Alliance members in our global health ecosystem plays a critical role in helping deliver on the Gavi mission. My personal commitment is always to listen and be open to constructive feedback from our partners, contributors, and supporters, ultimately acting in the best interest of the Alliance and our vital collective work.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <p> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/delivering-alliances-mission-thoughts-ceo-interim">Original article</a> </p><p>This article was originally published on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork">VaccinesWork</a> </p><script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src= 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f); })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-M7H54VD');</script><noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-M7H54VD" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript></article>

David Marlow. Credit: Gavi/2023

I am excited and humbled to start my interim assignment as CEO of Gavi, working with an Alliance that has already contributed so much to global health and has so much more to give. As I look to the Alliance’s even greater ambition for the years ahead, I am optimistic about what we can achieve together in the coming months.

As an Alliance, we have worked tirelessly through the years to reach and protect over a billion children, and lead a historic pandemic response, but we are all aware there are many more children and communities left behind.

During my tenure, I will focus on supporting the organisation in maintaining a laser-sharp focus on executing its current mission, setting an ambitious strategy for the 2026-2030 period defined and approved by the Gavi Board, and ensuring Gavi is properly resourced to accomplish our work in the coming years.

The Secretariat’s leadership team’s roles and responsibilities will be aligned to these three priorities. To further ensure we deliver, we will double down on transparency, focus on having clear internal structures and governance, and strengthen our internal processes to track and monitor progress – to ensure ownership and accountability of our collective performance. In doing so, we will work through the Gavi Secretariat and draw on expertise from our Alliance partners to ensure we meet our ambitious programmatic goals.

Have you read?

Since last year, I have spearheaded Gavi’s Operational Excellence (OE) work – our efforts to simplify day-to-day Alliance processes to help carry out our mission more effectively and efficiently. In a time of multiple priorities, this work will be essential to the Alliance’s ability to support countries to deliver immunisation. I will continue to provide strategic oversight to this work, which focuses on Gavi culture, strategic workforce planning, integrated data and analytics capabilities, and increased transparency and objective reporting across the Alliance.

In my first days in this interim role, I want to take this opportunity to reassure all of our partners and stakeholders that our leadership team remains deeply and firmly committed to the Gavi mission. As an Alliance, we have worked tirelessly through the years to reach and protect over a billion children, and lead a historic pandemic response, but we are all aware there are many more children and communities left behind. These are some of the most vulnerable people in the world, and our country-focused work is essential to increasing their chances at living longer, healthier, and more productive lives. This continues to be my driving force and ambition as I lead the organisation into 2024.

Finally, I want to reflect on the strength of Gavi as an Alliance – we would be nothing without our core partners, governments of both Gavi implementing countries and donors, private sector and philanthropic partners, civil society, vaccine manufacturers, academia and other health actors. Each of our Alliance members in our global health ecosystem plays a critical role in helping deliver on the Gavi mission. My personal commitment is always to listen and be open to constructive feedback from our partners, contributors, and supporters, ultimately acting in the best interest of the Alliance and our vital collective work.