IFFIm’s first Vaccine Bond in 2006 put a simple financing idea into practice. Long-term government pledges could be used to raise money in capital markets, giving Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, earlier access to immunisation funding.

20 years later, IFFIm has delivered US$ 6.5 billion for Gavi-supported programmes, contributing to the immunisation of 278 million additional children. Those results sit within a wider Vaccine Alliance effort that has helped immunise more than 1.2 billion children through routine programmes and avert 20.6 million future deaths.

As IFFIm marks that anniversary, we are using the evidence of those first two decades to think about making the model even more efficient and impactful. Gavi is entering a new strategic period, development finance is under pressure and IFFIm’s own strategic review is considering how the organisation should evolve for the years ahead. As that work continues, we are pleased to welcome Philip Brown, Alex Friedman and Sungsup Ra to the Board.

Welcoming three new perspectives

Philip Brown has seen sustainable debt move from specialist territory into the mainstream of capital markets. Across more than two decades at Citi, he worked with sovereigns, multilateral development banks, public-sector issuers and companies, latterly serving as Head of Sustainable Debt Capital Markets. He co-authored the Green Bond Principles in 2013 and later collaborated with the World Bank on outcome bonds linking fixed-income markets with measurable environmental and social results.

For IFFIm, that experience sits close to a familiar challenge. A financial instrument built around public purpose still has to earn and keep investor confidence.

Alex Friedman has spent much of his career inside leading institutions that look at value from very different vantage points. He has been Global Chief Investment Officer at UBS, Chief Financial Officer of the Gates Foundation and CEO of GAM. Today, as Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Novata, he helps lead a pioneering technology platform driving sustainability improvement in the private markets.

That path gives him an unusual view across institutional investing, philanthropy and impact measurement, all areas that intersect with IFFIm’s own work. Financial strength matters, but so does being able to show clearly what that finance enables.

Sungsup Ra comes to the Board from a career spent closer to the point where finance becomes delivery. Over more than 35 years, including 23 years at the Asian Development Bank, he held senior roles across South Asia, the Pacific and institution-wide operations, with work spanning health, education and wider development priorities. He has also worked extensively with innovative financing, trust funds and large-scale programme delivery.

That perspective is especially relevant to a facility built around timing. Earlier financing creates value when countries and programmes can turn that timing into action.

Looking beyond the anniversary

The three appointments bring those different vantage points into the same conversation. IFFIm, with the support of the World Bank as its Treasury Manager, will remain credible in capital markets, rigorous about impact and responsive to the systems that ultimately use its financing. The Board’s remit spans strategy, Gavi funding requests and financial stewardship, so those questions rarely belong to one discipline alone.

Georgina Baker, Chair of the IFFIm Board, emphasised the importance of these appointments at this crucial time in IFFIm’s history: “As IFFIm enters its third decade, we are challenging ourselves to think about how we can continue to deliver the greatest possible impact for immunisation and global health in an increasingly complex financing environment. The appointment of Philip Brown, Alex Friedman and Sungsup Ra brings the combination of perspectives needed for those discussions. Philip's deep understanding of capital markets and sustainable debt, Alex's experience at the intersection of investment, philanthropy and impact measurement, and Sungsup's expertise in development finance and programme delivery will help inform the questions we are asking about how IFFIm evolves and strengthens its contribution in the years ahead. Their collective experience will be invaluable as we explore new opportunities to maximise impact while building on the model that has helped protect millions of children over the past twenty years.”

We are pleased to have Philip, Alex and Sungsup joining the Board to address the needs of the next 20 years.