Africare, the nation's oldest and largest African-American founded organization providing assistance to Africa, announced Robert L. Mallett will become the fourth President in the organization's 45-year history.
Mallett, who will leave his position as President and CEO at Accordia Global Health Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping Africa overcome the burden of infectious diseases by building centers of excellence and strengthening healthcare systems through training, research and evidence based solutions. He will begin his tenure immediately at Africare, leading the organization's current portfolio of programs in 12 African countries. Mallett's selection culminates an extensive five-month search for a new president by members of the Africare Board of Directors with the sup-port of members of the organization's Senior Leadership Team.
"We are confident Robert is the right leader at the right time for Africare," said Stephen D. Cashin, Chairman of the Board at Africare and CEO at Pan African Capital Group, LLC. "At this time of fierce competition for resources, Africare requires a leader who can clearly communicate and demon-strate the organization's leadership and knowledge of Africa's complex issues to partners and do-nors in both the public and private sectors. We believe Robert is uniquely qualified for this challenge."
As Africare's president, Mallett will be responsible for developing a strategic vision for the organi-zation in a new environment for development assistance. He will articulate to stakeholders, old and new, Africare's unique guiding philosophy and value proposition. At the same time, Mallett must align and improve Africare's management structure and operating systems to meet the demands of 21st century development priorities, making sure that the organization's well-known technical ca-pabilities continue to result in program excellence that reflects Africare's leadership role in con-tributing to the social and economic development of Africa.
"I am looking forward to working alongside the Board, professional staff and supporters of Africare, all of whom, with other great leaders of Africare, have invested in Africa's future for nearly half a century," said Mallett. "I am excited about the opportunity to ensure that the organization sustains its important work for the next generation of African children and leadership."
Mallett brings to Africare a diverse background in law, government, public policy, healthcare and international development. Prior to his leadership of Accordia, he was a senior corporate executive at two of the world's largest companies. He was Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the Public & Senior Markets Group at United Healthcare, the largest private healthcare insurer in the United States. At Pfizer Inc, the global pharmaceutical company, Mallett served as a senior vice president and corporate officer of the company.
Among his several executive leadership roles at Pfizer, Mallett served as head of corporate philan-thropy and President of the Pfizer Foundation where he developed, managed, and successfully led several development assistance programs in Africa and other parts of the world. Mallett has also been in private practice at international law firms in the United States, and he served in former President Bill Clinton's administration as Acting Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce .
Mallett is a graduate of Morehouse College and received a law degree from Harvard University.
About Africare
Africare is a leading non-governmental organization (NGO) committed to addressing African devel-opment and policy issues by working in partnership with African people to build sustainable, healthy and productive communities. Since 1970, Africare has benefited tens of millions of men, women and children through thousands of projects across 36 countries in Africa by integrating our community-based core expertise with our technical specialties of Agriculture and Health, and al-ways prioritizing the cross-cutting themes of Economic Development; Nutrition; Water, Sanitation & Hygiene; Women's Empowerment; and Youth Empowerment. Visit www.africare.org for more information.
Media Contacts:
Rand Walton
Public Relations Advisor Phone: 804-647-4526 Email: rwalton@africare.org
