Ilze Melngailis

Ilze Melngailis leads Global Business Coalition's "efforts to devise and deliver "Impact Initiatives" through global teams of member companies and strategic partners. These teams comprise a mix of multiple private-sector players together with appropriate NGO, government, and local partners focused on a clear, high-impact objective. The Impact Initiatives program was created at the behest of members, who believe that cross-functional, multiple partner collaborative programs are critical to evolving business action to a higher, results-intensive level.

"Committed to applying business approaches to international development, Ilze's career has focused on improving public health through social marketing and public private partnerships. Most recently, she led GBC's Corporate Strategies and Member Services department, overseeing GBC's membership engagement with our services and programs at the headquarters and regional levels.

"Prior to joining GBC, Ilze was Senior Technical Advisor of Marketing and Promotion for the USAID-funded ACQUIRE Project at EngenderHealth in New York. In this position, she directed the behavior change component of ACQUIRE and led the project's social marketing technical work. That work helped to improve access to family planning and reproductive health services in nine countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

"Prior to that role, she worked for the International Planned Parenthood Federation's headquarters in London and in New York (for Latin America), brokering partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, developing business and sustainability plans for NGOs and health care clinics, and developing private label contraceptive social marketing brands and communications campaigns. She also led the International Consortium for Emergency Contraception for two years and is the founder and first Executive Director of Latvia's Association for Family Planning and Sexual Health.

"Ilze has worked in or with over 31 countries throughout her career, has basic proficiency in Spanish and French, and is fluent in Latvian. She has an MBA from Yale University, specializing in competitive strategy and marketing, and a BA in Psychology from McGill University in Montreal."