Charles Lyons

President and Chief Executive Officer

President and Chief Executive Officer Charles Lyons joined EGPAF in 2010 after many years managing and developing programs for leading global nonprofits. With a professional emphasis on children’s welfare, HIV/AIDS, and global development, Lyons brings a deep commitment to support those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. In his role as President and CEO, Lyons is responsible for the strategic, programmatic, fundraising, financial, and management operations of the organization.

Prior to joining EGPAF, Lyons was director of special initiatives in the Global Development Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he led a team dedicated to global poverty reduction. Prior to his work at the Gates Foundation, Lyons spent more than 20 years in increasingly prominent roles with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), to include program officer, UNICEF Mozambique; chief of staff to the executive director at UNICEF headquarters; and president and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. A longtime advocate for global health, he is a member of the Human Rights Watch Health and Human Rights Advisory Committee and worked from its inception to develop the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), serving on the Board of the GAVI Fund and chairing its executive committee from 2004 to 2006.

In September 2011, Lyons was appointed by President Barack Obama as U.S. Alternate Representative to the UNICEF Executive Board.

Lyons studied political economy at the New School for Social Research in New York and has a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College in Minnesota.