CGIAR appoints Guillaume Grosso as Deputy Executive Managing Director

15 December 2023, France: CGIAR, the world’s largest publicly-funded agrifood system research network, has appointed Guillaume Grosso as CGIAR Deputy Executive Managing Director. In the newly created role, Mr. Grosso will focus on driving strategy and operations to mobilize resources and increase impact as CGIAR works towards a food, nutrition and climate-secure future for all.

Mr. Grosso has served in leadership roles across multilateral institutions, non-profit organizations and the private sector, most recently as Director, Private Sector and Sovereign Engagement, Donor Relations and Campaigns at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. He has also served as Co-Chair of several international summits on global health. Mr. Grosso will take up the new role in Montpellier on 6 January 2024, reporting to Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, CGIAR Executive Managing Director.

Dr. Elouafi said, “We look forward to welcoming Guillaume Grosso into this important role. Mr Grosso’s strong strategic, operational and leadership skills will support the One CGIAR integration that brings together global research centers to maximize impact on some of the world’s most urgent challenges. His resource mobilization track record will boost our investment campaign, which is designed to support our mission to deliver science and innovation to transform food, land and water systems in a climate crisis.”

CGIAR brings together more than 9,000 staff across research centers in over 80 countries to deliver a food, nutrition and climate-secure future. CGIAR works with over 3,000 partners to empower small-scale farmers and consumers in low- and middle-income countries, equipping them with the tools and technologies they need to adapt and thrive.

The CGIAR global campaign, which launched at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, aims to boost investment in the science and innovations that are key to transforming fragile food, land and water systems and tackling climate change.

Mr. Grosso said, “There has never been a greater need for the science and innovation CGIAR delivers to meet the challenges of climate change and food insecurity. I am honored to be joining the organization as it integrates its operations and gears up funding to deliver the solutions and impact that the world so urgently needs.”

Biography

Mr. Grosso has founded or helped grow several organizations and public-private partnerships, shaping strategies, engaging in successful policy dialogue, securing multi-billion-dollar funding, and driving critical institutional reform.

• Most recently, he served in several positions in the Gavi leadership team, overseeing the department in charge of sovereign and private sector engagement, donor relations and campaigns.
• He has been involved in key international conferences as Co-Chair, including as Co-Chair of the 2023 Global Vaccine Impact Summit. In 2022, he was Co-Chair of the Break COVID Now! Summit against the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the biggest vaccine rollout in history, and in 2020 he was Co-Chair of the Global Vaccine Summit, where governments and the private sector pledged a record $8.8 billion to immunize 300 million children globally against killer diseases.
• As sherpa and senior negotiator, Mr. Grosso also led high-level political engagement to help position development and health issues with the G7, G20 and other forums.
• He also oversaw the design and upscaling of several innovative financial mechanisms for development and secured significant donor commitments towards the International Finance Facility for Immunization.
• In addition to his mandate with Gavi, Mr. Grosso is a member of the Boards of France Medias Monde, which includes French public radio and TV channels RFI and France 24, and The World Association of Children’s Friends, HRH Princess Caroline of Monaco’s organization for children’s rights. He also served as Non-Executive Director for The Education Commission, chaired by The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, until it concluded its work in June 2023.
• Before joining Gavi, Mr. Grosso founded and was the inaugural Director of ONE France, a nonprofit he launched under the impetus of U2’s lead singer and activist, Bono. Prior to that, he worked as COO and Policy Counsellor at the OECD Development Centre, where he was in charge of a significant change management effort. He also served at the African Development Bank, where he notably helped establish the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa launched at the Gleneagles G8 Summit.
• Mr. Grosso’s career began in banking at Société Générale and strategy consulting with the Boston Consulting Group.
• Mr. Grosso has contributed to numerous working groups and reflections on development and international solidarity issues, authored various opinion pieces, and is regularly invited to give university lectures. He is a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Arts and was awarded the 2021 Force for Good Award in recognition of his “leadership,” “exemplary social impact,” and “exceptional achievements” in the service of the common good.
• Mr. Grosso is a graduate of Ecole des Mines de Paris and Collège des Ingénieurs and holds an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD. He is married and the father of two children.

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