Mark Suzman is Managing Director for International Policy and Programs at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In that capacity he leads a team that helps build strategic relationships with governments, NGOs and other key partners to increase awareness, action, and resources devoted to global development and health priorities. He also oversees the foundation’s regional offices and strategic presence in Africa, China, and India focused on strengthening governmental and other key partnerships to help ensure all people have the opportunity to live a healthy and productive life.
Suzman joined the foundation in 2007, where he initially served as Director of Global Development Policy, Advocacy, & Special Initiatives. From 2005 to 2007, Suzman was the senior advisor for policy and strategic communications in the Office of the Secretary General at the United Nations (U.N.) where he worked primarily on reform and modernization of the United Nations system. From 2000 to 2005, Suzman served at the United Nations Development Program as policy director in the Office of the Administrator, helping develop and implement an ambitious overhaul of the organization and develop a new focus on areas like democratic governance and the Millennium Development Goals. Prior to working for the U.N., he was a correspondent for the Financial Times in Johannesburg, South Africa; London; and Washington D.C, working on issues ranging from the White House and international trade policy to welfare reform and the election of Nelson Mandela as President in South Africa.
Originally from South Africa, Suzman holds a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He earned his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Harvard University. He serves as a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Executive Council on Development and the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Poverty & Sustainable Development.