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Gayle Smith
Gayle Smith
President and CEO of the ONE Campaign
	In office; March 28, 2017 – January 1, 2024
Preceded by	Michael J. Elliott
Succeeded by	John Spears (Acting)
17th Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development
	In office; December 2, 2015 – January 20, 2017
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Al Lenhardt (Acting)
Succeeded by	Wade Warren (Acting)
Personal details
Born	Gayle Elizabeth Smith; February 23, 1956 (age 68)
Political party	Democratic
Education	University of Colorado, Boulder (BA)

Gayle Elizabeth Smith (born February 23, 1956)^[1] is the former CEO of the One Campaign.^[2] Smith was formerly Coordinator for Global COVID Response and Health Security at the U.S. Department of State.^[3] and was the former Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Early life and education

Smith is from Bexley, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.^[4]

In 1974, Smith graduated from Bexley High School.^[1]^[5] In 1978, she received a B.A. from the University of Colorado Boulder in English.^[4]

Career

After college, Smith worked as a journalist for over 20 years, where she was based in Africa and wrote for publications like BBC News and the Financial Times.^[6]

From 1994 to 1998, Smith served as Senior Advisor to the Administrator and Chief of Staff for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).^[6]

From 1998 to 2001, she was Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton and Senior Director for African Affairs at the U.S. National Security Council.^[6]^[7]

In 2001, Smith became a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.^[8] As part of this position, she worked on the Sustainable Security Project and co-founded the Enough Project, working as Co-Chair, as well as the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network. The ENOUGH Project was created to end genocide and crimes against humanity.^[6]

From 2005 to 2007, Smith was the Chairman of the Working Group Chair on Global Poverty for the Clinton Global Initiative.^[6]

In 2009, Smith joined the U.S. National Security Council, where she was Special Assistant to President Obama and Senior Director for Development and Democracy, where her focus was on global development and humanitarian assistance.

On April 30, 2015, President Obama announced his nomination of Smith to be the new administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),^[9] to succeed Dr. Rajiv Shah, who resigned the post in February 2015.^[10] Despite some opposition to her appointment,^[11] and a delayed Senate confirmation,^[12]^[13] Smith was confirmed on November 30, 2015.^[14]^[15]

As Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Smith's focus was on development and international affairs.

Smith has worked as a consultant to various non-governmental agencies like the Cooperation Canada (formerly the Canadian Council for International Cooperation), Dutch Interchurch Aid, Norwegian Church Relief, UNICEF, the World Bank, among others.

On March 28, 2017, Smith joined the Bono's ONE Campaign, succeeding Michael J. Elliott.

On March 5, 2021, it was announced that Smith would be the coordinator of the global COVID response and health security at the U.S. Department of State,^[3] where she focused on COVID financing, capacity, and global efforts to distribute COVID vaccines equitably.^[16] As part of this program, Smith worked on the 2021 COVAX Investment Opportunity, an approach to funding the World Health Organization's COVAX Facility, which provides vaccinations to low- and middle-income countries.^[17] She returned to ONE on December 6, 2021.^[18]

Selected membership

Acumen Fund, Acumen Fund Advisory Council^[19]
Africa-America Institute, Board Member^[20]
Center for a New American Security, Advisory Board Member
ASSET Campaign, Founding Board Member^[21]
Council on Foreign Relations, Board Member
DATA/ONE Campaign, Advisory Board Member
Global Fairness Initiative, Advisory Board Member
National Security Network, Board Member
Oxfam America, Board Member^[22]
USA for Africa, Board Member

Selected awards

1989: World Affairs Council, World Journalism Award^[7]
1991: World Hunger Year Award^[7]
1999: U.S. National Security Council, Samuel Nelson Drew Award for Distinguished Contribution in Pursuit of Global Peace^[7]

Selected works and publications

Sinai, Nick; Smith, Gayle (6 December 2013). "The United States Releases its Second Open Government National Action Plan". Whitehouse.gov.
Smith, Gayle (6 November 2014). "Hailing the Contributions of the Private and Non-Profit Sectors to the Ebola Fight". Whitehouse.gov.
Smith, Gayle E. (11 October 2017). "This year, The Day of the Girl is marked by a state of emergency". CNN.
Smith, Gayle E. (21 August 2018). "Lessons from Mandela: Making humility count again". The East African.
Smith, Gayle E. (28 March 2019). "Cyclone-lashed southern Africa needs more support for recovery". Axios.
Smith, Gayle E. (16 July 2019). "The U.S. Helped Defeat Ebola in 2014. Now, We're Watching a Crisis Become a Catastrophe". Time.
Finucane, Anne; Smith, Gayle E. (1 December 2020). "Commentary: Don't let the COVID crisis reverse our progress in fighting AIDS". Fortune.
Smith, Gayle (22 December 2020). "To End a Global Pandemic, We Need Global Solutions: In My View". Development Co-operation Report 2020: Learning from Crises, Building Resilience. Development Co-operation Report. Paris: OECD Publishing: 47–49. doi:10.1787/20747721. ISBN 978-92-64-48131-2.
Smith, Gayle E. (4 March 2021). "Development Depends on More Than Aid". Foreign Affairs.

References

^ ^a ^b Bexley High School 1974 Yearbook. 1974. p. 47.
^ "ONE Campaign Announces CEO Gayle Smith to Step Down in January 2024". Retrieved 13 November 2023.
^ ^a ^b Blinken, Antony J. (5 April 2021). "Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Press on the COVID Response". U.S. Department of State.
^ ^a ^b Unger, Mike (1 September 2016). "Everywhere and Anywhere". Alumni Association.
^ Glasgow, Pamela (14 October 2019). "Five Named as Bexley High School Distinguished Alumni" (PDF). Bexley Education Foundation.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Gayle Smith, Co-Chair of the Enough Project" (PDF). Enough Project.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Gayle Smith". Obama Whitehouse.gov. 17 November 2011.
^ "Gayle Smith". Center for American Progress.
^ Smith, Gayle E. (17 June 2015). "Statement for the Record of Gayle E. Smith, Nominee for Administrator, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee". U.S. Agency for International Development.
^ Cooper, Helene (30 April 2015). "Obama Nominates Gayle Smith to Lead U.S.A.I.D." The New York Times.
^ Winsor, Morgan (20 May 2015). "Amid Ethiopia Elections 2015, Obama's USAID Nominee Gayle Smith Slammed For Supporting Africa's Repressive Regimes". International Business Times.
^ Hulse, Carl (11 September 2015). "Partisan Tussle Keeps Top U.S. Aid Job Vacant". The New York Times.
^ de Waal, Alex (15 June 2015). "Open Letter to Gayle Smith, Nominee for USAID Administrator". Boston Review.
^ Nixon, Ron (1 December 2015). "Senate Confirms Gayle E. Smith as Head of U.S.A.I.D." The New York Times.
^ Kerry, John (30 November 2015). "U.S. Senate's Confirmation of Gayle Smith as Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development". U.S. Department of State.
^ Finegan, Conor (6 April 2021). "Blinken taps COVID coordinator as US prepares to pivot to sharing vaccines overseas". ABC News.
^ Jakes, Lara (5 April 2021). "Gayle Smith, who helped lead the U.S. response to Ebola, will run Biden's vaccine diplomacy". The New York Times.
^ "ONE statement on Gayle Smith's return as CEO". The ONE Campaign.
^ "Five Year Report 2001-2006" (PDF). Acumen Fund. March 2013.
^ "Leadership". The Africa-America Institute.
^ "Who We Are: Founding Board". Asset Campaign.
^ "Creating Peace". OXFAMExchange. Oxfam America. Winter 2007.

External links

Gayle Smith on Twitter
Appearances on C-SPAN
Gayle Smith's Subject Files, 2009 - 2017 at the U.S. National Archives

Political offices
Preceded by Al Lenhardt Acting	Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development 2015–2017	Succeeded by Wade Warren Acting

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