Helene D. Gayle

Under Gayle's leadership, CARE introduced three signature programs as part of its "Pathway to Empowerment." "Mothers Matter" focuses on child and maternal health, seeking to improve access to safe pregnancy and delivery services for 30 million women in Africa, Asia, and Latin America by 2015. "Power Within" focuses on girls' education, seeking to empower 10 million girls around the world to access quality primary education and gain leadership skills by 2015. And "Access Africa" focuses on microfinancing, seeking to ensure that 30 million people in 39 countries have access to a set of basic financial services by the next decade.

In 2015, Gayle became inaugural CEO of McKinsey Social Initiative (now McKinsey.org), a nonprofit organization that implements programs that bring together varied stakeholders to address complex global and social challenges. As the inaugural CEO, Dr. Gayle set the direction for building the organization. McKinsey Social Initiative's first program, Generation, addresses the problem of youth unemployment, with programs in five countries—India, Kenya, Mexico, Spain, and the United States—and a goal of connecting one million young people with skills and jobs in five years.

In 2015 she signed an open letter which the ONE Campaign had been collecting signatures for; the letter was addressed to Angela Merkel and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the head of the G7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa respectively, which will start to set the priorities in development funding before a main UN summit in September 2015 that will establish new development goals for the generation.

Gayle has published numerous scientific articles and been featured by media outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, ForbesWoman, Glamour, O magazine, National Public Radio, and CNN. Starting in June 2009, Gayle served as co-chair of the Center for Strategic & International Studies Commission on Smart Global Health Policy alongside four star Admiral William J. Fallon.

In 2005, Gayle became president and CEO of CARE, a leading international humanitarian organization with approximately 10,000 staff whose poverty-fighting programs have reached 82 million people in 87 countries. After joining CARE in 2006, Gayle led efforts to reinforce CARE’s commitment to empowering girls and women to bring lasting change to poor communities. Under her leadership, CARE strengthened its focus on long-term impact, increased policy and advocacy efforts and deepened connections between poverty and the environment. Gayle leveraged the power of CARE’s corporate and NGO partners to significantly expand CARE’s reach across the globe.

Helene D. Gayle (born August 16, 1955), is an American doctor who is the CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, one of the nation’s leading community foundations. The Trust works with donors, nonprofits, community leaders and residents to lead and inspire philanthropic efforts that improve the quality of life for the residents of the Chicago region. She was president and CEO of McKinsey Social Initiative (now McKinsey.org) and the humanitarian organization CARE from 2006 to 2015. Gayle previously directed the HIV, TB, and Reproductive Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and spent 20 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), focusing primarily on HIV/AIDS.