Jason Taylor Wright

Education

I earned a Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS), distinction; a Master of Arts (MA) in History, distinction; and a Certificate in German Public and International Affairs from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts (BA), summa cum laude, in Political Economy and German Language and Literature with a Minor in Political Science from Tulane University. More recently, I earned a Certificate in Applied Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Strategies from Brown University.

Summary

I have 25 years of global health and development leadership and management experience with the U.S. Government, international organizations, and both non-profit and for-profit implementing partners. I have been both a Civil Servant and a Foreign Service Officer.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

I staffed the Health Committees of the U.S.-Russia (Gore-Chernomyrdin/Putin) Binational Commission and the U.S.-South Africa (Gore-Mbeki/Zuma) Binational Commission. I established and drafted the first annual report of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission (USMBHC). I represented HHS on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Special 301 Subcommittee on intellectual property rights (IPRs). 

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

I was USAID Bureau for Global Health (GH) Donor Coordination Advisor and Office of HIV/AIDS (OHA) Multilateral Team Leader. I coordinated USAID engagement in the health sector with other bilateral and regional donors, multilateral organizations, foundations, and public-private partnerships (PPPs). I liaised with the secondees to and from the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the secondee to the World Bank. I served as USAID Liaison to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria as well as UNAIDS.  I also represented USAID to the Gavi Alliance, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank.  My OHA Multilateral Team managed the U.S. Government Global Fund technical support portfolio including the USAID Grant Management Solutions (GMS) Project; UNAIDS Technical Support Facilities in Asia-Pacific, Eastern and Southern Africa, and West and Central Africa; Stop TB TBTEAM and Green Light Committee (GLC); and Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Sub-Regional Networks. I organized the first bilateral health meeting between USAID and the Gates Foundation in Seattle. I led the GH Teams for Southern Africa, Eswatini, and Lesotho. I conducted Global Fund assessments in six countries in Southern Africa (Angola, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe) and three countries in Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua).  More recently, I advised the USAID TB Division on multisectoral accountability.  I conducted a landscape analysis of 24 TB priority countries and stakeholder interviews with the Global Fund, Global TB Caucus, IUTBLD, MSF, RESULTS, Stop TB, and WHO.  I provided recommendations on accountability platform membership, scope, and structure and reporting needs.  Most recently, I acted as USAID/Uganda HIV and TB Team Lead. I advanced the PEPFAR Local Partners Initiative and Government-to-Government (G2G) activities, operationalized the Global Accelerator to End TB including Local Organization Network awards, and reviewed COVID-19 contingency/mitigation plans in order to ensure continuity of services.

Global Health Council (GHC) Board

I co-chaired the Membership and Development Committee and served on the Executive Committee. I helped develop a new GHC business model and reestablish its membership base after a dormancy period.

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria Board

Since 2013, I have served on the Global Fund Developed Country NGO Board delegation.  In 2016-2018, I represented civil society on the first Global Fund Ethics and Governance Committee (EGC).  In 2019-2020, I served on the Global Fund Privileges and Immunities Advisory Group (PIAG).

Implementing Partners

I have led on business development and program implementation for three major implementing partners: the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (now Frontline AIDS); Management Sciences for Health (MSH); and the small, woman-owned consulting firm Banyan Global.

International HIV/AIDS Alliance

As International HIV/AIDS Alliance U.S. Director, I co-chaired the AIDS Alliance Global Fund Coordination Group.  I provided support in business development and program implementation to 40 AIDS Alliance Linking Organizations (national NGOs and local CBOs) in 35 countries.  AIDS Alliance Linking Organizations represented the largest aggregate of Global Fund civil-society Principal Recipients (PRs). I had matrix management responsibilities for matrix for 50 Secretariat staff in Washington, Brighton, Brussels, and Geneva including Best Practice, Business Development and New Markets, Policy, Regional Teams, Strategic Information, and Technical Cooperation.

Management Sciences for Health (MSH)

At MSH, I directed the six-year, $156 million USAID Leadership, Management, and Governance (LMG) Project, a USAID global flagship health and human rights projects with activities in 92 countries.  The LMG Project conducted Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) Eligibility and Performance Assessments (EPAs) in eight countries (Ghana, Lesotho, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe) and CCM member orientations in two countries (Guatemala and Lesotho) and provided technical support to the CCM in Morocco to organize members representing key affected populations and persons living with the diseases.  LMG led the development of the CCM member orientation program in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish for the 120 CCMs and 3,800 CCM members worldwide.

As MSH Senior Director, PRIME, I oversaw the USAID Grant Management Solutions (GMS) 2 Project, the USAID global flagship Global Fund technical support project.  The GMS 2 Project provided technical support to 52 CCMs and 134 PRs for 350 grants (42% of active grants) in 65 countries, affecting $13.3 billion in grants (49% of grant portfolio), as well as training for 4,890 CCM members and CCM Secretariat staff in governance and grant oversight.  GMS 2 helped produce 18 CCM summaries and 77 PR dashboards. I also oversaw almost 75 donor regional and bilateral projects. I coordinated project support with the Health Programs Group Vice President and Senior Directors for Communications, Global Partnerships, Program Development, Risk Management, and Technical Strategy.

As MSH Senior Director, External Engagement, I co-wrote, edited, and coordinated successful USAID applications and proposals including Integrated Health Systems (IHS) and Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (TMEC)/Reaching Impact, Saturation, and Epidemic Control (RISE) (global) and Strategic HIV and AIDS Response Program (SHARP) and President’s Malaria Initiative for States (PMI-S) (Nigeria). I established and managed the MSH Global Fund grant portfolio including the Angola HIV, Nigeria malaria, and first Nigeria resilient and sustainable systems for health (RSSH) grants. I served as MSH liaison to the five-year, $232 million USAID MEASURE Evaluation Project, the USAID global flagship monitoring and evaluation (M&E) project.

Banyan Global

As Banyan Global Principal Associate and Health Systems Strengthening Lead, I served as Banyan Global technical liaison to USAID global flagship projects including Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS), NextGen Comprehensive Technical Assistance for Health Supply Chain and Pharmaceutical Management, and President’s Malaria Initiative Reaching Every At-risk Community and Household with Malaria Services (PMI REACH Malaria). I managed the USAID Health Workforce Management (HWM) Activity, for which USAID/Nigeria nominated and USAID/Washington awarded Banyan Global USAID Small Business of the Year 2023.

Country Experience

Over my career, I have worked with 15 donor countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S.) and in 41 implementer countries (Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Côte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).