ILEP appoints Geoff Warne as new CEO

On behalf of the ILEP Board, Jan van Berkel, ILEP President, has announced the appointment of Geoff Warne as Chief Executive Officer for the federation.

“I am delighted to announce that Geoff Warne, who is well known to many of us within ILEP and the wider leprosy community, will be taking up this important position,” says van Berkel.

“It is great to have Geoff back in ILEP in this crucial year for the international leprosy community, in which the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy will deliver its Research Agenda and Roadmap to Operational Excellence. ILEP has the ambition and expertise to contribute as a key player in both exercises.

“The ILEP Board is looking forward to benefiting from Geoff’s impressive experience and track record as an NGO leader in the leprosy field.”

Geoff Warne was General Director of The Leprosy Mission International, an ILEP member, for ten years. He has extensive experience in leadership and senior management in health and disability NGOs, as well as within federated organisations, and has 17 years’ senior experience in the leprosy world. For the past two years, he has been working as a consultant in his native New Zealand.

Warne says: “It’s an exciting and dynamic time to be coming back into the leprosy world and especially into ILEP. The contribution of ILEP and its members to the goal of zero leprosy has been immense and I am inspired by the way it has grown in stature and capability in recent years. It’s a real privilege to come into a leadership role with this team.”

Warne will be joining the ILEP secretariat team in Geneva, Switzerland from mid-August, taking over the CEO role from Tanya Wood.

ILEP is a federation of 13 international non-governmental organisations united to create a world free from leprosy. Members work in 66 countries on 700 projects. ILEP supports a technical commission of world experts on leprosy, and has an advisory panel of persons affected by leprosy. ILEP was a founding member of the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy – a new partnership launched in January 2018 to align the leprosy community and to accelerate effective collaboration towards the goal of zero leprosy.