Katharine Kreis Will Join GAIN as Its Director of Policy and Advocacy

GENEVA, Nov. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- GAIN -- The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition is pleased to announce the appointment of Katharine Kreis as Director of Policy and Advocacy as of February 2011.

"GAIN recognizes that there are many challenges to reducing malnutrition across the world and needs to build capacity to deliver programs at a grass root level, increase innovation, mobilize resources and importantly create an enabling environment through policy, advocacy and communications strategies that extends the impact of its efforts," said Marc Van Ameringen, Executive Director of GAIN. "Katharine is a highly respected leader within the global nutrition community, and she will bring in her new role both deep technical expertise as well as a tremendous understanding of the stakeholders and programs across the nutrition landscape at both the country and global levels."

During her eight years at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Katharine has been instrumental in designing and implementing The Foundation's nutrition strategy. Her work has been predominately focused on developing public-private partnerships to improve nutrition outcomes and integrating nutrition with other program areas aimed at reducing death and disability in the developing world. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, Katharine served in the U.S. Foreign Service where she managed both global and country specific health development portfolios.

Katharine has significant experience living and working in the developing world. She has worked for several non-governmental organizations, the United States Department of Agriculture, the United States Agency for International Development and also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer. She holds Masters Degrees in international health and epidemiology from the University of Michigan. She is a member of the Board of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, and serves on the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Nutrition.

About GAIN

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is an alliance driven by the vision of a world without malnutrition. GAIN is a Swiss foundation that mobilizes public-private partnerships and provides financial and technical support to deliver nutritious foods to those people most at risk of malnutrition. It was created in 2002 at a Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Children. The organization is delivering improved nutrition to close to 400 million people, half of whom are women and children, in more than 25 countries. GAIN's goal is to reach more than one billion people with fortified foods that have sustainable nutritional impact. GAIN is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and has Regional Offices in Cairo, Johannesburg, New Delhi and Washington D.C. that support programs.

www.gainhealth.org

SOURCE GAIN