Hon Mike Rann steps down after five years as Chair of the Board of Trustees; David Bull, former UNICEF UK CEO becomes Deputy Chair, a newly-created position.

LONDON, 13 July 2022 – The Power of Nutrition announces today the appointment of Mark Cutifani as its new Chair of the Board of Trustees. Mark succeeds Hon Mike Rann and is joined by David Bull as Deputy Chair. Both roles are effective immediately.

The pair will oversee the charitable foundation’s efforts to broker new partnerships and mobilise new and diverse funds for nutrition programmes across Asia and Africa.

Mark Cutifani brings his broad private sector experience and expertise to the position. Most recently, he led Anglo American as CEO for nine years and is credited for reviving the recent fortunes of the mining group. He has built a reputation based on industry, technical and commercial knowledge and places an emphasis on developing strong stakeholder relationships, something that’s central to The Power of Nutrition. He has been a Power of Nutrition Trustee since 2018.

David Bull offers extensive experience in the charity sector, most notably having been Executive Director at UNICEF UK for 17 years, during which time income grew from £13m to over £100m. A passionate advocate for nutrition, David offers leadership experience and sector know-how in this role. He has been a Power of Nutrition Trustee since 2016.

Commenting on his new role, Mark Cutifani said: “It is an honour to be taking the position of Chair on The Power of Nutrition’s board. The organisation’s unique model has the exciting opportunity to bring millions of (much needed) dollars to nutrition and I look forward to helping the organisation reach its program potential. Malnutrition is a global issue and one that is particularly pertinent now, so I look forward to supporting the organisation’s critical work in tackling this critical issue, together with its dedicated partners. I would also like to thank Mike Rann for being a such an enthusiastic and supportive chair for the last five years.”

David Bull added: “Having been on the board for six years, I’ve seen first-hand the impact The Power of Nutrition has in fighting global malnutrition. With collaboration at its heart, I look forward to supporting the team in accelerating this impact through convening new partnerships with both funders and implementing partners to build effective global nutrition programmes.”

Mark and David’s new appointments come at an important time in The Power of Nutrition’s journey. The world has made extraordinary progress reducing child undernutrition, with the number of under-5s suffering from undernutrition falling from around 1 in 3 in 2000 to 1 in 5 by 2019. However, the perfect storm of Covid, Climate Change, Conflict and the related Cost of Living Crisis has led to an unprecedented malnutrition crisis, which will hit the Middle East, Africa, Asia and beyond in the months ahead. It is therefore a critical time to attract increased funding and prioritisation of nutrition on the global stage.

Hon Mike Rann, who served as the Chair for the past five years, added: “The appointment of both Mark and David is perfectly suited to the organisation and its strategy – marrying the corporate world with the third sector to accelerate the fight against malnutrition. Having worked already with them both on the Board, I have full confidence that they will excel in these roles, and I look forward to seeing the future successes of The Power of Nutrition.”

The Power of Nutrition plans to further expand and diversify its Trustee Board and is launching a recruitment process in the coming months.

Since The Power of Nutrition’s formation seven years ago, it has reached over 92 million women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia with improved nutrition and will surpass its headline target of helping prevent 600,000 cases of child stunting in around December 2022, at least two years early. Through its unique match-funding model and convening partnerships between the private and public sectors, The Power of Nutrition has mobilised over $540 million to fund sustainable, large-scale programmes that tackle undernutrition at every level for lasting change.

ENDS