Michael Elliott Named President and CEO of ONE
Washington, D.C. – ONE, the global anti-poverty advocacy group, announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed journalist and editor Michael Elliott to serve as President and CEO of ONE, effective August 1. Elliott succeeds Joshua Bolten, ONE board member and former Chief of Staff to President Bush, who had been serving as interim CEO during ONE’s search.
With more than two and a half million members worldwide, ONE raises awareness about the crisis of extreme poverty and presses governments to support cost-effective policies and programs that are saving millions of lives and helping to stabilize communities in the poorest parts of the world. As President and CEO, Elliott will oversee ONE’s global operations, which include offices in Washington, DC, London, Abuja, Berlin, Paris, Brussels and Johannesburg. He will be based in Washington, DC. Elliott joins ONE from Time Inc., where he served for 10 years in leadership positions, most recently as editor of TIME International and Deputy Managing Editor of TIME magazine.
Bono, lead singer of U2 and ONE’s cofounder, said: “Communicating success stories is one of our top priorities. Mike is a great communicator, as well as an inspiring leader. Brainpower is more important than passion in the fight against extreme poverty, but he has both.”
Tom Freston, Chairman of the ONE Board of Directors, said: “Michael Elliott has the perfect pedigree to lead ONE to its next stage of influence and growth. We are elated that he will be joining us to lead the fight against extreme poverty, a task to which he brings great knowledge and passion.”
“I’m honored and thrilled to be joining an organization that has already done so much in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases,” said Michael Elliott. “For years, I’ve watched ONE’s founders and leaders do amazing, vital work, and I couldn’t be more proud to be joining them and ONE’s millions of dedicated members.”
ONE and its more than 2.5 million members, along with other non-profit partners, have played an important role in persuading governments to support effective programs and policies. As a result of those programs, today nearly 4 million Africans have access to life-saving AIDS medication, up from only 50,000 people in 2002. Malaria deaths have been cut in half in countries across Africa in less than 2 years and 46 million more children are now going to school across the continent.
In the next year, ONE will focus its advocacy efforts on advancing the power of vaccines to save four million children’s lives over the next five years, promoting transparency and good governance in order to create sustained economic growth, supporting programs to end mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and ensuring we fight hunger and malnutrition through smart, effective investments in agriculture.
Background on Michael Elliott
Prior to joining ONE, Michael Elliott served as editor of TIME International, Deputy Managing Editor of TIME Magazine, and was also a columnist on the global economy for Fortune magazine. Elliott was named editor of TIME International in April 2005 after spending a year as editor of TIME Asia. He joined TIME in May 2001 as an editor-at-large after a year spent as editor-in-chief of eCountries, an Internet-based news and analysis service on global affairs. From 1995-2000 he was editor of Newsweek International, and from 1984-93 he was on the staff of The Economist, where he was political editor and Washington bureau chief and the founding author of both the “Bagehot” and “Lexington” columns.
Elliott was born and raised in the suburbs of Liverpool, England, and took two degrees at Oxford University. Prior to his career in journalism, he was a member of the Central Policy Review Staff in Britain’s Cabinet Office, and before that spent eight years teaching in universities in the United States and United Kingdom, ending his academic career with a tenured position at the London School of Economics.