Rockefeller Foundation Adds Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Board

NEW YORK | March 19, 2024 — The Rockefeller Foundation is pleased to announce that The Rt. Honorable Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, will serve on its Board of Trustees. He will bring his deep expertise in international development, global finance, multilateral cooperation, and climate to the Foundation as it pursues a five-year strategy to accelerate human opportunity and slow the climate crisis. Mr. Brown has joined the Board in a voluntary capacity.

“Gordon Brown has dedicated his career inside and outside of government to unlocking progress for those too often left behind,” said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. “Whether helping the world recover from the 2008 financial crisis, committing the UK to net zero emissions, or developing the first social impact bonds, Prime Minister Brown has always been at the forefront of efforts to solve the biggest problems in the world. We’re grateful he’s joined our Board.”

On the Foundation’s board, Mr. Brown will leverage his expertise to support The Rockefeller Foundation’s groundbreaking five-year, billion-dollar climate strategy announced in September 2023. The new strategy, which is the first of its kind in The Rockefeller Foundation’s 110-year history, aims to advance the global climate transition and help ensure everyone can participate in it.

“It truly is an honor to join The Rockefeller Foundation and support their work to help the world as it continues facing multiple global crises,” said Mr. Brown. “This is a crucial moment. I’m proud to belong to a foundation with a purposeful mission: To make opportunity universal and sustainable.

Elected Member of Parliament (MP) in 1983, Mr. Brown held the position for 32 years before standing down as an MP in 2015. While serving as prime minister from 2007 to 2010, he helped lead the response to the global financial crisis, negotiate agreements at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark, and oversee the UK’s commitment to Net Zero as part of the Climate Change Act. Previously, Mr. Brown was the longest-serving Chancellor of the Exchequer (1997 to 2007) in UK history.

“I am thrilled to welcome former Prime Minister Brown to The Rockefeller Foundation’s Board on the heels of announcing our climate strategy to advance the global climate transition and help ensure everyone can participate in it,” said James Stavridis, retired four-star U.S. Navy Admiral and Chair of The Rockefeller Foundation Board of Trustees. “His moral clarity, global leadership, and dedication to public service exemplify precisely what our Trustees strive to achieve.”

Mr. Brown is a passionate advocate for global action to ensure education for all and serves as the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education. Since September 2021, he also serves as WHO Ambassador for Global Health Financing. He was also named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2018.

Born in Scotland, he received his M.A. and PhD from the University of Edinburgh and is the author of numerous books.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity. Today, we are focused on advancing human opportunity and reversing the climate crisis by transforming systems in food, health, energy, and finance. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LI @the-rockefeller-foundation.