NEW YORK—The Rockefeller Foundation today announced that David B. Mitchell has been named managing director of operations for the Foundation’s Health initiative. Mr. Mitchell comes to the Foundation from R4 Technologies, an artificial intelligence start-up created by founders of Priceline, where he served as vice president for corporate development, responsible for identifying, analyzing, and executing a range of strategic and financial initiatives.
Mr. Mitchell has more than two decades of experience tackling projects in a number of emerging and frontier markets across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. He brings to the Foundation a range of expertise in the areas of strategy, innovation, investment, and operations, and a record of success leading complex assignments for companies among the Fortune 500, sovereign funds, and start-ups. With Mr. Mitchell’s guidance, The Rockefeller Foundation will advance an initiative to improve health at the community level through the use of predictive analytics, reducing preventable deaths for mothers, children, and other vulnerable populations.
“David brings to the Foundation valuable experience and expertise in both data science and operations, and his contributions will be most helpful as we embark on a data-driven community health initiative,” said Dr. Naveen Rao, managing director of The Rockefeller Foundation’s Health work. “I am excited and happy to have him join The Rockefeller Foundation, and I am confident that he will help us drive the health work toward results with real impact on human lives.”
“I’m thrilled to be joining The Rockefeller Foundation to help build a state-of-the-art platform to make community health more integrated and digitally enabled,” said Mr. Mitchell. “New digital tools, advanced analytics, and AI machine learning can save millions of lives in communities around the world—and I’m excited to contribute to this groundbreaking initiative.”
Prior to joining R4 Technologies, Mr. Mitchell was head of transaction advisory services for aviation and aerospace at global consulting firm ICF International, where he provided financial, strategic, and operational advice to clients across the spectrum of air transport. Mr. Mitchell also previously lived in the Middle East, working at Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund. There, he led the aviation investment team and oversaw the kingdom’s major portfolio companies in the sector. Earlier in his career, Mr. Mitchell was director of mergers and acquisitions at Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, originating and executing investments in next-generation technologies.
“I’m glad to hear that David has joined The Rockefeller Foundation to advance such an extraordinary initiative,” said Serge Lépine, former chief investment officer at Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund and current managing partner at Cabot Capital Partners. “As a senior member of the investment team, David worked relentlessly on complex and time-sensitive financial and operational challenges of critical importance to strategic investments of the Kingdom of Bahrain sovereign wealth fund. Throughout his tenure, David proved to be a dedicated and results-focused team player, and I am sure he will make a significant contribution to the Foundation’s mission.”
“After I joined Gulf Air as CEO in the summer of 2009, David and I collaborated on the development of a new strategic vision for the carrier following years of losses,” said Samer Majali, CEO of SaudiGulf Airlines. “I much valued David’s drive and focus to achieve the objective of returning the airline to profitability, while providing an objective viewpoint on a variety of corporate initiatives.”
The Rockefeller Foundation’s emerging strategy for health is committed to a belief that the world can and should be a place where everyone, everywhere has the opportunity to live a healthy life. A place where communities in every corner of the world are empowered by the most cutting-edge advances in data analytics, science, and technology. The Rockefeller Foundation believes that breakthroughs only matter when they are in the hands of the people on the ground—in the communities, clinics, and homes where the path to health begins. And we believe collaboration is essential to measurably improve and save the lives of women and children around the world.
Mr. Mitchell began his work at The Rockefeller Foundation on October 15, 2018.
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Contact Info: The Rockefeller Foundation: Matt Herrick, mherrick@rockfound.org
ABOUT THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
For more than 100 years, The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission has been to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world. Today the Foundation is focused on securing the fundamentals of human well-being—health, food, power, and jobs—to ensure every family experiences dignity and opportunity in our rapidly urbanizing world. Together with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation strives to catalyze and scale transformative innovations, create unlikely partnerships that span sectors, and take risks others cannot—or will not. For more information, please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org.