Global Impact Speaker Series: Beth Collins, Clinton Foundation, Rwanda Program
Wednesday, November 15, 2006, Executive Education Bldg, Room #1540, Ross School of Business
Beth Collins, Country Director for the Clinton Foundation, Rwanda Program will be the Global Impact Speaker on November 15, 2006. The event will be held at 4:45 pm in the Executive Education Bldg, Room #1540 in the Ross School of Business, with a reception to follow.
Beth Collins is Rwanda country director for the Clinton Foundation (CF). The Rwanda program is widely cited as a model for government partnership, strategic policy development, and rural healthcare delivery in developing countries.
The Clinton Foundation’s program in Rwanda consists of four distinct elements:
- Providing strategic support for national HIV/AIDS policy formulation and delivery —including the scale-up of HIV/AIDS treatment programs, programs aimed at pediatric treatment, and operational planning.
- Working with generic pharmaceutical manufacturers to restructure the market for first-line treatment drugs—ensuring high volume and protections against grey market trafficking in return for major price reductions. In Rwanda, CF placed the first anti-viral drug orders for the country and worked with the government to establish a national common basket for HIV/AIDS medicines.
- Working with Partners in Health (PIH) to provide comprehensive health care solutions in two rural districts. The delivery model builds on PIH’s innovative work in Haiti and is now being expanded into additional districts.
- Working with the Government of Rwanda and the Hunter Foundation on rural development issues, including development of the agricultural economy and sustainable solutions to water and sanitation issues.
Beth and her work in Rwanda were profiled in Fortune Magazine’s September 2006 cover story on President Bill Clinton and “The Power of Philanthropy.”
Prior to joining CF, Beth had a successful career in the finance and entertainment industries. She was an associate at Overseas Partners, Inc., a boutique leveraged buy-out firm, where she directed the due diligence and purchase of several acquisition candidates. She was also responsible for investor relations.
She moved to Los Angeles in 1994 to head business operations for Walt Disney Theatrical Productions, Disney’s live stage (Broadway) venture. She managed the business, financial and strategic planning aspects of this business. This involved negotiating global licensing deals for live performances of Disney properties and launching seven companies of the live stage musical Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. She also managed the operations of the newly renovated New Amsterdam Theatre in New York.
In 1998, Beth joined Universal Studios as Vice President to start and lead the Universal Family and Home Entertainment Productions specialty film group. The group produced animated and live action feature films and documentaries for video release.
In 2001, Beth returned to New York as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Talk Media, Inc., a Hearst Corporation-Miramax Films book and magazine joint venture run by publishing legend, Tina Brown.
Beth holds a B.A. in International Studies from Miami University in Oxford Ohio and an MBA in Finance from New York University. She is fluent in French and Italian.
