UM News

President Julio Frenk

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (May 19, 2016)—University of Miami President Julio Frenk has been named to the Board of Directors of the United Nations Foundation, the international organization that supports the United Nations in tackling the greatest challenges of the 21st century—including climate change, poverty, and human rights violations. Founded as a public charity in 1998 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner, the UN Foundation has evolved into an active problem-solver that builds public-private partnerships and implements issue-based campaigns to connect people, ideas, and resources.

“We have reached a new global crossroad where, from public health to social and economic inequity to climate change, we are faced with both extraordinary opportunities and real and far-reaching risks,” Frenk said. “Our greater aspirations for human advancement depend on our ability to unite in purpose and in practice at the United Nations. I am honored to join the board of the UN Foundation and to champion collaboration and sustainable development with my fellow members.”

Frenk and fellow appointee Baroness Valerie Amos, director of SOAS University of London, join a distinguished list of global leaders on the board, including Nobel laureate and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The announcement came during the foundation’s semi-annual board meeting, held in Copenhagen to coincide with the Women Deliver Conference—the largest conference on the health, rights, and well-being of girls and women.

“We welcome Baroness Amos and Dr. Frenk to the UN Foundation Board and look forward to their leadership,” said Turner, chairman of the UN Foundation Board. “Their experiences, both inside the UN and in their governments, will be invaluable to our mission of connecting people, ideas, and resources to the United Nations’ lifesaving, life-changing work.”