Executive Director, RESULTS Educational Fund (U.S.)

Dr. Joanne Carter is the executive director of RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund (REF), a grassroots advocacy organization generating the public and political will to end the root causes of poverty globally and in the United States. Joanne joined RESULTS/REF as legislative director in 1992, was appointed associate executive director in 2007 and executive director in 2008.

As legislative director of RESULTS/REF, Joanne worked with key Administration and Congressional allies, partner organizations, and technical agencies orchestrating U.S. and international campaigns to tackle major diseases of poverty, increase access to education (including abolition of school fees), expand economic opportunity for the poorest, and reform World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies. Under her leadership, RESULTS/REF was been instrumental in the creation and expansion of the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund, expansion of global TB funding, legislation to ensure that at least half of microenterprise development resources are devoted to those living on less than $1 a day, an initiative to support countries to eliminate school fees for public primary school, and provisions that require U.S. representatives to the World Bank and IMF to oppose user fees for primary health and education. As founding project leader for the ACTION Global Health Advocacy Partnership, Joanne has helped build this partnership across 13 countries plus the European Union on 5 continents and guide its efforts to help mobilize billions of dollars of financial resources and achieve critical policy reforms and political leadership to end diseases of poverty and ensure equitable access to health.

Joanne is the vice chair of the Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board, a partnership of more than 1000 organizations around the world. From 2009 to 2011, Joanne served as the Board Member to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria representing Developed Country NGOs and from 2012–2014 served on the Global Fund Board’s Strategic, Investment, and Impact Committee. Joanne also serves on the boards of the Micronutrient Initiative and the Global Campaign for Education-U.S. and is currently serving on the Oversight Group for development of the new Global Financing Facility for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health.

Joanne holds a DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) degree from Cornell University and was a practicing veterinarian from 1987 to 1992. She has served as a VISTA volunteer and as a recruiter for the Peace Corps. Prior to joining RESULTS/REF staff, Joanne served as a RESULTS volunteer group leader and then regional coordinator for four years in the New York City area.