Former U.S. Ambassador Joins CDC Foundation Board of Directors
Betty King has been elected to the board of directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation. King is the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva from 2010 to 2013.
King served as the U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In that capacity, she worked on human rights, development, children, aging and population issues. She represented the United States interests in a wide range of issues including development, population, refugees, HIV/AIDs, the environment, women, children and the aged, and in the participation of non-governmental organizations in that inter-governmental body. King was the principal U.S. negotiator on the Millennium Development Goals, eight international development goals that were established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000.
“We’re pleased to have Betty join the CDC Foundation board,” said Gary Cohen, chair of the CDC Foundation’s board of directors, who also serves as executive vice president of BD and acting CEO of GBCHealth. “Her unique and impressive background in the public, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors will contribute greatly to our mission of advancing CDC’s life-saving work.”
King has an extensive background in philanthropy, having served in senior leadership roles at several large foundations. At the Annie E. Casey Foundation, King served as a vice president with responsibility for fiscal, administrative and grants management programs and the development and implementation of its communications, health and mental health initiatives. Also, she served as the senior advisor to the CEO of the California Endowment where she worked to improve health services and systems, and as an advisor to the Atlantic Philanthropies on their programs for children and youth.
In the public sector, King has served as the deputy commissioner for Mental Health Services in the District of Columbia, as the director of the Department on Aging in Arkansas, and as an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas. She currently serves on the board of Refugees International and previously served on the boards of The United Nations Association of the United States, Phoenix House, and on the advisory board of the Annenberg School of Public Diplomacy.
King has worked with nonprofit organizations in several capacities. She served as the executive director of The Southwest Society on Aging and was a member of several boards including Grantmakers in Health, The Academy for Educational Development and the Center on Mental Health Services at the National Institutes on Mental Health.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, a Master’s Degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, was a National Humanities Fellow at Harvard University, and a Public Policy Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles.