Trevor Neilson

Trevor Neilson, senior advisor, APCO Worldwide, is an expert in global health and corporate responsibility and specializes in helping clients around the world navigate complex political problems. He assists APCO’s clients in strategic planning, program development communication and business diplomacy.

Prior to that, Mr. Neilson was executive director of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC). During his tenure at the GBC, he helped grow corporate membership to over 200 multinational companies with interests related to AIDS and health care. He also opened and managed offices in New York, Paris, Beijing, Geneva and Johannesburg and established partnerships in 20 countries around the world.

Mr. Neilson served as director of public affairs and special projects at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and was responsible for grant-making, government relations and public affairs. He was the foundation’s spokesperson and managed relationships with the United Nations, governments, corporations and nongovernmental organizations. In addition, he was the spokesperson for the Gates family.

Mr. Neilson worked in the Clinton White House in the Office of Scheduling and Advance and the White House Travel Office. He formed Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa (DATA) with Bill Gates, Bono and George Soros and was a member of the organization’s founding board of directors.

He is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Wikimedia Foundation advisory board, the Genocide Intervention Network advisory board, the Business & Human Rights Resource Center and several other organizations. He is vicechairman of Saflink and a visiting practitioner at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute in the Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership.