Family planning and healthcare charity Marie Stopes International has recruited an international marketing expert as its new chief executive to succeed Dana Hovig who has left to join the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Simon Cooke is currently the chief executive of SuperMax, a razor-blade manufacturing and marketing company based in the Middle East. He has only been there since January and previously held senior positions at Procter & Gamble and Reckitt Benckiser, most recently as general manager for the Middle East at Reckitt Benckiser.
Cooke boasts over 20 years of international sales and marketing experience at various developed and developing countries across North Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Nordics, the Middle East, the Levant and Iran.
Hovig, who had been CEO at Marie Stopes International (MSI) since 2007 and deputy CEO for two years before that, announced in March that he was stepping down to join the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as director of integrated delivery.
During his tenure, Hovig oversaw an expansion in the charity’s worldwide team of family planning professionals from around 4,000 to more than 9,000, working across 41 countries. When he joined, four million women were using modern contraception as a result of MSI’s work; today that figure has risen to nearly 14 million. And last year nearly 2.4 million safe abortions were carried out by MSI and its partners, six times as many as in 2005.
Its income has increased too, from £79.5m in 2007 to £145m in 2011. MSI is 26th in the Charity 100 Index this year, having risen steadily through the ranks from 73rd ten years ago.
Dr Timothy Rutter, chairman of the board, said the charity conducted a “wide and rigorous search” for the best candidate to succeed Hovig, and is confident that it has found that person in Simon Cooke.
“He, more than any other, impressed us with his commitment to bring his expertise and experience to fulfil our mission of children by choice, not chance.
“Simon’s leadership qualities, strong client orientation, seasoned experience in delivering value to clients in developing and middle income countries, and his track record of innovation, partnerships, and improving cost-efficiency and effectiveness made him the board’s clear choice to lead MSI to 2020 and beyond.”
Cooke said: “After a career in commercial and marketing organisations, I have learnt the power of value creation, of sustainable growth and efficiency, and of innovation as a means of providing client satisfaction. I see many parallels with what MSI is trying to achieve.”
Michael Holscher, who had stepped up to be interim CEO during the recruitment process, will revert to his post as the charity's senior vice-president and director of international programmes, .
Cooke will start on 4 November 2013.
