Donald Henry Gips (born February 1, 1960) is the CEO of the

Skoll Foundation The Skoll Foundation is a private foundation based in Palo Alto, California. The foundation makes grants and investments intended to reduce global poverty. Jeffrey Skoll created the foundation in 1999. The total assets of the foundation (includi ...

. He is a former U.S. Ambassador to the

Republic of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

from 2009 to 2013. Ambassador Gips was appointed by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

on June 4 and confirmed by the Senate on July 7, 2009. He presented his credentials to South African President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

on October 1, 2009. He served until January 2, 2013. In February 2019, Gips was announced as the incoming CEO of the

, taking over for the retired Sally Osberg. He began as CEO on April 9, 2019, at the annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. Previously he was a principal at

Albright Stonebridge Group Dentons Global Advisors ASG, formerly Albright Stonebridge Group, is a global business strategy firm based in Washington, D.C., United States. It was created in 2009 through the merger of international consulting firms The Albright Group, founde ...

, a global strategic advisory firm. He also leads the firm's Africa practice. Previously he was the Divisional Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Development for

Level 3 Communications Level 3 Communications was an American multinational telecommunications and Internet service provider company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. It ultimately became a part of CenturyLink (now Lumen Technologies), where Level 3 President ...

and Director of

Mindspeed Technologies Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. designs, manufactures, develops, and sells fabless semiconductors for communications applications in wireless and wired networks. Products Wireless Mindspeed’s products are used in wireless infrastructure and smal ...

. He was also on the advisory board for President Barack Obama's

presidential transition team In the United States, a presidential transition is the process during which the president-elect of the United States prepares to take over the administration of the federal government of the United States from the incumbent President of the Un ...

. In the late 1990s Gips served as Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

's Chief Domestic Policy Advisor. Previously, he was the chief of the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

's international bureau. He is married to Elizabeth Berry and has three children: Sam, Peter and Ben. Gips is a graduate of

Princeton Day School Princeton Day School is a private coeducational day school located in Princeton, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The largest division is the Upper School (grades 9–12), ...

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

, and the

Yale School of Management The Yale School of Management (also known as Yale SOM) is the graduate business school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. The school awards the Master of Business Administration (MBA), MBA for Executives ...

References

External links

U.S. Department of State BiographyDonald Henry Gips - People - Department History - Office of the Historian
Donald Henry Gips (1960–)] 1960 births Living people Harvard College alumni Yale School of Management alumni American political consultants Ambassadors of the United States to South Africa Princeton Day School alumni {{US-diplomat-stub