The executive leadership team is responsible for PATH’s strategy, finances, and management—as well as for our overall success in achieving PATH’s mission.

Chris EliasChristopher J. Elias, MD, MPH
President and CEO

Dr. Elias is president and chief executive officer, leading PATH's work in more than 70 countries in the areas of health technologies, maternal and child health, reproductive health, vaccines and immunization, and emerging and epidemic diseases.

Dr. Elias represents PATH at domestic and international forums, both as a spokesperson for PATH and as an advocate for innovative responses to global health challenges. He serves on the boards of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, the Medicines for Malaria Venture, and the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, among others. Dr. Elias was honored as the Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year for the United States in 2005 and named Global Health Research Ambassador by the Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research in 2007. Under Dr. Elias's leadership, PATH was awarded the Hilton Humanitarian Prize in 2009.

Before joining PATH, Dr. Elias was a senior associate in the International Programs Division of the Population Council, where he served as the country representative in Thailand, managing reproductive health programs throughout Southeast Asia. His early career included two years in Thailand working with refugee assistance programs, first as a physician supervising a large pediatric ward in a refugee encampment and then as a medical coordinator for the American Refugee Committee at the Thailand–Cambodia border.

Dr. Elias received his MD from Creighton University and his MPH from the University of Washington.

Ayo Ajayi, MD, MPH
Vice President, Field Programs

Dr. Ajayi leads strategy development and implementation for PATH country programs in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Before joining PATH in 2008, Dr. Ajayi worked for 16 years with the Population Council, serving as regional director for sub-Saharan Africa. Previously, he was Africa regional vice president for Pathfinder International, served as a government health officer in Nigeria, and taught at Boston University School of Public Health. Dr. Ajayi has served on numerous occasions as technical advisor and program evaluator for the US Agency for International Development, the World Health Organization, and several other United Nations agencies and private foundations.

Dr. Ajayi serves as a board member for the Africa Health and Population Research Center, which he helped establish, and as chair of the advisory committee on access for the International Partnership for Microbicides.

Dr. Ajayi earned his MD with Distinction in Pharmacology from the University of Ibadan Medical School in Nigeria (1977). He received an MPH from Boston University School of Public Health with a concentration in Health Systems (1982), and he completed a postgraduate certificate program in Family Planning Impact Evaluation at the London University School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (1987).

Scott Jackson, MBA, CFRE
Vice President, External Relations

Mr. Jackson is responsible for developing and strengthening relationships with partners and donors and maximizing the visibility of PATH’s work. He has more than 20 years of experience working internationally.

Before joining PATH in 2006, Mr. Jackson was senior vice president at World Vision US, where he was responsible for supporting external relations, key partnerships, community relations, and strategic initiatives for fundraising, programs, and constituency-building. He led as many as 200 employees and managed a fundraising portfolio of more than $60 million. He also oversaw the HIV/AIDS Advocacy and Fundraising “Hope Initiative” tour to 18 cities across the United States.

From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Jackson served as president and managing director of APCO Seattle, a worldwide public affairs and strategic communications consulting firm. In 1989, he founded TRADEC Trade and Development Consortium, one of the first marketing and communications firms in North America to specialize in international trade promotion, technology transfer, and market access. Mr. Jackson has managed a number of successful regional and national advocacy and fundraising campaigns.

Mr. Jackson is an active member of Rotary International and serves on several national boards, including that of Global Impact. He was a founding member of the management committee of the ONE Campaign to Make Poverty History.

Mr. Jackson received his MBA from the University of Edinburgh School of International Business, where he attended as a Rotary International Ambassador Scholar.

Jacqueline Sherris, PhD
Vice President, Global Programs

Dr. Sherris oversees PATH’s global programs and facilitates articulation of program strategies, fosters program collaboration and synergy, models management and performance leadership, and ensures effective program planning, evaluation, and impact assessment across the organization.  Dr. Sherris also serves on PATH’s Executive Leadership Team and represents PATH domestically and internationally.  

Dr. Sherris has more than 20 years of experience in public health. From 2002 to 2007, she served as PATH’s program leader for the Reproductive Health Strategic Program,  through which she led and expanded PATH’s cervical cancer prevention work, including efforts to increase access to human papillomavirus vaccines in developing countries. Other areas of reproductive health work that grew under her leadership include contraceptive supply security, pharmacists and reproductive health, technologies and interventions for women dealing with the consequences of unprotected sex, and integration of family planning and HIV and AIDS services. Prior to taking on the reproductive health program leader responsibilities, she led various reproductive health projects and programs at PATH.

Before joining PATH in 1987, Dr. Sherris coordinated the University of Washington’s Academic Programs for Teachers and was a staff associate with the Population Information Program at The Johns Hopkins University, where she authored several issues of Population Reports.

A frequent author on international health, women’s health, and cervical cancer prevention in the developing world, she is an affiliate faculty member at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health and Community Medicine and serves on the External Advisory Board of that school.

Dr. Sherris received her MS in biology and her PhD in science education from Purdue University.

Eric Walker, MA
Vice President, Corporate Services

Mr. Walker is responsible for PATH’s finances and all of PATH’s other core administrative systems, including human resources, legal services, and information services. As a member of the senior management group, he also participates in policy and strategy decisions.

Mr. Walker has more than 25 years of experience in financial and administrative management, institutional capacity building, and systems development in international nonprofit organizations. He is a renowned expert in developing systems for managing contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements with the US Agency for International Development (USAID). In 1980, he cofounded the Association for Private Voluntary Organization Financial Managers and continues to lead training sessions around the world on USAID rules and regulations.

Mr. Walker earned his master’s degree from Georgetown University in 1978.

Photo: Blaise Judja-Sato.