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The Beal and Melinda Gates Foundation said on Friday that Todd Pierce, its chief digital officer, is resigning after 18 months.
The executive team of the foundation and chief digital officer Todd Pierce have decided to part ways, according to a statement from the foundation. “We thank Todd for his work and leadership over the past 18 months, which included developing a strong leadership team, making investments in the overall IT team’s personal growth, and encouraging us to take risks and adopt digital tools (social, mobile, analytics, etc.) the cloud) to quicken the Foundation’s core work. Leigh Morgan, the Foundation’s chief operating officer, will take on the role of interim IT director.
In an at-the-time-new position, Pierce joined the Gates Foundation in April 2015. At the time, Morgan was reported as stating in a press statement.
In addition to the public sector, Todd “brings considerable leadership expertise in life sciences, technology, and biopharmaceutical organizations,” according to Morgan. Todd will be able to build and oversee an increasingly integrated technology and digital platform strategy in support of the Foundation’s purpose thanks to his strong commitment to talent development and thorough understanding of cross-functional operations.
The foundation made the decision to eliminate 33 personnel in its IT department at the end of June this year. A spokesman told GeekWire that “growth and the evolving digital environment prompted us to reassess the organizational structure of our IT department.”
Pierce was a senior vice president at Salesforce before joining the Gates Foundation. According to his bio on the foundation’s website, he worked in the healthcare sector for more than 20 years before joining Salesforce, including 10 of those years as Genentech’s chief information officer, where he oversaw the company’s move to the cloud, and as a principal at Genentech, where he oversaw Roche’s pharmaceutical IT and enterprise infrastructure. Also, he has held a number of executive positions in the public sector, including those of Chief Information Officer at the US Department of Veterans Affairs and Santa Clara County.
