Ann Starrs

As a senior consultant at GHV, Ann works with the Women’s Health and Gender Equality Teams. At GHV, she has supported partners including the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (PMNCH) and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). Ann brings strong leadership and management skills, including strategic thinking and communications, partnership development, advocacy and public speaking, problem-solving, resource mobilization, and team leadership. She has in-depth technical knowledge of sexual and reproductive health and rights issues globally and in the U.S.

Before joining GHV, Ann served as the director of family planning at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to that she served as the president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, a leading research and policy organization dedicated to sexual and reproductive health; during that time, she co-chaired the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. Her papers and commentaries on global and domestic health policy issues include Accelerate Progress— Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All: Report of the Guttmacher–Lancet Commission.

Ann holds an MPA from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs with a concentration in demography and a BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a board member of Upstream USA, and served on the board of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health for more than 15 years.

Outside of work, Ann loves to read, cook, and run (not all at the same time); she ran the NYC Marathon in 2003 and 2013.

Areas of Expertise:

  • Strategic vision and planning
  • Technical leadership  
  • Organizational development
  • Team building
  • Resource mobilization
  • Program design and evaluation
  • Technical areas: Sexual and reproductive health and rights, including family planning, abortion, and adolescent health and well-being; maternal, newborn, and child Health

Meet the GHV team

Our consulting roster consists of a core team plus a vast network of over 100 expert consultants, spanning the globe, with a range of skill sets and issue area expertise. 

Meet the GHV team

Our consulting roster consists of a core team plus a vast network of over 100 expert consultants, spanning the globe, with a range of skill sets and issue area expertise.