Violaine Mitchell

M Hari Menon leads the India Office of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He also oversees the foundation’s work in South and South-East Asia.

In this role as director of the India Office, Hari is in charge of managing the foundation's work areas in India, with an objective to improve conditions of family health, sanitation, digital financial inclusion, agriculture, and gender equality. He leads these efforts to advance the country’s health and development goals by working closely with India's central and state governments, local and global non-profits, community groups, researchers, and the private sector. Hari has led many complex portfolios in the foundation and has been successful in advancing the goals by engaging with governments, public and private partners, philanthropists and non-governmental organizations. He brings valuable experience gained through multiple leadership roles across the foundation and has strong relationships with partners across the development ecosystem.

India has made tremendous progress across areas such as health, nutrition, sanitation, digital financial inclusion, agricultural profitability, and women’s economic empowerment for enabling gender equality. Hari’s key focus is to continue to partner with India, on our aligned mission to transform lives of people who are most in need, by bringing to bear our technical and global expertise.

Hari has been associated with the foundation since 2006, with a brief role outside the foundation between 2011 and 2013. He has, over the years, supported a wide portfolio of work in public health, especially in maternal and child health and HIV prevention. Prior to the India Country director role, he was leading the teams that focus on policy and advocacy and program communications for Global Health, Global Development, and Global Growth & Opportunity. Since 2017, he has also been overseeing the foundation’s policy and government relations for South and South-East Asia.

From 2011 to 2013, Hari served as strategic philanthropy adviser to Rohini Nilekani. He also has experience in the consumer goods and information technology sectors with companies like Colgate Palmolive and Infosys Technologies. Hari holds a graduate degree in business management from XLRI School of Management, Jamshedpur and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering & Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.