Leadership and team

At Grand Challenges Canada, we believe bold ideas need bold leadership to thrive. Our team brings deep experience in global health, innovation, development finance, and systems change — with a shared commitment to equity, impact, and learning.

Executive Team

Our executive team brings a rare combination of deep expertise, bold leadership, and an unwavering commitment to impact. With decades of experience across global health, development, humanitarian innovation, and catalytic investing, they are driving forward our mission to scale transformative solutions where they are needed most.

Dr. Karlee Silver

Chief Executive Officer

Akin Alaga

Chief Operating Officer

Rahul Chandran

Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer

Driven by purpose. Grounded in experience. United by innovation.

Meet the experts

Grand Challenges Canada is home to a growing group of subject-matter experts working at the intersection of global health, innovation, equity, and impact. With deep knowledge in areas such as maternal and newborn health, global mental health, gender equality, humanitarian innovation, and blended finance, our experts help shape bold solutions — and the systems that sustain them.

They bring practical insight, policy expertise, and real-world experience to the innovations we support, and are frequently called upon to contribute to global conversations on what it takes to drive lasting change. Here are just a few of the experts at GCC: