Women and Children First Appoint Beth Silver as New Chief Executive

After 10 years at Women and Children First, Chief Executive Mikey Rosato will be stepping down from his role at the end of June.

The Board of Trustees has appointed current Deputy Chief Executive, Beth Silver, to role of Chief Executive, taking up the new role on July 1st, 2023.

Beth has been with Women and Children since March 2022. Formerly of Save the Children and Maternity Worldwide, she has a legal and governance background, with over ten years’ experience of non-profit trustee roles.

Beth has a first-class master’s degree in Global Health from Kings College London. She completed a dissertation on the impact of the community health group approach, also known as Participatory Learning and Action (PLA).

Acting with diligence and distinction, Beth will use her expertise and experience to progress the organisation’s ambitious strategy.

The charity is working with women, children, and mothers in rural, remote communities. This includes through pioneering innovative new approaches with our partners.

These will create new community health groups dealing with critical health issues in Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda.

In parallel, the organisation is working to scale community health groups nationally across Ethiopia. This will support more mothers-to-be to overcome the threats and challenges they face during pregnancy and childbirth.

Mikey Rosato has worked for Women and Children First for 10 years, first as a Programmes Manager, then Head of Programmes, before becoming Chief Executive in 2018.

He will be moving on to continue his career as a consultant and to spend more time with his children.

Mikey says, “This decision has been hard to make. I love this charity. I am sure Women and Children First will deliver on its ambitions with energy, commitment, and purpose.

“Beth is a brilliant leader, full of ideas, initiative, and knowledge of community health. She will be an excellent champion of women’s rights to survive and thrive, wherever they are in the world. We have a team of experts in rural health groups and the Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) approach.

“Beth will also be supported by a skilled and dedicated board of trustees, including our new chair, Rachel Cullen, Director of Global Health at Options Consultancy Services.”

“The groups we set up are run by inspirational, incredible, strong women. It is appropriate that Women and Children First will be too.”

Looking ahead to assuming the role as Chief Executive, Beth Silver says, “The struggle to survive is all too real for women and children around the world.

“Every 2 minutes a woman dies from complications in pregnancy and childbirth. Every 4 seconds a child under the age of 5 dies – many are less than a month old.

“It’s a tragedy that’s from preventable problems and treatable diseases. It’s chastening that not enough improvement has been made in the last decade.

“Women and Children First create brilliantly impactful community groups. With our partners, we train local women to lead powerful, effective communities, bringing people together to identify their biggest problems and then the solutions to overcome or mitigate these problems.

“These community groups can halve maternal mortality, reduce newborn mortality by a third and encourage greater uptake of health services.

“As Chief Executive of Women and Children First, with drive and determination, we will collaborate with partners and communities to ensure more lives are saved, more lives are changed and more women are empowered to act on the issues that harm, kill and hold them back.”

All at Women and Children First thank Mikey for his incredible, tireless work over the last ten years and are excited by what the future holds with Beth.

We thank all our supporters for their care and compassion, enabling us to make effective, meaningful change.