Archna Vyas is the Country Director of the Gates Foundation in India. Archna joined the foundation in 2014 and went on to hold multiple leadership positions globally and in the India office, collaborating with governments, nonprofits, community groups, academia, and the private sector. In her last assignment as the Global Director of Program Advocacy and Communication she oversaw advocacy and communications efforts to advance the goals of the foundation and its partners in areas such as financial inclusion, agricultural productivity, urban sanitation, nutrition, global education, women’s economic empowerment, and women in leadership. She has led successfully the foundation’s recent India, Brazil, and South Africa G20 efforts advancing program advocacy goals for DPI, digital health, women economic empowerment and AUs permanent representation in the grouping. She was instrumental in the creation of the Behavioural Insights Unit within the Indian government’s NITI Aayog policy think tank, in collaboration with Ashoka University’s Centre for Social and Behaviour.
Earlier, Archna spent nearly a decade leading media relations, communications, and digital marketing efforts across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa for Reckitt, a company with 30-plus health, hygiene, and home brands. She also spent many years in the advertising industry, where she held leadership positions and supported the launch and growth of many consumer goods brands in India. Archna has served on the World Health Organization’s Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health as well as on the governing body of the South Asia Learning Collaborative, an initiative based at Georgetown University’s Institute for Reproductive Health that focuses on influencing social norms. She currently holds various advisory positions.
Archna has a master’s degree in physics from the University of Delhi, a diploma in public relations and mass communications from Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi, and a postgraduate diploma in business administration from Institute of Management Technology. She has also studied behavioral insights in policy decisions at Harvard Kennedy School.
