Helen Alderson is an experienced executive leader, non-executive director and advisor, with a 35-year international career in the humanitarian sector, in global public health and in sustainable investing. She joined the Board of the Basel Institute on Governance in June 2024.

She is currently a non-executive trustee of the ODI Global Affairs think tank and of Legal Action Worldwide. She is on the Advisory Council of Capital As A Force For Good Initiative and, until recently was a member of the Advisory Board of Geneva University’s Executive Programme in Strategic Philanthropy.  She is also a mentor in the Global Thinkers Forum Telemachus Mentoring Programme. 

Previously Helen held executive roles at the International Committee of the Red Cross as Head of the ICRC Delegation to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and as a member of the Executive Team leading on finance, fundraising and logistics. She has worked in ICRC field offices in the Middle East and South East Asia. She has also served as Chief Executive Officer of the World Heart Federation and has been a senior analyst at the Ethos Investment Foundation for Sustainable Development.

Helen holds a Bachelor of Science in political science and international affairs from the University of Geneva and the Geneva Graduate Institute, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Geneva.