March 17, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is opening a new office in London to work more closely with European governments and nonprofit groups.
The office will open later this year, according to a statement on the foundation’s Web site. Aside from its headquarters in Seattle, Gates has offices in Washington, Beijing, and Delhi.
“The new office will allow the foundation to deepen relationships with its Europe-based partners, liaise with grantees, and work closely with governments, European institutions, and non-governmental organizations,” the foundation said.
According to The Seattle Times, the office will be led by Geoffrey Lamb, the organization’s managing director for public policy and senior advisor on international policy. The office will employ five or six people, writes Kristi Heim, a Times reporter, on the newspaper’s Business of Giving blog.
Of the top 10 wealthiest American grant makers, Gates will be the only one with an office in Western Europe. Several of the foundation’s largest grant beneficiaries are located on the continent, including the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, which is in Geneva.
