Vinny Smith is Chief Executive of Meningitis Research Foundation and the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations, a global network active in more than 50 countries. Since joining Meningitis Research Foundation in 2015, he has led its work to prevent meningitis, suppor people and families affected by the disease, and accelerate progress towards a world free from meningitis. He brings together research, advocacy, communications and international collaboration, with the experiences of people affected by meningitis at the heart of the charity’s work.
In the UK, he has spent the past decade campaigning for teenagers to be protected through routine MenB vaccination, bringing together surveillance data, health-economic evidence and the voices of families affected by the disease to press for change. Representing the charity on the WHO Technical Task Force to Defeat Meningitis by 2030, Vinny works with international institutions, researchers and people affected by meningitis to turn evidence and lived experience into policy change. He has also been closely involved in building momentum behind the WHO Global Road Map to Defeat Meningitis by 2030 and in championing stronger awareness, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and support. Through the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations, he helps connect and amplify the voices of member organisations around the world, strengthening collective advocacy and sharing learning across countries and regions.
Vinny brings more than two decades of leadership experience across the charity and international development sectors. His career has spanned the commercial, charity and international development sectors, with senior roles across direct marketing, organisational operations and international consultancy. Working with organisations including Cancer Research UK and the African Center for Economic Transformation in Ghana gave him a broad perspective on strategy, growth and organisational change, which he has brought to a decade of leadership in the meningitis field. During that time, he has become a member of the Steering Group of the Global Meningococcal Initiative, helped establish the Global Meningitis Genome Partnership, and led the creation of the Meningitis Progress Tracker to monitor global progress towards defeating meningitis by 2030 and strengthen accountability for action. He is also co-principal investigator on a Wellcome-funded, multi-country research project examining the value chain for meningitis pathogen genomics, from identifying a case through to the use of sequencing evidence in public policy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a guest lecturer in organisational development at the University of the West of England Business School, where he draws on this diverse experience in his work with students and emerging leaders.
