Banchiamlack Dessalegn, PhD, is the Regional Vice President, East Africa, at IRC. Banchi joined the IRC from MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International), where the Africa Director she was responsible for the vision, strategy, financial and programmatic implementation across over US$200M of programs in 16 countries in Africa, supporting over 4500 team members working across private and public health sector to provide sexual and reproductive health services to over 14 million women and girls annually. Prior to her current role, she was the Regional Director for MSI in East and Southern Africa overseeing MSI operations in nine countries; and before that, the Strategic Programmes Director. She has also worked at Population Council and Family Health International 360 (FHI 360) before joining MSI.