Founder

Wim Leereveld

Wim Leereveld established the Access to Medicine Foundation in 2003 with the aim of encouraging the pharmaceutical industry to do more for the two billion people who still lack access to medicine. In 2008, this resulted in the publication of the first Access to Medicine Index.

Before establishing the Foundation, Wim was co-founder of PMSI and Walsh International, leading providers of information services to the healthcare industry. Both Walsh and PMSI later went on to become listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. It was while working so closely with some of the most powerful names in the healthcare industry that Wim was inspired by a single idea: how can we encourage the pharmaceutical industry – which has such potential for changing the world – to do more to help the world’s poorest people access the medicine they need? That idea led to the first Access to Medicine Index.

During his 12 years leading the Foundation, Wim oversaw the growth of his idea into a widely respected tool for stimulating pharmaceutical companies to take action on access to medicine issues. In October 2015, Wim handed over the leadership of the Foundation to Jayasree K. Iyer, and was a member of its Supervisory Board until 31 December 2017.

Wim also started the Access to Seeds Index and the Responsible Mining Index. Today, he chairs the Index Initiative, and is building the World Benchmarking Alliance. Wim also is an Ambassador of World Child Cancer NL and Board Member of the Philips Foundation.

Watch Wim speak at the 2015 EU Development Day: