Neil Watkins is deputy director in the Global Policy & Advocacy division at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Based in Seattle, he leads the foundation’s policy, advocacy, and communications work on nutrition and agricultural development issues.

Prior to joining the foundation in October 2012, Watkins led advocacy and policy efforts on a range of global poverty issues in Washington, DC. Most recently, he served as director of policy and campaigns at ActionAid USA, and before that as executive director of Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of more than 75 faith-based organizations, development agencies, and human rights groups advocating for debt relief and global poverty eradication.