Grey Frandsen was appointed to the role of Oxitec’s CEO in 2017. During his tenure, the company has expanded its public health and agriculture technology pipeline, upgraded its gene technology platform, established new R&D collaborations, and strengthened core R&D and operational capacities globally. Since 2017 the company has also expanded strategic partnerships in agriculture, developed its first commercial solutions, seeded new country programs, and secured landmark regulatory approvals for the company’s first-in-class agricultural and public health technologies.

Recently named one of the ‘10 to End Malaria’ by Malaria No More, Grey has served in a range of leadership roles in the public and private sectors focused on advancing solutions to global challenges. Starting in 1999 as co-founder of his first technology start-up while at university, Grey has started or led early-stage companies in technology, biotechnology, and B2C. During public service, Grey’s roles included being the first chief of staff for the U.S. Secretary of State’s Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization, as well as other positions focused on national security priorities. 

Grey has served as an advisor to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of Defence, the University of California San Francisco’s (UCSF) Global Health Group, the Caribbean Public Health Agency, the U.S. Government’s Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine, and other organizations.

Grey has also served as an adjunct faculty member at UCSF and the Uniformed Services University of Health Science. Since 2016, Grey has been chair of the board of directors for Pilgrim Africa, an African NGO focused on malaria elimination and food security funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Fund, USAID’s President’s Malaria Initiative, and the UK Government, which continues his 20+ years of work on the African continent.

Grey received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California Los Angeles, and a master’s degree at the Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies in international economics and international affairs. Grey was a U.S. President’s Management Fellow, a Manfred Woerner Fellow with the German Marshall Fund, and a fellow at the International Crisis Group in Brussels and Nairobi. 

Grey is a native of Seattle, WA, and lives in Virginia with his wife and four children.