(AMI's Acting Executive Director)

Amadou Mahtar Ba is a co-founder and president of AllAfrica Global Media, Inc - owner and operator of http://allafrica.com - an international multi-media content service provider, systems technology developer and the largest distributor of African news and information worldwide. Prior to starting AllAfrica, Mr. Ba served from 1996 to 2000 as Director of Communications and Marketing for BICIS Bank, a subsidiary of the French banking group BNP Paribas. From 1993 to 1996, Mr. Ba helped lead the successful restructuring and privatization of the Panafrican News Agency (PANA).

Since January 2009 Mr. Ba has been appointed Executive Director of the African Media Initiative (AMI), a five-year program seeking to profoundly change the continent's media landscape by improving media freedom, strengthening professional standards and increasing public and private investment in the media sector. Mr. Ba is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Council for the Future of Media, representing the African continent, as well as a member of the Africa Regional Advisory Committee of the Knight International Journalism Fellowship administered by the International Center for Journalists. Mr. Ba was educated in Senegal, France and Spain and is fluent in French, English, Spanish, Fulani and Wolof. He holds a Masters degree from the Ecole Française des Professionnels de la Communication in Paris.