Jack Leslie is a strategic communications executive, political consultant and international development activist. Leslie is the former chairman of Weber Shandwick, one of the world’s leading communications and public affairs firms. He is also one of the pioneers of political consulting and stakeholder engagement, having served as political director for Senator Edward Kennedy. Presently he is senior advisor of Weber Shandwick, chairman of the Board of Directors of the US African Development Foundation, and a member and past chair of the Duke Global Health Institute’s Board of Advisors. He also chairs the Board of Directors of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and serves on the boards of Water.org and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

In his role at Duke, Leslie will build from work he began at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Residency to understand the crisis of trust in public health, which has been building for decades. A convening of global public health stakeholders, led by Leslie and colleagues from Duke in November 2022, identified and prioritized specific actions that hold promise to enhance trust with a focus on communities, communication, and competence. These focus areas will serve as the building blocks for a larger global initiative to strengthen trust in public health.