Fran Silvestri, MBA, recently left the role as founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Leadership Exchange (GLE), formerly the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) and International Initiative for Disability Leadership (IIDL), which he helped organize in 2003. GLE is jointly funded by ten countries, to build partnerships between mental health leaders in order to rapidly exchange knowledge of best and promising practices internationally.

Before his work with GLE (formerly IIMHL), Fran was CEO of Monadnock Family Services (MFS) in Keene, NH. In this role he looked internationally to identify, and then replicate, innovative services that promote recovery and social inclusion for consumers of mental health services. Such services have included the Wyman Way Cooperative, an independent, non-profit corporation managed and operated by consumers of mental health services (based on the Trieste model). He was a founder of a state wide Integrated MH network in New Hampshire owned by six hospitals, 10 MH centers and the largest physician practice in the state.

Through his work with GLE, he has assisted in building international collaborations resulting in the rapid transfer of innovations and creative practices from one country to another.

The unique week long GLE Leadership Exchange is held every two years and is a unique global experience for key MH leaders to meet international colleagues, share knowledge and build partnerships. GLE also has facilitated a series of ongoing collaborations on specific topics and has partnered with the WHO on their Special Initiative working with 10 low and middle income countries to link key national mental health leaders to support developments.