Mats Ahnlund is Acting Executive Director of the International AIDS Society (IAS).
Mats was based in his native Sweden for the first twenty years of his career, where he spent the five years before moving to Geneva as the head of the International Secretariat of the Swedish Consumer Cooperative Union and Wholesale Society (KF). Since moving to Geneva in 1992, Mats has worked with various international NGOs. His work in HIV related issues began in 2001 when, in collaboration with the International Co-operative Alliance and UNAIDS, Mats was involved in the development of HIV and AIDS awareness and education projects for cooperatives in India.
In 2003, Mats joined the IAS as Conference Director following a decision by the IAS Governing Council to organize the International AIDS Conferences in-house through a conference secretariat based in Geneva. Since then, Mats has led a growing secretariat through seven international conferences. In 2007, Mats was promoted to Director of Conferences and Operations, a role which brought new challenges and the responsibility for overall IAS finances. In 2009, Mats was promoted to Deputy Executive Director.