Here is what I know of the origins of the Foundation, from my reading of Derek's book, Project Unthinkable, (how many people read it? in my opinion, very few). Interesting to revisit now that Derek is out. Of course the present Board Directors had nothing to do with the creation and very little with its operation, despite a hefty compensation for very little work. But who cares...
The original contact with PMI came from a lawyer who had previously worked for BAT and he had met while he was with WHO, during tobacco control hearings in 1999 (page 73): she sent him an email on May 5, 2015 (page 170), a few months after the opinion he had published in the British magazine The Spectator, on February 21 2915, 'E-cigarettes save lives" (pages 164 to 170 but I could not find the original article).
One week after her email, they met in London (page 172) and at the end of the month two PMI executives traveled to Connecticut for a meeting with Derek and invited him to visit them in Switzerland (page 173 to 177). He agreed and met for two hours with PMI CEO, André Calantzopoulos (page 179 to 182).
I could not find details about how from this first meeting in June 2015 (?) was worked out the project of the Foundation. Derek mentions several public statements by Calantzopoulos about transitioning PMI out of combustibles (in August 2016, in November 2016 for the launch of IQOS, page 185, in the spring of 2017 in Dubai at a PMI event that Derek attended). At that time Derek writes he expected a job offer and he accepted when Calantzopoulos showed him the 6 pages draft about the Foundation (page 188). Looking at his linkedin profile shows he transitioned from Chief Health Officer with Vitality in March 2017 to consultant for Vitality for six months, until August 2017, when he accepted PMI's offer.