2008 Speaker Biographies

Kym Anderson | Pamela Anderson | Catherine Bertini | Sylvia M. Burwell | Pedro de Camargo | Margaret Catley-Carlson | Zhangliang Chen | H.E. Joaquim Chissano | Sir Gordon Conway | Crawford Falconer | Valdemar Fischer | Martin Fisher | Henrietta Fore | Cary Fowler | Emile Frison | H.E. Daphrose Gahakwa | Gregory Geoffroy | Carl Hausmann | Robert Hormats | Monty Jones | Donald Kaberuka | Scott Kilman | Robert LaneAlan Larson | Berna Magnuson | M. Peter McPherson | Clay Mitchell | Richard Mkandawire | Raul Montemayor | Olive Mugenda | Erastus Mwencha | Rosamond Naylor | Namanga Ngongi | Rajul Pandya-Lorch | John Powell | Ed Rege | Judith Rodin | Nancy Roman | Pedro Sanchez | Ed Schafer | Paul Schickler | Rajiv Shah | Rita Sharma | Ravi Singh | Jerry Steiner | Robert Thompson | Roger Thurow | Carlo Trojan | Judi Wakhungu | Speciosa Wandira | Ren Wang | Sam Worthington | Robert Zoellick 

 

An internationally respected expert on trade, development, and agricultural economics, Dr. Anderson has held a variety of positions in academia, the Australian government, and international NGO institutions. In addition to his professorship at the University of Adelaide, he is the Foundation Executive Director of the Centre for International Economic Studies. 

 

From 2004 to 2007, Dr. Anderson served as lead economist for trade policy at the World Bank’s Development Research Group. He was also a team member and contributor to the 2008 World Development Report. From 2002 to 2005, he served on the trade and finance task force of the UN Millennium Development Goals project. From 1990 to 1992, he was counselor and deputy director of the Economic Research Division of the GATT secretariat in Geneva, and continues to serve as a dispute settlement panelist for the WTO. Dr. Anderson 

 

 

 

Dr. Anderson has been Director-General of the International Potato Center in Peru since May 2005. Prior to becoming Director-General, she served as the Deputy Director-General of Research at CIP and as Senior Entomologist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, in Cali, Colombia. In 2008, CIP is a major partner with the UN FAO and other institutions in observing the International Year of the Potato.

 

Dr. Anderson holds a M.Sc. in entomology from the University of Illinois, a M.Sc. in human ecology from Harvard, and a D.Sc. in populations sciences and vector entomology from the Harvard School of Public Health. A leading expert on emerging plant diseases, her research has included extensive work in plant virus epidemiology related to food security and income generation for resource-poor populations. She has worked in Latin America for 30 years and spent two decades working within national agricultural research systems before joining the CGIAR.

 

 

 

Ms. Bertini served as the Executive Director of the UN World Food Program for ten years, turning the organization into the world’s largest humanitarian aid agency, and was the UN Under-Secretary General for Management from 2003 to 2005.  Since then, she has chaired the UN’s Standing Committee on Nutrition and currently serves on the USAID’s Board for International Food and Agricultural Development and as a senior fellow to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Agricultural Development team within its Global Development Program.  

 

For her innovative leadership in assisting hundreds of millions of victims of war and natural disaster throughout the world, Ms. Bertini received the 2003 World Food Prize. She has also been honored by the Republic of Italy with its Order of Merit and by the Association of African Journalists with its Prize of Excellence.  In 1996, The Times of London named her one of “The World’s Most Powerful Women.

 

 

 

Ms. Burwell oversees the Gates Foundation’s advocacy and grant-making activities in the areas of agricultural development, financial services for the poor, global libraries, and special initiatives. Within the foundation, she has previously served as executive vice president and as chief operating officer and executive director.

 

Before joining the Gates Foundation in 2001, Ms. Burwell served in the Clinton administration as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff to the president, and chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. She has also worked for McKinsey and Company, where she focused on consulting for financial institutions. A West Virginia native, Ms. Burwell is a graduate of Harvard University and a Rhodes Scholar.

 

 

 

From 2000 to 2002, Dr. de Camargo served as secretary of production and trade in the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture. During his time in office, he was responsible for agricultural negotiations in the WTO, FTAA, Mercosur-EU, and other bilateral agreements, and was involved in the development and formal consultations of cases involving cotton and sugar trade.

 

Currently a consultant on agricultural trade and policy, Dr. de Camargo is a past president of the Brazilian Agricultural Society and is the founding past president of the Sao Paulo livestock development fund FUNDEPEC. He holds degrees from the University of Sao Paulo and from MIT.

 

 

 

Ms. Catley-Carlson is actively involved in international freshwater governance, health, agriculture, environmental protection and development. She currently chairs the Global Crop Diversity Trust, is a patron and past chair of the Global Water Partnership, and is past chair of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Syria. 

 

Ms. Catley-Carlson’s professional career has included terms as president of the Population Council, president of the Canadian International Development Agency, deputy director of UNICEF, deputy minister of health and welfare in Canada, and chair of the Geneva-based Water Supply Sanitation Collaborative Council. She has received several honorary degrees and became an Officer of Order of Canada in 2002.

 

 

 

Dr. Chen completed his Ph.D. in biology at Washington University in St. Louis in 1987 and returned to Beijing to establish the National Laboratory of Protein Engineering and Plant Genetic Engineering at Peking University. He founded and serves as president of the Weiming Biotechnology Company, which produces many DNA recombinant drugs, vaccines and some nature products. He is also Vice Chairman of China Biotechnology Association, Vice Chairman for the China National Youth Federation and Vice President of Peking University.

 

Dr. Chen is also the former president of China Agricultural University. He has published seven books and more than 150 research papers and holds seven patents. He has also been honored with TIME's Global 100 Roster of Young Leaders for the New Millennium, the UNESCO Javed Husain Prize for Young Scientists, as well as the Science and Technology prizes from the Ministry of Education in China.

 

 

President Chissano has played a key role in shaping Mozambique’s post-colonial history.  He took office as the prime minister of the transition government and was appointed minister of foreign affairs when Mozambique proclaimed its independence in 1975.  In 1986, he was elected president, a position he held until he voluntarily stepped down in 2005. While in office, President Chissano devoted himself to restoring peace and stability, initiating constitutional and economic reforms, and leading Mozambique to a multi-party system and an open market. From 2003 to 2004, he served as chair of the African Union.

 

In 2007, President Chissano was awarded the first Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, the world’s largest monetary award. President Chissano was cited specifically for his achievements in poverty reduction, infrastructure development, and action on HIV/AIDS. President Chissano currently serves as special envoy of the UN Secretary-General to northern Uganda, southern Sudan, and areas affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army. He also chairs the Forum of Former African Heads of State and Government.

 

 

 

Dr. Conway, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005, is a world renowned agricultural ecologist and is recognized as one of the first experts to define the concept of sustainable agriculture. As president of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1998 to 2005, he worked to increase that organization’s attention to ecological and food security issues, particularly the promise and challenges presented by biotechnology in the context of world hunger.

 

Dr. Conway’s field experience has included pioneering integrated pest management in Borneo in the 1960s, and developing agroecosystems analysis in Thailand. From 1970 to 1986, he was Professor of Environmental Technology at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London.  He also directed the sustainable agriculture program of the International Institute for Environment and Development in London before becoming a representative of the Ford Foundation in New Delhi.  He is the author of several books – including The Doubly Green Revolution – and currently serves as president of the Royal Geographic Society.

 

 

 

Immediately prior to his present position in Geneva, Mr. Falconer was chief trade negotiator within New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with overall responsibility for managing New Zealand's multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations and WTO negotiations. His past positions have included five years in Geneva as part of the New Zealand delegation to the GATT Uruguay Round negotiations, as well as posts within the Ministries of Justice, Industry and Foreign Affairs. Mr. Falconer has also acted as an independent judge or presiding judge on more than a dozen international trade disputes before the GATT/WTO.

 

Mr. Falconer previously worked for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, first as head of the trade directorate division and later as deputy director. He has lectured on international trade, written about international trade in a number of publications, has been a visiting fellow at the New Zealand Institute of Policy Studies, and has taught at Wellington’s Victoria University. He is a past student of Victoria University and the London School of Economics. 

 

 

Mr. Fischer became regional head of NAFTA Crop Protection in January 2005. He originally joined Stauffer, a Syngenta legacy company, in 1985 to work in technical development. The company eventually became a part of Zeneca, and Mr. Fischer moved from commercial leadership roles in the Syngenta Latin America (LATAM) region to become country head for Mexico in 1998 and regional head of LATAM in 2003.

 

Mr. Fischer holds a degree in agronomy from the University of Pelotas in Brazil, as well as a master’s degree in business from the University of Lancaster in the United Kingdom.

 

 

 

Dr. Fisher co-founded KickStart with Nick Moon in Kenya in 1991 to change the way the world fights poverty.  By bringing together the entrepreneurial spirit of the world’s poorest people, innovative tools and technologies, and the power of the marketplace, Dr. Fisher and KickStart have helped over 325,000 people escape from poverty. KickStart’s various technologies range from sanitation and irrigation to construction to oilseed crushing and hay baling.

 

After earning a M.Sc. in mechanical engineering and a PhD in theoretical and applied mechanics from Stanford, Dr. Fisher received a Fulbright Scholarship to study the connection between technology and development in Kenya.  He worked for various development programs in Kenya for 17 years, before starting KickStart (originally named ApproTEC).  Dr. Fisher’s work with KickStart has gained much international recognition, including citations in Newsweek and TIME, the Skoll Foundation’s 2003 Social Entrepreneur of the Award, and the 2008 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability.

 

 

 

In her capacity as administrator of USAID, Ms. Fore also holds a rank of Deputy Secretary of State and director of U.S. foreign assistance. She is responsible for managing and transforming U.S. foreign aid, including through the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

 

Prior to her confirmation as administrator, Ms. Fore served as Under Secretary of State for Management and director of the U.S. Mint in the Department of Treasury. Within USAID, she served from 1989 to 1993 as assistant administrator for private enterprise and then assistant administrator for Asia. In addition, she has held leadership positions in numerous international non-profit organizations, including the Center of Strategic and International Studies, the Aspen Institute, the Asia Society, the Asia Foundation, the Institute of the Americas, and the United States Committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. Ms. Fore studied at or holds degrees from Wellesley College, the University of Northern Colorado, Oxford University, and Stanford University.

 

 

 

Dr. Fowler’s career in the conservation and use of crop diversity spans 30 years. Prior to joining the Trust, he was professor and director of research in the Department for International Environment & Development Studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He also headed the International Conference and Program on Plant Genetic Resources at the FAO, which produced the UN's first-ever global assessment of the state of the world’s plant genetic resources.

 

Dr. Fowler drafted and supervised negotiations of FAO’s Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources, adopted by 150 countries in 1996. That same year, he served as Special Assistant to the Secretary-General of the World Food Summit. He was also a Senior Advisor to the Director-General of Bioversity International, is a past member of the U.S. National Plant Genetic Resources Board, and has served as a trustee of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico.

 

 

 

As Director-General of Bioversity International (formerly IPGRI) in Italy, Dr. Frison has worked to highlight the role of agricultural biodiversity in nutrition, reducing hunger and poverty, and sustainable development. He also leads the CGIAR System-Wide Genetic Resources Policy Program, is a member of the Board of Directors of Ecoagriculture Partners, and chairs the Alliance Executive of the CGIAR.

 

Dr. Frison is a plant pathologist by training, started his career at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture in Nigeria, and later worked in Mauritania as well.  Prior to arriving at Bioversity International, he directed the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain, where he launched the Global Programme for Musa Improvement (PROMUSA). In 2002, Dr. Frison was also a leader in establishing the Global Consortium on Musa Genomics, a 27-member group from 14 countries working to decode the genome of the banana and improve varieties available to smallholder farmers.

 

 

 

Prior to taking her current position in 2008, Dr. Gahakwa served for two years in Rwanda’s government as minister of state for agriculture. In this role she emphasized education for girls and literacy as part of rural and agricultural development. A plant geneticist by training, Dr. Gahakwa entered public service after a research and agricultural development career that included positions ranging from project manager of the Legume Seeds Project and coordinator of a banana germplasm improvement initiative to senior scientist at Rwanda’s National Agricultural Research Organization.

 

Dr. Gahakwa’s ministerial portfolio includes serving as chancellor of the National University of Rwanda, Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, and other institutions in Rwanda. She graduated from the University of East Anglia with a M.Sc. in plant breeding and a Ph.D. in genetic engineering, and also holds a B.Sc. in agriculture from Makerere University. 

 

 

 

In 2001, Dr. Gregory L. Geoffroy became President of Iowa State University, where he also holds the rank of professor of chemistry. He began his academic career as an assistant professor of chemistry at the Pennsylvania State University in 1974 and advanced to dean of the Eberly College of Science in 1989.

 

As president of one of the country’s top universities in biorenewable research, President Geoffroy has led many efforts to engage Iowa’s legislative leaders, businesses, agriculturalists, and academia in generating policies and programs to assure Iowa's continued leadership in renewable fuels and bio-based products and encourage future bioindustry investment and expansion in Iowa.

 

Dr. Geoffroy has published more than 200 research articles, presented over 200 invited lectures in the United States and nine other nations, and co-authored a textbook.  He earned a B.S. with Honors from the University of Louisville in 1968, served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1970, and earned his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1974 from the California Institute of Technology.  He currently serves as a member of the World Food Prize Council of Advisors. 

 

 

Mr. Hausmann became president and CEO of Bunge North America in January 2004. He had previously served as president and CEO of Bunge Europe, CEO of Cereol S.A., and CEO of Central Soya. Mr. Hausmann began his career in the agricultural industry in 1978 at Continental Grain, where he worked in South America, Europe, Africa, and the United States.

 

Mr. Hausmann serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Manufacturers, is a past president of the European Federation of Oilseed Crushers, and is a member of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council. He received a B.S. in business from Boston College and an M.B.A from INSEAD.

 

 

 

Dr. Hormats has held his current position at Goldman Sachs since 1987; he was vice president of international corporate finance at Goldman Sachs since 1982. Within the U.S. Department of State, Dr. Hormats has served as assistant secretary for economic and business affairs, senior deputy assistant secretary for economic and business affairs, and deputy U.S. trade representative. From 1969 to 1977, he served on the National Security Council, where he was senior economic advisor to Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski.

 

Dr. Hormats has published articles in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and other journals, and has authored several books, including The Price of Liberty in 2008. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on boards for the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Engelhard Hanovia, Inc., The Economic Club of New York, Freedom House, Foreign Policy, and International Economics. Dr. Hormats received the French Legion of Honor in 1982 and the Arthur Fleming Award in 1974.

 

 

 

At FARA, Dr. Jones oversees advocacy and coordination efforts in support of regional research, with the goal of increasing agricultural growth by at least 6 percent annually by 2020 as well as fostering ongoing economic growth, alleviating poverty, and improving food security for Africa’s people.  He also serves on the board of the Gates- and Rockefeller-funded Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

 

Dr. Jones began his career in 1975 with the West Africa Rice Development Agency (WARDA) in its Mangrove Swamp Rice Research Project in Sierra Leone, his home country. He was later appointed head of WARDA’s Upland Rice Breeding Program.  There, he made a breakthrough in combining Asian and African rice varieties to develop a “New Rice for Africa” (NERICA) uniquely suited to poor African rice farmers.  Because of his work, Time magazine, named Dr. Jones as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2007. (More on Dr. Jones) 

 

 

 

Since 2005, Dr. Kaberuka has served as the seventh president of the African Development Bank, headquartered in Tunisia.  From 1997 to 2005, Dr. Kaberuka served as Rwanda’s minister of finance and economic planning, and he has been widely acknowledged as the principal architect of the successful post-war reconstruction and economic reform program. As minister, Dr. Kaberuka also represented Rwanda at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the African Development Bank.

 

Before taking his government position, Dr. Kaberuka had 12 years of experience in the banking industry and working with trade finance, international commodity business, and development issues. He was educated in Tanzania and the United Kingdom and holds a Ph.D. from Glasgow University.

 

 

 

Within his NEPAD portfolio, Dr. Mkandawire is one of the key leaders in providing technical guidance in support of the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program (CAADP). He brings to these efforts both an academic and a practitioner’s background in socioeconomics and rural development. He has extensive experience in development initiatives in Africa spanning a period of two decades, in varied areas including food policy and agriculture, gender, irrigation, fisheries, land-tenure systems, reproductive health, and youth livelihoods and employment.

 

Between 1992 and 1999 Dr. Mkandawire worked with the Commonwealth Secretariat as the Commonwealth Youth Programme Regional Director for Africa. He has previously taught at the University of Malawi, the University of Zambia, and the University of Venda in South Africa. He is a graduated of the University of Malawi, the University of Missouri-Columbia, and the University of East Anglia.

 

 

 

Mr. Montemayor is currently the National Business Manager and Program Officer of the Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives, Inc., and its mother organization, the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) of the Philippines.  He is also a private sector advisor on agricultural trade for the Philippine government in the WTO and other negotiations.

 

Mr. Montemayor was recently elected to a two-year term as a vice president of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, which represents over 600 million farm families grouped in 115 national organizations in 80 countries. In addition, he serves on the board of directors of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council, of which he has been a member since 2003.

 

 

 

Since 2006, Dr. Mugenda has served as vice-chancellor of Kenyatta University, overseeing a university with over 20,000 students, and is the first woman in Kenya to lead a public university. She was recently nominated to coordinate an international policy study on higher-education access and equity in Africa under the auspices of the African Higher Education Research Collaborative.

 

Dr. Mugenda has served on the Kenyatta University faculty since 1984, in the department of family and consumer sciences, and has led research and courses in areas including education, women’s education, and family and consumer economics. As an administrator she has sought to diversify curricula and to give emphasis to issues including HIV/AIDS management, public health, women’s studies, and environmental sciences. She holds an M.B.A. from the Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Iowa State University.

 

 

 

Mr. Mwencha has over twenty five years of experience in African regional and international development, most recently serving as secretary-general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) for almost ten years. He was instrumental in the development of both COMESA and its predecessor, the Preferential Trade Area, which he joined upon its launch in 1983 as a senior officer, later serving as director for industry, energy and environment. He also oversaw or was involved in the creation of numerous economic and public institutions during his tenure at PTA and COMESA.

 

Previously, Mr. Mwencha worked for the Government of Kenya in various capacities within the ministry of commerce and industry, and also served as director of a number of public enterprises. He holds degrees in economics from York University and from the University of Nairobi.

 

 

 

Dr. Naylor directs both Stanford’s program on Food Security and the Environment and the Goldman Honors Program in Environmental Science, Technology and Policy.  She is also holds a number of fellowships at organizations such as the Freeman-Spogli Institute, Aldo Leopold Leadership Program in Environmental Sciences, the Woods Institute, and Pew Fellowship in Conservation and the Environment. 

 

Dr. Naylor’s research focuses on the environmental and equity dimensions of intensive food production, with emphasis on high-input agricultural development, aquaculture and livestock production, biotechnology, climate impacts on agriculture, and food security. Among her field-level research projects are a 15-year study in Sonora, Mexico, where the Green Revolution was launched, and long-term studies in rural Indonesia. She holds a B.A. in economics and environmental studies from the University of Colorado, a M.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics, and a Ph.D. in applied economics from Stanford University. 

 

 

 

Dr. Ngongi leads the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, a comprehensive agricultural development partnership created in 2006 with $150 million in support from the Rockefeller and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations. Dr. Ngongi worked with the UN World Food Program from 1984 to 2001, serving as director for operational activities in 17 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa and later as deputy executive director. From 2001 to 2003, he was UN under-Secretary-General and headed the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where his efforts were credited with contributing to the overall success of the peace negotiations as well as the formation of a transitional government.

 

Dr. Ngongi retired from the UN in 2003, and returned to Cameroon. He has since taken up farming, while also undertaking high-level missions and work for the UN and other organizations. A graduate of Cornell University and California State University, Dr. Ngongi worked in Cameroon’s ministry of agriculture and the country’s embassy in Rome before joining the UN.

 

 

 

Ms. Pandya-Lorch is the head of IFPRI's 2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture, and the Environment Initiative, a global initiative that seeks to identify solutions for meeting world food needs while reducing poverty and protecting the environment. An IFPRI staff member since 1987, she was previously special assistant to past director-general and 2001 World Food Prize Laureate Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen.

 

Ms. Pandya-Lorch’s research focuses on trends in and prospects for global food security, with particular emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa, and she has facilitated several high-level global policy consultations and conferences on topics of food insecurity and poverty. Ms. Pandya-Lorch was a co-recipient of the American Agricultural Economics Association’s 2002 Distinguished Policy Contribution award. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and Princeton University, with degrees in economics and public and international affairs.

 

 

 

Mr. Powell was named Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program in 2003. The world’s largest humanitarian agency, the World Food Program fed 87.8 million people, including 58.8 million children, in 78 countries in 2006. Mr. Powell has also served as the World Food Program’s director of the strategy and policy division, regional director of bureaus for Asia and Eastern Europe, country director in Pakistan, and regional manager of bureaus for West and Central Asia and Asia and the Pacific.

 

Prior to joining the World Food Program in 1990, Mr. Powell spent three years with the World Bank’s Latin American and Caribbean Division and more than 25 years with the Australian Government. He is a graduate of the University of Canberra and a barrister of the High Court of Australia and the Supreme Courts of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. 

 

 

 

As director of ILRI’s biotechnology theme, Dr. Rege oversees research that includes the development of vaccines and diagnostic tools for tropical livestock diseases, characterization and conservation of animal genetic resources and genetic diversity, and development of breeding strategies for low-input smallholder production systems. He also initiated and headed ILRI’s animal genetic resources program and coordinated global activities on characterization and conservation of indigenous animal genetic resources for over 12 years. 

 

Prior to joining ILRI in Nairobi, Dr. Rege was a senior lecturer and head of animal breeding and genetics at the University of Nairobi. He has several years of experience researching the conservation, improvement and utilization of indigenous livestock diversity in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.  He has a combined teaching and research experience of over 25 years, and has authored or co?authored some 250 publications on genetic improvement of livestock and livestock management. He holds an M.S. in animal science and a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of California-Davis.

 

 

 

Dr. Rodin has served as president of the Rockefeller Foundation since March 2005. A research psychologist and pioneer in the behavioral medicine movement, she was previously the president of the University of Pennsylvania, and earlier served for 22 years at Yale University as a faculty member and as provost. As president of Penn – the first woman to serve as president of an Ivy League institution – she won praise for a number of initiatives, particularly a neighborhood revitalization program and various other innovative outreach programs.

 

Dr. Rodin serves on a number of leading non-profit boards, as well as on the boards of AMR Corporation, Citigroup and Comcast. She served on President Clinton’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. A member of a number of leading academic societies, including the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, she has received nine honorary doctorate degrees.

 

 

 

Ms. Roman’s portfolio at the World Food Program includes managing all public communication, media, and press relations; supervising private-sector communications and donor relations; chairing the investment policy committee; and advising WFP leaders on public-policy issues ranging from climate change to biofuels.

 

Ms. Roman previously served as vice president and director of the Washington Program of the Council on Foreign Relations, and as president of the G7 Group, a strategic consulting firm that advises Wall Street on political, legislative, central banking and regulatory developments in the G7 countries, China, and Latin America. She also spent 10 years as journalist covering Congress, foreign policy, and economics. Ms. Roman holds a M.A. in international economics and American foreign policy from the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a B.A. in journalism and French from Baylor University.

 

 

 

From 1991-2001, Dr. Sanchez was the Director General of the World Agro forestry Center located in Kenya.  At North Carolina State University he is also Professor Emeritus of Soil Science and Forestry, and was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley.  He has also worked for the International Rice Research Institute, the Peruvian National Research Institute and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

 

Dr. Sanchez received his education from Cornell University which includes a B.S., M.S. and a Ph.D.  He is a Fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, and has received the International Service in Agronomy Award the International Soil Science Award and the Crop Science Society of America Presidential Award.  He serves on the Board of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the National Academy of Sciences and the Board of Directors of Millennium Promise.  Dr. Sanchez has received honorary Doctor of Science degrees from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and the University of Guelph, Canada.  He has received decorations from the governments of Colombia and Peru, and was anointed Luo Elder with the name of Odera Akang’o by the Luo community of Western Kenya.  Dr. Sanchez is a 2004 MacArthur Fellow.  He authored the book Properties and Management of Soils of the Tropics and co-authored the book Halving Hunger: It Can Be Done as well as authored over 250 scientific publications. (More on Dr. Sanchez) 

 

 

 

As the 29th secretary of agriculture, Secretary Schafer brings to USDA a record as an innovative governor of North Dakota from 1992 to 2000, along with private-sector experience as both an entrepreneur and a business executive. 

 

Advancing agriculture and rural development were among Secretary Schafer’s top priorities in office in North Dakota. He worked to normalize trading relations with China and develop that nation as a farm-product export market; to upgrade communications and infrastructure available to farmers, ranchers and rural businesses; and to encourage the growth of value-added agricultural industries.In 2000, he co-founded and co-chaired the Governors Biotechnology Partnership to increase public understanding and support for the benefits of agricultural biotechnology. 

 

Born and raised in Bismarck, Schafer graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and earned an MBA from the University of Denver in 1970.

 

 

 

As president of Pioneer Hi-Bred, Mr. Schickler serves as vice president and general manager of parent company DuPont. He joined Pioneer in 1974 as an accountant and held positions in international business and administration until 1984, when he was named controller. Mr. Schickler has served as vice president of Pioneer for a variety of areas including learning and development, communications, operations in Latin America, Mexico, and Africa, and all international business operations.

 

In 2006, Mr. Schickler assumed additional responsibility for strategic business development for the DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition platform serving as business development director. In 2007, he was named to his current position, making him the 11th president of Pioneer. Mr. Schickler holds B.S. and M.A. degrees in business administration from Drake University.

 

 

 

Dr. Shah manages the Gates Foundation’s portfolios in agricultural science and technology, agricultural productivity, market access, and policy and statistics. He previously served as director of strategic opportunities, launching the foundation’s global development program, and as deputy director of policy and finance for the foundation’s global health program, helping develop the International Finance Facility for Immunization that has raised more than $5 billion for child immunization. Dr. Shah previously served as a policy aide in the British Parliament and worked at the World Health Organization.

 

Dr. Shah serves on boards including those of the Global Development Network and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the London School of Economics, he holds an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and an M.S. in health economics from the Wharton School of Business. The World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader in 2007.

 

 

 

Since 1974, Dr. Sharma has worked at various levels of government in India in agricultural development, food security, poverty alleviation, rural livelihood strategies, natural resource management, gender issues, and financial management. Her service has included the positions of special secretary in the Department of Agricultural Research and Education; commissioner of land resources and extension in the Ministry of Agriculture; and principal secretary and financial commissioner in the Department of Finance within the state government of Uttar Pradesh. Dr. Sharma is currently responsible for the implementation of programs and projects for poverty alleviation, infrastructure creation, employment, and risk management in rural areas, which account for more than 70 percent of India’s population.

 

Among programs Dr. Sharma that has developed or contributed to are both the State and National Agriculture Policy and the policy for intellectual-property management and commercialization of technologies in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. She has negotiated several multilateral and bilateral development projects; has represented India in the FAO, CGIAR, and World Bank; and was nominated as co-chair for Asia for the consultative process leading to the International Assessment for Agriculture Science and Technology for Development. Dr. Sharma holds a Ph.D. in development economics from Cornell University and an MSc in physics from Delhi University. 

 

 

 

A leading expert on wheat breeding, wheat improvement, and disease resistance, Dr. Singh has contributed to the development of over 168 wheat varieties in his career. Working at CIMMYT in Mexico since 1983, he has headed programs including wheat improvement for durable rust resistance, rust resistance research, and irrigated bread wheat improvement. He also coordinated CIMMYT’s global project on wheat resistance to diseases and pests from 1998 to 2003. Dr. Singh has recently been involved in the formation of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative.

 

Dr. Singh is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences of India, the American Phytopathological Society, and the Crop Science Society of America, whose International Service award he received in 2007. He was also named Outstanding CGIAR Scientist in 2005. He holds degrees in agriculture genetics and plant breeding from Banaras Hindu University and the University of Sydney. 

 

 

 

Since 2003, Mr. Steiner has served as Monsanto’s executive vice president for commercial acceptance, leading global corporate government, public, and industry affairs as well as developing business with downstream partners in the grain and food industry. Steiner has worked for Monsanto for over 24 years as vice president of corporate strategy, global product strategy group leader, and general manager for Monsanto Europe/Africa.

 

Mr. Steiner has also served as vice president of Celera Genomics, in the agricultural and pharmaceutical genomic services business unit. He is actively involved in the industry as chairman of the CropLife International Biotech Strategy Council and the Council for Biotech Information and a board member of the Keystone Center and the Corporate Council on Africa. He holds an MBA from Washington University. 

 

 

 

From 1998 to 2002, Dr. Thompson was director of agriculture and rural development at the World Bank. Previous positions have included president and CEO of the Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development and dean of agriculture at Purdue University. In the 1980s he served as assistant secretary for economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and as senior staff economist for food and agriculture on President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers, roles in which he was instrumental in writing the 1985 Farm Bill and preparing for the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations.

 

Dr. Thompson currently serves on the USDA-USTR Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee for Trade and is a past and founding chairman of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council. A past president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, Dr. Thompson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 

 

 

 

Mr. Thurow, a long-time foreign correspondent, writes about humanitarian and social development issues.  In his more than 30 years with the Journal, he has reported from over 60 countries, writing on a number of subjects ranging from the culture and business of sports to race relations in the United States to hunger and food security in Africa.

 

In 1997, Mr. Thurow received the bronze prize for print media in the Olympic Media Awards and was a finalist in the Deadline Club of New York's awards for best feature-reporting. In October 2005, he was honored, along with Scott Kilman, with the A.H. Boerma Award from the FAO.  Mr. Kilman and Mr. Thurow are also the co-authors of a forthcoming book on global agriculture and hunger.

 

 

 

Ambassador Trojan began his career in international agriculture and trade with the ministry of agriculture and food in the Netherlands. He joined the European Commission in Brussels in 1973, ultimately being named Secretary-General in 1997. From 2001 to 2007, he served as ambassador of the European Commission to the WTO in Geneva, representing the EU in the Doha Round of WTO negotiations.

 

In addition to chairing the IPC, Ambassador Trojan also serves on the Dutch Advisory Council for International Affairs and the Dutch Energy Council. Additionally, he teaches and works with international trade and European integration issues at the Maastricht School for Management and the University of Barcelona. He studied European and international law at the University of Leyden.

 

 

 

Dr. Wakhungu was most recently professor of science, technology, and society and director of the Women in the Sciences and Engineering (WISE) Institute at Penn State University. She has held a number of energy-sector positions in Kenya, where she was the first woman geologist in the Ministry of Energy and Regional Development, the first woman petroleum geologist in the National Oil Corporation of Kenya, as well as the first woman to serve on the geology faculty of the University of Nairobi.

 

In addition to her leadership within the IAASTD, which was released earlier in 2008, Dr. Wakhungu has led or been involved with organizations and boards including the UN Commission of Science and Technology for Development, the African Technology Policy Studies Network, the International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study, and the Stockholm Environment Institute, the Institute for Security Studies. Dr. Wakhungu has researched and published widely in science, technology, and sustainable development; gender issues in science and technology; and energy resources management. She holds a B.S. in geology from St. Lawrence University, a M.S. in petroleum geology from Acadia University, and a Ph.D. in energy resources management from Penn State. 

 

 

 

Dr. Wandira’s first position in public service came when she was elected village leader. She went on to serve as a member of Uganda’s Parliament and in 1994 was elected vice president, the first and only woman in Africa to hold such a position at the time. She concurrently served as the country’s minister of agriculture, animal industry and fisheries, until stepping down from both positions in 2003. She had previously served as minister for gender and community development, and as deputy minister for industry.

 

Dr. Wandira earned several degrees in medicine from Makerere University, and she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in population and international health from Harvard. As a leader in Uganda and Africa, she is noted for her work to improve literacy rates, promote social justice, enhance equity for women and marginalized groups, and increase attention to rural development and agricultural issues. Dr. Wandira was instrumental in working with the Organization of African Unity and the UN Economic Commission for Africa to create in 1998 the African Women’s Committee on Peace and Development, which she also chaired. Among her many honors are the Ceres Medal awarded by the UN FAO.

 

 

 

As director of the CGIAR, Dr. Wang oversees the world’s foremost international agricultural research system, whose 64 members support a network of 15 centers and more than 8,000 staff and scientists in their collaborative work with governments, NGOs, private businesses, and agricultural producers in over 100 countries. Prior to leading the CGIAR, Dr. Wang served as deputy director-general for research at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and was a trustee of the International Potato Center in Peru.

 

Dr. Wang began his career in agriculture as a farm worker in his home province of Shanxi, China. Beginning in 1985, he was a researcher and professor at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, where he pioneered China’s program on managing invasive exotic plants using biological controls. He was later named vice president of CAAS, and also led the USDA-China Biological Control Laboratory and the International Institute of Biological Control in the United Kingdom. Dr. Wang holds degrees in plant protection, biological control, and entomology from Shanxi Agricultural University, CAAS, and Virginia Tech.

 

 

 

Since 2006, Mr. Worthington has led InterAction, the United States’ largest alliance of relief and development nongovernmental organizations working overseas. He has also chaired InterAction’s PVO Standards and Membership committee and was co-chair of its Commission on the Advancement of Women. From 1994, he was CEO of Plan USA – a global, 62-country, child-focused development organization.

 

In addition, Mr. Worthington serves on the USAID’s Advisory Committee for Voluntary Foreign Assistance and the UN’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee, sits on the boards of the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, the Alliance to End Hunger, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also a founder of the Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI), a partnership of leading NGOs working to address the impact of AIDS on children, and until recently served on its Program Policy Council.

 

As a Fulbright Scholar, Mr. Worthington analyzed and evaluated UN international development program methodologies at the International Labor Office in Switzerland. He graduated from or studied at the University of Vermont, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and the Institut Universitaire des Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva.

 

 

 

Mr. Zoellick became the 11th president of the World Bank in 2007. Prior to joining the Bank, he served as Vice Chairman, International of the Goldman Sachs Group, Managing Director, and Chairman of Goldman Sachs' Board of International Advisors. His previous extensive experience within the U.S. government has included serving as U.S. trade representative and deputy secretary of state, along with numerous other positions in the State Department, the Treasury Department, and the White House.

 

A foremost expert on foreign affairs and policy, Mr. Zoellick was a leader in launching the Doha Round in 2001, was instrumental in completing or advancing the WTO accessions of countries including Cambodia, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, and was the lead U.S. official in the "Two-plus-Four" process of German unification in 1989-1990. Mr. Zoellick has also served on many non-profit boards, among them the Council on Foreign Relations, the Overseas Development Council, the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., and the advisory councils of the World Wildlife Fund and the Institute of International Economics.