Cary Fowler
2024 Laureate and U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security,U.S. Department of State
Dr. Cary Fowler is perhaps best known as the “father” of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which holds more than 1 million unique crop varieties. Dr. Fowler is the former Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, Professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and senior staff member of Bioversity International. He oversaw the UN’s first global assessment of the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources. He was responsible for drafting and negotiating the first FAO Global Plan of Action on the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources, formally adopted by 150 countries in 1996. Dr. Fowler twice served as Special Assistant to the Secretary General of the World Food Summit and represented the CGIAR in the multi-year negotiations on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources. In 2015, Dr. Fowler was appointed to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development by President Obama. He is a former board member of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, and former chair of the Livestock Conservancy.