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Julio Antonio Berdegué Sacristán (México), Chair, Board of Trustees, and Chair of the Executive Committee; President, Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo Rural, Chile

Julio Antonio Berdegué Sacristán completed a B.Sc. in agricultural sciences at the University of Arizona and did an M.Sc. in agronomy at the University of California at Davis. Additionally, he holds a Ph.D. in social science from Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands. Berdegué is owner and manager of Mazatlán Ltda., a vegetable and seed production firm. From 1992-95 he was national director of operations of Chile’s National Agricultural Development Institute (INDAP), where he managed the country’s extension, credit, micro irrigation and farmers’ organization programs which served about 100,000 peasant households. As a research and extension specialist at the Interamerican Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) from 1991-92, Berdegué designed and coordinated a system to improve the linkage between Chile’s governmental agricultural research and development agencies. Before that, he worked as a researcher, and later became a senior researcher with the Agrarian Research Group (AGI), one of Chile’s main NGOs.

Andrew Barr (Australia), Farmer, Director, ABB Grain Pty Ltd; Member, GRDC panel; Affiliate Professor, University of Adelaide, Australia

Andrew Barr is the non-executive director for ABB Grain Pty Ltd. as well as a member of the Southern Panel, Grains Research and Development Corporation and has been an affiliate professor at the University of Adelaide since 1999. Since 2003 he has farmed 800 hectares of land with crops such as bread and durum wheat and until 2006 worked as a senior wheat breeder with Australian Grain Technologies. Barr has published nearly 50 scientific papers and was deputy chair of the International Barley Genetics Symposium in 2000 and chair of the International Oat Conference in 1992. He received his PhD in agricultural science from the University of Adelaide.

Sara Boettiger (USA), Chair, Program Committee; Director, Strategic Planning and Development-PIPRA

Sara Boettiger has been the director of the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture for the past seven years and is also a consultant for the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley. Her professional interests focus on programs and policies that support innovation, entrepreneurship, and business and product development in developing countries. Her work includes communication technologies for development and intellectual property needs of developing countries. Boettiger earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in agricultural & resource economics from the University of CA, Berkeley and her B.A. in economics from the University of Arizona.

Pedro Brajcich Gallegos (México), Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees, Director General, Agricultural Research, National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock Research (INIFAP-SAGARPA), Mexico

Pedro Brajcich Gallegos is Director General of Mexico's Agricultural, Livestock and Forestry Research Organization (INIFAP) and is a Board member of CIMMYT. As director of CIMMYT's Durum Wheat Improvement Program, he was responsible for the development of basic and advanced germplasm. As a livestock, vegetable, and grain producer in the State of Sonora, Mexico, Brajcich developed production technology that improved durum wheat yield by 10%. He has also been active as Board member in several farmer associations (which are commercial and dedicated to technology development and transfer) and has acted as consultant and advisor to several companies, farmer associations, and government agencies. His academic background includes both an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. from Oregon State in plant breeding. He also has a post doctorate in wheat and barley breeding.

Salvador Fernández-Rivera (México), Coordinator for Research, Innovation and Partnerships, Agricultural Research, National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock Research (INIFAP), Mexico

Salvador Fernández-Rivera is an animal scientist with more than 20 years of experience in livestock production in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the United States. He has authored and co-authored more than 100 publications on options to improve crop-livestock production in a sustainable manner. From May 1991 to May 2007 he worked for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), based first at the former International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) and later at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Fernandez-Rivera was born and raised on a maize and livestock farm in Mexico, earned his B.Sc. in animal science at the National School of Agriculture in Chapingo, Mexico, an M.Sc. in animal science at the Postgraduate College in Chapingo, Mexico, and a Ph.D. in Ruminant Nutrition at the University of Nebraska in the US.

Mutsuo Iwamoto (Japan), Director General, Japanese Society of Techno-innovation for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan

Mutsuo Iwamoto became a fellow of the International Council of Near Infrared Spectroscopy in 2005. From 2003-05 he was president of Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS). Previously he was the director general for the Secretariat of the Research Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the Japan Agricultural Research Center (MAFF) where he previously also worked as a research counselor and coordinator. Iwamoto was a member of the selection committee for Members of the CGIAR Science Council and a member of the nomination committee for Director General of WARDA. He earned his doctorate and undergraduate degrees in agriculture from Kyushu University.

Xiaoming Jin (China) Director General, Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Science and Technology, China

Jin is on CIMMYT’s Board of Trustees and was the minister counselor for Science and Technology stationed at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States. He has previously worked for the same department as the first secretary. Between embassy stints, Jin served as deputy director-general in the Department of International Cooperation for the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. Jin was born in Shanxi, China, received his B.A. in political science and English language and literature from Beijing University of Foreign Studies, and completed a three-year program of advanced studies in economics and political science at York University, Toronto, Canada. He earned his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Central South University, Changsha, China.

Thomas A. Lumpkin (USA), CIMMYT’s Director General

Thomas A. Lumpkin has served as Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT, by its Spanish acronym) since 15 March 2008. Lumpkin grew up on a small farm in eastern Washington State USA, located on the boundary between the irrigated desert and the rainfed wheat production area. As a young man, he served in the Peace Corps in the Konkan region of India, teaching rice production along with wheat and horticultural crops. He has a B.Sc. from Washington State University in agronomy, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in agronomy from the University of Hawaii. He carried out his doctoral research in mainland China and served as a research scholar at IRRI for six months. Lumpkin worked at Washington State University as a professor and later as Chair of the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. Prior to taking up his appointment at CIMMYT, he served for five years as Director General of AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center in Taiwan.

Tom McKay (Canada), Chair of the Audit, Finance and Administration Committee; former Governor of the International Development Research Centre. Retired Government Administrator.

Tom McKay is a former local Canadian government administrator with expertise in financial management. He has held senior local government positions for 25 years including deputy city treasurer, regional treasurer, and city administrator and has been involved in all areas of local government accounting and administration. As president of the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators in 1986, McKay played a role in creating the Africa 2000 program, a Canadian International Development Agency/Federation of Canadian Municipalities (CIDA/FCM) Municipal Technical Exchange Program between Canadian and African cities. As chief administrative officer (CAO) of the city of Kitchener, Ontario, he subsequently supervised and participated in a six-year exchange program between Kitchener and the city of Windhoek, Namibia, during the country’s independence from South African control.

Matin Qaim (Germany), Chair of International Food Economics and Rural Development, Georg-August University of Goettingen, Germany

Since 2007, Matin Qaim has been professor and chair of International Food Economics and Rural Development at Georg-August-University of Goettingen in Goettingen, Germany. Before that, he taught International Agricultural Trade and Food Security at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany from 2004-2007. Qaim also worked as senior researcher and team leader at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany. He has had numerous research projects in developing countries including Argentina, Egypt, India, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Qaim received the outstanding “Review of Agricultural Economics” article award in 2007 from the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA). He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Africa Harvest Biotech International Foundation since 2008. Qaim has an M.Sc. in agricultural economics from the University of Keil, and obtained his Ph.D. in agricultural and development economics at the University of Bonn.

Usah Barwale Zehr (India/USA), Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees, Chair, IRRI-CIMMYT committee, Joint Director, Research Deputy Director of Biotechnology, Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co. Ltd., India)

Dr. Usha Barwale Zehr is the joint director of research at Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Limited, India. She is responsible for research on plant biotechnology, technology transfer to farmers, and utilization of new technologies and tools, which includes using biotechnology for improving the quality and productivity of seeds and agriculture. She is a member of numerous committees such as the Private Sector Committee of the CGIAR, the Intellectual Property Committee of the International Seed Federation, the National Biotechnology Network, and the World Water Commission and Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. She is also director of the Mahyco Vegetables Seeds Ltd., Jalna. Zehr received her M. S. (1985) and Ph.D. (1987) in agronomy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned her B.Sc. (microbiology) in 1981 from Wilson College, University of Bombay.

Lindiwe Majele Sibanda (Zimbabwe), Chief Executive Officer of the southern African regional Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), South Africa

Since 2004, Lindiwe Majele Sibanda has been the Chief Executive Officer of the southern African Regional Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN). She is responsible for facilitating the development of tools and processes that promote harmonization of policies at regional levels through reviews of policies, legal frameworks, institutional arrangements, and governance processes. She has 20 years of experience in rural development, including enhancing rural dwellers’ participation in policy processes through use of community theatre; helping government ministries of agriculture to streamline their activities and create a conducive environment for the private sector; establishing the Initiative for Development in African Agriculture; developing locally based processes for channeling analytical input into policy making; and, establishing and strengthening government-civil society policy dialogue platforms.

Sibanda is currently coordinating policy research and advocacy programs in 13 southern African counties all aimed at making southern Africa a food secure region. Her program portfolio includes policy research and advocacy work on food policies, agricultural productivity, natural resources and environment, and the impact of HIV and AIDS on agriculture and food security in southern Africa. Sibanda is an animal scientist by training and a practicing commercial beef cattle farmer.

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