Morocco
Mohamed Ait-Kadi is President of the General Council of Agricultural Development, a high-level policy think tank at the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Fishery of Morocco. In this position he has supervised the preparation of Morocco's 2020 strategies for agriculture and rural development, and has also served as acting Secretary General of the Ministry. Previously, he was Director General of the Ministry's Irrigation Department, and managed a US$3 billion program. He is Governor and a founding member of the World Water Council, member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Water Partnership, member of the International Water Academy, member of the Club of Tokyo, honorary vice-president of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, and member of the Scientific Committee of the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies. He serves as well as Professor at the Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine Hassan II (IAV) in Rabat, Morocco. He is author of numerous publications on rural development, irrigation, and water management. He received a Ph.D. in irrigation engineering from Utah State University in the USA and a doctorate in agronomy from the IAV in Morocco.
Côte d'IvoireAchi Atsain is Senior Political Affairs Officer, UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is also Professor of Economics and Econometrics at the University of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire and a Senior Research Fellow at the Ivorian Center for Economic and Social Research, President of the West African Economic Association and a consultant to such agencies as the World Bank, the International Labor Office, the U.N. Industrial Development Organization, and the World Intellectual Property Organization. Previously, he was a presidential advisor and Minister of Employment, Civil Service, and Social Welfare in Côte d'Ivoire. He served as mayor of the city of Agou, and was a Member of Parliament for 10 years. He has published widely on such topics as macroeconomics, regional integration, and sustainable development in West Africa. Atsain received his Ph.D. in economics from the State University of New York at Albany, USA.
AustraliaRoss G. Garnaut is Professor of Economics at the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University. An expert on economic development, public finance, and international economic relations in the Asia-Pacific region, Garnaut is the author of numerous books and influential scholarly articles on these topics. He has frequently been a consultant to the Australian government. From 1985 to 1988, he was the Australian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, and from 1994 to 2000, he chaired the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. He currently serves on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals and on the governing boards of various research organizations. He also sits on the boards of several private businesses, serving as board chair of Lihir Gold Ltd. and Lonely Planet Publications, the world's largest publisher of travel guides. Garnaut is an officer of the Order of Australia. He received his B.A. and Ph.D. in economics from The Australian National University.
United KingdomBarbara Harriss-White is the University Professor of Development Studies, and Director of Queen Elizabeth House , Oxford University. She was the Founder-Director of Oxford's M.Phil. in Development Studies. She works (through field research) in two areas of political economy. The first is the regulation of the informal economy, which builds on years of fieldwork on agrarian markets, especially in food grains: her most recent books in this area are India Working: Essays on Economy and Society, Cambridge University Press, 2003; India's Market Society, Three Essays Press, 2005; Trade Liberalisation and India's Informal Economy, OUP, 2006 and Rural Commercial Capital and the Left Front, OUP 2007. Her second area of interest is manifold aspects of deprivation, on which she has published Illfare in India, Sage, 1999, Outcast from Social Welfare: Adult Disability in Rural South India, Books for Change, 2002; Globalisation and Insecurity, Palgrave, 2002 and Defining Poverty, Palgrave 2007. She has a paper on destitution in World Development 2005 and is currently working on caste discrimination in business. The two interests come together in a long term study of rural transformation in Southern India in which, among many other aspects of agricultural production, she has been tracking irrigation, fertiliser, energy, production technology and the marketed surplus; and among aspects of welfare: poverty, food and nutrition (including alcohol), education, drinking water, sanitation, waste, disability, and rural social security - all published in Rural India Facing the 21st Century, Anthem, 2004. Future work will be focused on energy.
JapanMasayoshi Honma is Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Tokyo University. Previously, he was affiliated with Seikai University, Otaru University of Commerce, and Tokyo Metropolitan University. He has been a Visiting Professor at Australian National University and a professional staff member at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. From 1989 to 1991, he was a Visiting Research Fellow at IFPRI. Honma received his Ph.D. in economics at Iowa State University, and has published widely in both Japanese and English.
U.S.A.Jean Kinsey is a Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota, where she has been on the faculty since 1976, and is also Co-Director of The Food Industry Center at the University. She received her Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of California at Davis. Her research and teaching has been on food consumption trends and demographic changes in the household, information economics, the value of time, American Indian gambling impacts on local communities, and consumer confidence and buying behavior. She has served as Board Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, on the Board of Managers of PJM Interconnection, and President of the American Agricultural Economics Association, of which she is a fellow. Professor Kinsey has been a consultant to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USAID, the Federal Reserve Bank, AT&T, and various legal firms and food companies.
ChinaZhu Ling was born in December 1951 in Yinchuan City, Ninxia Autonomous Region of Hui Nationality, China. In 1988, she received her Ph.D. in Agroeconomics from the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Federal Republic of Germany. In 1981, she obtained her M.A. in Economics at the Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. Since 1981, she has been employed at the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. Currently she is the Deputy Director in charge of research and education; and has been a Professorial Fellow since 1992. Her main research interests are rural development and poverty issues.
ColombiaCecilia López Montaño is President of the Agenda Colombia Foundation in Bogotá, Colombia. The Foundation promotes and develops, economic, political and social research, and public policies in Colombia and developing countries. She is also a consultant to the World Bank, IFAD, and ECLAC. She has served in the Colombian government as Minister of Planning, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of the Environment, and Minister in Charge of National Policies for Women's Equity. She also was Colombia's Ambassador to the Netherlands and headed the Colombian delegation to several United Nations Conferences. In her academic career, López taught both economics and demography at universities in Colombia, and was the founding Dean of the Faculty of Economics at Universidad Piloto. She received her B.A. in economics from the Universidad de Los Andes, where she also did her postgraduate work in demography. She did additional postgraduate work in the economics of education at the Centro de Estudios Educativos in Mexico. López is a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Water Management Institute and previously was a member of the International Advisory Council of IFPRI's 2020 Vision Initiative.
IndiaNachiket Mor is a Yale World Fellow (2004); has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania with a specialization in Finance from the Wharton School; an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and an undergraduate degree in Physics from the Mumbai University. While completing his Ph.D., he was associated with a Philadelphia based hedge fund (Quantitative Financial Strategies) for three years. He has worked with ICICI since 1987 in a variety of jobs, including, Corporate Planning, Project Finance and Treasury. From April 2001 he is a member of the ICICI Bank's Board of Directors as an Executive Director. From April 2006 he is Deputy Managing Director and is responsible for Government Banking, Agriculture, Rural and Micro Banking, Social Initiatives, Proprietary Trading and implementation of best practices in Risk Management, on a group-wide basis. In addition to his work within ICICI Bank, among other things, in the past he has served as the Chairman of the Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India (FIMMDA) for two years and as a Board Member of Wipro Limited for five years. His current assignments include memberships of the Board of the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), CARE USA, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and several task forces of the Planning Commission.
PeruLiliana Rojas-Suarez, a Peruvian national, is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development. She is also the President of the Latin American Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee. From March 1998 to October 2000, she served as Managing Director and Chief Economist for Latin America at Deutsche Bank. Before joining Deutsche Bank, Ms. Rojas-Suarez was the Principal Advisor in the Office of Chief Economist at the Inter-American Development Bank. Between 1984 and 1994 she held various positions at the International Monetary Fund, most recently as Deputy Chief of the Capital Markets and Financial Studies Division of the Research Department. She has been a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for International Economics and has also served as a Professor at Anahuac University in Mexico and an Advisor for PEMEX, Mexico's National Petroleum Company. Ms. Rojas-Suarez has also testified before a Joint Committee of the US Senate on the issue of dollarization in Latin America.
In her different capacities as well as an independent consultant, Ms. Rojas-Suarez has advised a large number of governments, banks, corporations and international organizations throughout the world. Ms. Rojas-Suarez has published widely in the areas of financial markets, macroeconomic policy and international economics. Her most recent publications include: "Designing Financial Policies that Work for Latin America: The Role of Markets and Institutions" (Journal of Financial Stability, 2004), "Can International Capital Standards Strengthen banks in Emerging Markets" (The Capco Institute Journal of Finance 2002), "Why So High? Understanding Interest Rate Spreads in Latin America (ed. With P. Brock, IDB, 2000), Financing Development: The Power of Regionalism" (with Nancy Birdsall, Center for Global Development, 2004), "What Exchange Rate Arrangements Work Best for Latin America", World Economic Affairs, (Autumn 2000) and Financial Regulation: Why, How and Where Now? (With C. Gooddhart et al, Routledge, 1998). Ms. Rojas-Suarez holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.
ThailandSuttilak Smitasiri is Head of the Division of Communication and Behavioral Science at the Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University, in Thailand, and has been associated with the Institute since 1980. She has published widely on nutrition education, communication, and behavior change, and on micronutrient malnutrition, and is a reviewer for the Food and Nutrition Bulletin and the Journal of Nutrition Education. Smitasiri has served as a consultant to WHO, UNICEF, FAO, Helen Keller International, and the World Bank on nutrition issues in Southeast Asia, and is a member of several international expert panels on nutrition, including the International Vitamin A Consultative Group. She has advised Ph.D. students at the University of Queensland in Australia and Aarhus University in Denmark. She received her Ph.D. in community nutrition from the University of Queensland and masters degrees in communications from Stanford University in the USA and Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.
NorwayGunnar Sorbo is Director of the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), an independent, nonprofit research center focusing on policy-oriented and applied development research. Before he joined CMI in 1994, Sorbo was affiliated with the University of Bergen for over 20 years, and was the first Director of the University's Centre for Development Studies. He also has been a visiting lecturer and visiting fellow at the University of Khartoum. A social anthropologist, Sorbo's professional profile and research interests include development policy and planning; conflict studies and conflict management; social impact assessment (incl. resettlement); agricultural and pastoral systems; and regional analysis and economic adaptations. He is an experienced team leader for policy-oriented reviews and evaluations and has held positions as trustee or member of several boards, including the International Livestock Centre for Africa (now ILRI), the Research Council of Norway (Division of Environment and Development), and the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights. Sorbo received his Ph.D. at the University of Bergen and is the author and editor of numerous books, journal articles, book chapters and commissioned reports.
FranceLaurence Tubiana, a citizen of France, is Director of the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) in Paris. She is also on the faculties of the National Graduate School of Agronomy in Montpellier, the University of Montpellier I, and the Institute of Political Studies (Sciences-Po) in Paris. Previously, she was a member of the Council of Economic Analysis, advising Prime Minister Lionel Jospin on international development and environmental issues. She was also President of Solagral, an international development NGO. A French citizen, Dr. Tubiana received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Paris I and received additional training in political science at Sciences Po.
CanadaMichele Veeman is a Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics in the Department of Rural Economy at the University of Alberta, Canada and the previous Chair of that department from 1992 to 2003. She holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, a Masters Degree in Economics from the University of Adelaide, South Australia, and a Bachelors degree in Agricultural Science from Massey University, New Zealand. Her research, graduate student supervision and teaching have focused on the economics of food, agriculture and rural resources and she has published widely in these areas. Recent collaborative research includes studies of consumers' responses and trade-offs relative to food biotechnology (GMOs); how consumers' risk perceptions and decisions are modified by different types of information; and resource use decisions of small-holders in southern Africa. Professor Veeman is a Government of Alberta nominee to Canada's Internal Trade Dispute Panel (1997 to 2006), a previous co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics and a previous President of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society and an Honorary Life Member of the International Association of Agricultural Economists.
Director General, Ex Officio, Germany
Joachim von Braun, a native of Germany, joined the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) as its director general in September 2002. Prior to that, he was director of the Center for Development Research (ZEF), which he helped to found in 1997, at the University of Bonn, Germany. Joachim headed the Department of Economics and Technical Change and was a professor in the University's Institute for Agricultural Policy. He was a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
His association with IFPRI includes seven years as a research fellow and three years as director of the Food Consumption and Nutrition Division. Joachim has worked in developing countries for many years and is known for his work on food security and mitigating and preventing famines. He has published widely in his various areas of expertise, including the economics of bio-diversity and biotechnology in low-income countries and the relationship of development to governance, trade, food and agriculture, and information and communications. Joachim is immediate past the president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).
Tanzania
Samuel Wangwe is the chairman of Daima Associates Limited (DAIMA), a private consulting firm based in Dar es Salaam that offers a range of professional services directed towards the economic management and policy analysis. Prior to assuming his current position, he was the policy advisor on coordination of reforms in the Office of the President, Public Service Management, a post he took after eight years as Executive Director of the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), a nonprofit nongovernmental policy research institute focusing on capacity building in economic and social policy and development management in Tanzania. He is principal research associate with the ESRF and is chairing the Independent Monitoring Group which is tasked to monitor aid relationships between donors and Tanzania government.
He has 35 years experience as an economist and policy researcher and policy analyst and policy advisor, and as economist and an economic advisor to the Government of Tazania. He has authored/co-authored/edited 13 books development and economic management and over 70 published articles in journals and edited books. In addition he has led and/or participated in over 80 consultancies addressing development policy and economic management in a wide range of areas including formulation and implementation of strategies and policies, industrial development, agricultural development, infrastructure, finance and poverty studies.
He holds a bachelors degree in Economics and Statistics, masters degree in Economics, and a doctoral degree in Economics from the University of Dar es Salaam; and has also worked as the head of the Department of Economics as well as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the same university. During a three-year leave of absence from the University, he was senior research fellow at the Institute for New Technologies of the United Nations University in Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Besides the African Technology Policy Studies (ATPS) network, has served on a number of advisory boards including the Bank of Tanzania, the Tanzania Housing Bank, and the National Micro Finance Bank and has chaired several boards including the State Mining Corporation, the National Institute of Productivity, the National Social Security Fund in Tanzania and is currently chairing the Social Action Trust Fund and the Kibaha Education Centre in Tanzania.
He has also been a member of several commissions, special committees, and task forces including the Fourth Five Development Plan Working Committee on Industry and Technology; the Committee for Improving National Statistics; the Secretariat of the Tanzania Advisory Group; the Presidential Commissions on Exports and Salaries; the Tax Force on Restructuring the National Bank of Commerce; the Advisory Committee in Financial Sector Reform, and was Chairperson of the national Consultative Committee on Fast Tracking the East African Federation.