About > Board of Directors

2012 Board of Directors

IFDC is a public international organization, governed by an international board of directors with representation from both developed and developing countries. The organization is supported by various bilateral and multilateral aid agencies, private foundations and national governments.

M. Peter McPherson

Chairman of the Board

United States

Peter McPherson is president of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), the nation’s oldest higher education association comprised of public research universities, land-grant institutions and state university systems. He is the founding co-chair of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, chair of HarvestPlus and former chair of Dow Jones and Company.

Gerard Doornbos

Vice Chairman of the Board

The Netherlands

Gerard Doornbos served as president of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) from 1998 to 2002. IFAP is a global network of farmer organizations representing over 600 million farm families from 120 national organizations in 79 countries.

Dr. Mohamed Badraoui

Morocco

Dr. Mohamed Badraoui is the director general of Morocco’s National Agronomic Research Institute (INRA), a public organization dedicated to improving research for agricultural development in the country. Badraoui has more than 30 years of experience in agricultural research, specializing in soil science.

Margaret Catley-Carlson

Canada

Margaret Catley-Carlson currently serves as patron of the Global Water Partnership (GWP), a working partnership among all those involved in water management. The GWP was formed in 1996 by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Dr. Jimmy Cheek

United States

Dr. Jimmy Cheek is chancellor of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, a top public research university. Prior to joining the University of Tennessee in 2009, he served as the senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources at the University of Florida, Gainesville, United States.

Dr. Josué Dioné

Mali

Dr. Josué Dioné is Principal Technical Adviser, Policies and Markets
for the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation. He has more than 30 years of experience working with development policies, strategies and programs that focus on agriculture, food security and sustainable development in Africa.

Dr. John B. Hardman

United States

Dr. John Hardman is president and CEO of the Carter Center. He provides leadership for the Center’s program initiatives including election monitoring in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He also plays a role in public health training in Ethiopia, global development strategies, conflict resolution efforts and agriculture programs aimed at improving food production in Africa and North Korea.

Dr. Agnes M. Kalibata

Rwanda

Dr. Agnes M. Kalibata is Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI). She serves as chairman of the board for the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (ISAE) and co-chairman of the National Clinical Research Center of Rwanda. She is a member of the Rwanda Development Board. Kalibata is also a member of the Strategic Advisory Council for the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Dr. Steven Leath

United States

Dr. Steven Leath is president of Iowa State University, which is home to five U.S. Department of Agriculture research laboratories; the nation’s finest genomic-based agricultural breeding programs; and world-renowned plant science and bio-economy institutes. Leath came to Iowa State from North Carolina where he was a faculty member, research program leader and high-level administrator with the University of North Carolina system and North Carolina State University.

Patrick J. Murphy

United States

Patrick J. Murphy served as the senior bank advisor for the Economic Policy Group in the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq in 2003. In this position, he restarted post-conflict lending activities at a major government commercial bank; originated and planned conversion/monetization of the UN Oil for Food Program to a smart card system; and negotiated and implemented micro-lending contracts to provide micro and small business loans throughout the country.

Dr. Mortimer Neufville

United States

Dr. Mortimer Neufville served as the executive vice president of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU). He currently chairs the ACDI/VOCA board and serves as interim president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES).

Rhoda Peace Tumusiime

Uganda

Rhoda Peace Tumusiime is the Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the African Union. In previous positions, Tumusiime served as Commissioner for Agricultural Planning and Development and Commissioner for Women and Development for the federal government of Uganda, her native country. She was instrumental in developing Uganda’s Poverty Eradication Action Plan and a gender mainstreaming policy that has propelled women and girls to greater heights in education and politics.

Dr. Vo-Tong Xuan

Vietnam

Dr. Vo-Tong Xuan is the rector of Tan Tao University, the first American-style university in Vietnam. He is also the director of the Vietnam-Africa Agricultural Development Company in Vietnam and the former rector of An Giang University.

Dr. Amit H. Roy

President and CEO

United States

Dr. Amit Roy has been the president and CEO of IFDC since 1992. Under Roy’s leadership, IFDC’s programs have broadened to help create sustainable agricultural productivity around the world, alleviating hunger and poverty and ensuring global food security, environmental protection and economic growth.

Vincent McAlister

United States

Vincent McAlister is an ex officio member of the IFDC Board of Directors. He serves as secretary to the board and is IFDC's legal counsel. He has been the counsel of record for IFDC since its inception in 1974.