Two external independent members into CGIAR System Management board

1 September 2017. Montpellier, France. Decisions taken by CGIAR’s 15 international agricultural research centers in July 2017 to appoint nine voting members of the CGIAR System Management Board paved the way for the appointment of two external independent members into key CGIAR System roles through June 2019. As a self-governing board of the CGIAR System Organization, the CGIAR System Management board is responsible for providing strategic direction, effective governance and leadership.

Marco Ferroni accepted the role of Chair of the System Management Board and Kanayo F. Nwanze, the first CGIAR global ambassador.

Ferroni is stepping down from his ten-year term as Executive Director of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture on 31 August, and assumes the role of Chair of the System Management Board the following day. In addition to his work at the Syngenta Foundation, Ferroni has served in high-level positions at the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and held managerial and strategic advisory positions in the Swiss Government.

Nwanze, the immediate past and 5th President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and a former director general at AfricaRice, will serve as the Board’s first global ambassador focused on system-level resource mobilization and engagement efforts.

Center-affiliated members

• Geoff Hawtin (CIAT Board of Trustees Chair)
• Martin Kropff (Director General of CIMMYT)
• Gordon McNeil (AfricaRice Board of Trustees member)
• Jimmy Smith (Director General of ILRI)
• Margret Thalwitz (ICARDA Board of Trustees Chair)
• Ann Tutwiler (Director General of Bioversity)
• Barbara Wells (Director General of CIP)

Ex-officio Non-Voting Member

• Elwyn Grainger-Jones (Executive Director, CGIAR System Organization)