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The CCRP leadership team is comprised of Directors, Regional Representatives (RR) and Liason Scientists (LS) for each Community of Practice; and an Avisory Committee (AC). This team will come together on an annual basis to review program and regional strategies, progress, issues, lessons learned, and ideas.
Individual positions and officers are described below. Click on the interactive image to jump to a particular section.
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The McKnight International Program Director (MIPD) works closely with the Scientific Director (SD), who is employed by and based at Cornell. The directors serve as ex-officio members of the Advisory Committee. Two assistants, one program administrator (PA) at The McKnight Foundation and one administrative assistant (AA) employed by and based at Cornell, facilitate work flow. The administrative assistant at Cornell serves as webmaster for the CCRP Web and produces the CCRP’s Quarterly Newsletter.
Jane Maland Cady, Mcknight International Program Director (MIPD)
Jane Maland Cady began her position as the McKnight International
Program Director in April 2008. Maland Cady oversees McKnight's
grantmaking to promote strong rural livelihoods in Cambodia,
Laos, Vietnam, Tanzania and Uganda; and to promote food security
through applied crop research in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Maland Cady has 20 years of experience in research and evaluation
in the nonprofit sector, both overseas and in Minnesota. Prior
to joining McKnight, she spent 11 years managing her own consulting
firm, Criando Research and Evaluation Services. The recipient
of a Fulbright Senior Scholar grant to teach evaluation at
two federal universities in Brazil, Maland Cady has extensive
domestic and international experience working with community
development initiatives and sustainable agriculture programs.
Most recently, she launched a business, Naterra
Naturals, with several partners to expand markets in the
USA for fair trade and organic products from South America.
Maland Cady has a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of
Minnesota. She has lived and worked in Brazil and Mexico,
and speaks Portuguese and Spanish.
Curriculum
vitae
Rebecca Nelson, CCRP Scientific Director (SD)
Associate Professor, Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe-Biology;
Plant Breeding and Genetics; and International Agriculture and Rural Development,
Cornell University
Rebecca Nelson serves as Scientific Director for CCRP. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the United Nations University Food and Nutrition Program. Her laboratory at Cornell works on the genetic dissection of quantitative disease resistance in maize, in collaboration with maize geneticists and breeders at Cornell, in Kenya and elsewhere. Prior to moving to Cornell in 2001, she served as molecular pathologist at the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru (1996-2001), and before that as a plant pathologist at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines (1988-1996). Rebecca holds a B.A. degree in Biology from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Washington. A MacArthur Fellow from 1998 through 2003, she has served on the editorial boards of Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Phytopathology and the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability.
Curriculum
vitae
Becky Monnens, Program Administrator (PA)
Becky Monnens joined the Foundation as program
assistant in June 2007, and was promoted to program administrator in June 2009. Monnens provides support for McKnight's neuroscience
and crop research programs. Among her previous jobs, Monnens
spent over six years at three nonprofits that provide aid
to low-income populations in South America: Mano a Mano Medical
Resources in Mendota Heights, the Carmen Pampa Fund in St.
Paul, and the University at Carmen Pampa in Bolivia. Monnens
is a graduate of the College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, with
a master's degree in organizational leadership.
Kelly Bulkeley, CCRP Administrative Assistant (AA)
Kelly Bulkeley joined the CCRP staff in October
2001 as program assistant to Rebecca Nelson and administrative
assistant to the Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe
Biology at Cornell University. She was named Administrative Assistant in 2008. Bulkeley graduated
from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, earning a B.A. in
Communication Arts (journalism) and Spanish language. She
began her Master of Professional Studies (M.P.S.) degree at
Cornell University in the fall of 2004 in the field of horticulture,
specializing in plant propagation. She is webmaster of the
CCRP Web and publishes the CCRP
Quarterly Newsletters.
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Regional Representatives and Liaison Scientists |
Each of the four CCRP Communities of Practice is served by a Regional Representative (RR) and a Liaison Scientist (LS). The RR provides logistical and technical support for the CoP from a base in the region. He/she facilitates communication between grantees, program staff, and the McKnight Foundation. The RR supports the LS in advancing grant-making and the CoP support agenda, and plays a leading role in organizing the annual CoP meeting in their region.
The LS analyzes the regional situation and needs, ensures that the CoP strategy is a logical approach to enhancing food security through crop research, and facilitates grant-making to serve that strategy. The LS works closely with the RR, Directors, and AC serving these roles.
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»Andes Community of Practice: Regional Representative
Claire Nicklin
Claire Nicklin has been working with the CCRP since 2005
as the Andean Representative and is responsible for coordinating
meetings, visiting projects and reviewing reports. She has
lived in Ecuador since 1999 and also works as a consultant
on various agricultural and environmental projects including
Rainforest Alliance certification of cacao, agrobiodiversity
conservation, global warming, ecotourism and ecohealth. Claire
has a B.A from Wesleyan University in the Science in Society
Program and a Master in Professional Studies degree in International
Agriculture and Rural Development from Cornell University.
»Andes Community of Practice: Liaison Scientist
Carlos Perez
Associate Director for Management, Tropical Agriculture
Program of the Earth Institute, Columbia University
Dr. Carlos A. Perez joined the CCRP team as Advisory Committee
Chair in 2006. In 2008, Perez was appointed Liason Scientist to the Andes Community of Practice. An ecological anthropologist, Perez has 20
years of professional experience in research, design and management;
and provision of technical assistance for sustainable development
and environment projects. He joined the Tropical Agriculture
Program of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, in September
2005 as Associate Director for Management. He has worked in
23 countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. His research
interests include watershed management, agroforestry, biodiversity
conservation and natural resource management, and community-based
natural resource management. He most recently served as the
Director of the Collaborative Research Support Program for
Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM
CRSP) at the University of Georgia, Athens. The SANREM CRSP
is a USAID-funded program for long-term research at landscape
level in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. He worked
with CARE (1993-1999), one of the world's largest private
international relief and development organizations as Deputy
Director and then Director of Agriculture and Natural Resources;
Senior Watershed Management Advisor; and Senior Agriculture
and Natural Resources Expert. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow
and Senior Research fellow at CIAT from 1986 to 1989.
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»East and Horn of Africa Community of Practice: Regional Representative
Tesfahun Fenta
Tesfahun Fenta Jemberie was appointed Regional Representative for the East and Horn of Africa Community of Practice in 2008. For twelve years, Fenta has worked at the Ambo Plant Protection Research Center of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) as a Research Officer in Plant Pathology. At present, he is coordinator of PROLINNOVA-Ethiopia, a national forum for promoting local innovations by farmers and pastoralists. He organizes and undertakes trainings on innovation and related issues for farmers and development workers. Fenta also coordinates Local Innovation Support Fund (LISF), a scheme where farmers administer fund for participatory innovation development. is editor of Local Innovation Catalogue being produced annually.He has various scientific publications in potato disease, particularly potato late blight. Fenta has also worked at the Ethiopian Science and Technology Agency as team leader and head of the science and technology popularization department for 15 years. He was engaged in coordinating various projects, such as the R&D dissemination project and the Local Research Grant and National Professional Journals Project. Fenta has produced 17 science booklets in local languages for enhancing public understanding of science and technology; and has substantial experience of organizing national and international conferences and symposia. Fenta graduated from Moscow Agricultural Academy with an M.Sc. in plant protection. He has attended various post-M.Sc. courses in potato seed technology, International Course on Development-Oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA) held in the Netherlands; a biotechnology and biosafety course in Sweden; and a project management course in South Africa.
»East and Horn of Africa Community of Practice: Liaison Scientist
Rebecca Nelson
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»Southern Africa Community of Practice: Regional Representative
Joseph Mpagalile
Technology Transfer Coordinator, Sokoine University of Agriculture
Joseph Mpagalile was appointed Regional Representative for the Southern Africa CoP in June 2008. He is currently the Technology Transfer Coordinator for Sokoine University of Agriculture and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Food Science and Technology there. During 2004 and 2005, Joseph won the prestigious Fulbright African Senior Research Scholar Program award and spent nine months doing research at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL) in the USA. In addition to his main areas of interest, which include post harvest handling and value addition of agricultural produces, Joseph has recently been working on Agricultural Innovation Systems. He has conducted a wide range of research in roots and tuber crops, oilseeds, vegetables processing, solar photovoltaic (PV), solar drying and storage of agro produces. His work has been funded by among others the German Technical Cooperation agency (GTZ), SADC, INTSORMIL, International Foundation for Science (IFS), NORAD, Fulbright Foundation etc. Joseph holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering from Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), a Masters Degree in Agricultural Engineering (majoring in Tropical Crops Processing and Storage) and a Ph.D. in Agro Process Engineering both from Cranfield University, UK.
»Southern Africa Community of Practice: Liason Scientist
Charlie Riches
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Principal Scientist, Agriculture Health and Environment Group Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, UK
Dr. Charlie Riches was appointed Liaison Scientist to the Southern Africa Community of Practice in late 2008. As a research agronomist since 1979, Riches has specialized in weed management and cropping systems development in smallholder tropical farming systems and, facilitation of institutional alliances to design the promotion of research outputs. Recent work has focused on promotion of research outputs through collaboration with extension services, NGOs and the private sector in Bangladesh and Southern Africa. After graduation, Riches joined the Department of Agricultural Research in Botswana, working for 9 years on dryland systems. He accepted a position as Weed Scientist at NRI in 1990 and subsequently led projects on the biology and control of parasitic weeds, perennial grasses, management of herbicide resistance in Central America and of weeds in dry land and rice cropping systems in both Southern Africa and South Asia. Riches holds B.Sc. Degree in Agricultural Botany, M.Sc. in Agricultural Extension and Ph.D. in Weed Science, all from University of Reading. He is currently Principal Editor of Crop Protection.
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»West Africa Community of Practice: Regional Representative
Hamado Tapsoba
Hamado Tapsoba has been working with the CCRP since July
2007 as the Regional Representative for the West Africa Community
of Practice and is responsible for coordinating meetings,
visiting projects and reviewing reports. He has worked for
the Japan International cooperation Agency (JICA) and The
Hunger Project in Burkina Faso. Now he works as a freelance
consultant in the areas of agriculture, rural development
and community empowerment. Tapsoba has a B.S. in Agronomy
from the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and a Master
and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of Georgia.
Curriculum vitae
»West Africa Community of Practice: Liason Scientist
Bill Payne
Professor of Crop Physiology Assistant Director for Research, Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, Texas A&M University
Bill Payne was appointed Liaison Scientist to the West Africa Community of Practice in 2008. He has spent 25 years working internationally and nationally on improving crop production, working as a horticulture extension agent, soil scientist, systems agronomist, and crop physiologist, mostly in semiarid zones. In his current position as Assistant Director for Research at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, he is responsible for managing the international research portfolio of the Texas A&M University System. In addition to serving in the Peace Corps in Mauritania, where he was involved in marketing of horticultural crops from rural areas to the capital of Nouakchott, Payne conducted applied research in farmers’ fields of different rainfall zones of Niger during one and one-half years for his Masters degree in Soil Science. He served for six and one-half years in Niger as Principle Physiologist for the Indian-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropic (ICRISAT). There he led a large program devoted to testing and introducing improved crop varieties and improving crop management techniques using participatory and other research techniques in farmers’ fields. While at ICRISAT, he served as Agronomy Division Coordinator and later as Global Team Leader for Integrated Systems Project in both Asia and Africa, coordinating diverse staff from Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Payne received a B.A. degree in Chemistry from Wabash College, Indiana; he earned his masters and doctoral degrees in Soil Science at Texas A&M University.
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An Advisory Committee (AC) provides strategic guidance for the
CCRP. It consists of five persons, including the AC Chair. The committee meets periodically to determine goals
and themes for the program, visits project sites to evaluate
their work, reviews proposals, and selects projects for funding.
»AC Chair
We are in the process of selecting a new AC Chair.
»AC Members
Boitshepo Doreen "Bibi" Giyose
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Senior Food & Nutrition Security Advisor-AU/NEPAD
Bibi Giyose joined the Advisory Committee in April 2008.
She is currently a Senior Food and Nutrition Security Advisor
for the African Union (AU)/New Partnership for Africa's Development
(NEPAD) in Johannesburg, South Africa. Bibi is committed to
a holistic approach to Nutrition, Health and Life. She is
responsible planning, and advising high level officials on
food and nutrition security matters and policy direction while
liaising with UN and other organizations with a commitment
to improve food security and nutrition in Africa. Bibi also
serves as a board member of the Global Horticulture Initiative,
which was launched in 2005. Prior to joining NEPAD, Bibi worked
as the regional project coordinator for UNDP/UNAIDS Botswana,
a UN initiative aimed at strengthening the UN HIV response
in small population countries of Africa. She worked with regional
and international development partners in the planning and
execution of key HIV/AIDS and Nutrition activities. In December
2003, Bibi completed a five and half year assignment as the
Regional Coordinator, Food and Nutrition Programme at the
Commonwealth Regional Health Community Secretariat for East,
Central and Southern Africa (CRHCS-ECSA). She was responsible
for planning and managing nutrition and health programs including
HIV and AIDS, monitoring and evaluation to ensure a reduction
in malnutrition, especially among children and women - the
two most vulnerable groups in the region. Bibi earned an M.S.
in International Nutrition, minor in Epidemiology at Cornell
University, and a B.S. in Nutrition and Dietetics at Appalachian
State University.
Curriculum vitae
Richard Jones
Agronomist, International Crops Research Institute for
the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
Richard Jones joined the Advisory Committee in 2001 and
has spent most of his career in Africa. He is currently based
in Kenya for the International Crops Research Institute for
the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) but has global responsibility
for the institute's research theme on sustainable seed supply
systems for productivity. His research interests in the area
of seed have taken him to Angola, Somalia, Sudan, and Mozambique,
where he has been examining the need for continual seed relief
in response to natural and/or civil disasters. He also conducts
research in linking resource-poor farmers to markets, and
in developing strategies to establish grades and standards
for grain to stimulate demand and allow farmers to access
high-value niche markets. Jones has worked with the Department
of Agricultural Research and Training in Malawi and with the
Malawi Maize Commodity Team. He received a B.Sc. in agricultural
botany, an M.Sc. in tropical agricultural development, and
a Ph.D., all from Reading University in the United Kingdom.
Curriculum vitae
Julio Kalazich
Plant Breeder and Director, Remehue Regional Research
Center, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, INIA
Julio Kalazich joined the Advisory Committee in 2004 after
participating in the CCRP as a grantee since 1995. Kalazich
was the lead investigator for the CCRP's potato breeding project,
which focused on incorporating pest resistance into potato
varieties. He began working at INIA in the Chilean potato
program in 1977 heading since then the potato breeding project.
He became leader of the program in 1992 and Regional Director
of INIA’s Remehue Regional Research Center located in
Osorno, south Chile in 2002. His main interest as a potato
breeder has been to develop varieties with multiple resistance
including insect pests specially potato tuber moth, with characteristics
for processing, and with early tuberization suitable for off
season crops, integrating conventional breeding with molecular
techniques. Kalazich is also member of the board of a Potato
Breeding Project from the Ministry of Agriculture of Italy.
He received an agronomist engineer degree from Universidad
Austral de Chile in 1977 and a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding from
Cornell University in 1989.
Melinda Smale
Researcher, Agriculture and Trade, Oxfam America
Melinda Smale joined the Advisory Committee in April 2008. In June 2008, she also joined Oxfam America to support advocacy work related to food security and economic justice. From 2002, as a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), she developed and led a research program aimed at promoting the sustainable utilization of crop genetic resources in developing agriculture, initially in collaboration with Bioversity International in Rome, Italy. She also coordinated and managed research contracts,
mentored junior researchers, conducted and presented research
to inter-center working groups and at international conferences.
Her research emphasized the advancement of applied analytical
methods in order to provide useful information for national
and international policymakers. From 1994 to 2000, Melinda
analyzed the adoption and impacts of improved wheat and maize
seed as an economist for the International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center (CIMMYT). She conducted research in Malawi
from 1989 to 1993 about hybrid maize adoption and maize research
impacts, also with CIMMYT. During the 1980s, Melinda worked
in Pakistan, Somalia, Mauritania and Niger on short-term assignments
for CIMMYT, Chemonics International, Volunteers in Technical
Assistance (VITA), and USAID. Melinda earned a Ph.D. in Agricultural
Economics at the University of Maryland, an M.S. in Agricultural
Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.A.
in International Studies (Africa Area), Johns Hopkins SAIS,
and a B.A. in History/French at Duke University.
Curriculum vitae
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