Center on Global Food and Agriculture Panel of Advisors

Doug Bereuter is a distinguished fellow of global food and agriculture at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. For four years, he co-chaired the Council's Center on Global Food and Agriculture. He is the president emeritus of the Asia Foundation, a non-governmental development organization, which he led for more than six years following his service as a member of the US House of Representatives.

Catherine Bertini served as executive director of the UN World Food Program, the world’s largest international humanitarian agency, from 1992 to 2002 prior to joining the Council. She was named the World Food Prize laureate in 2003 for her groundbreaking leadership there.

Marshall M. Bouton is president emeritus of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Dr. Bouton currently serves as a member of the advisory group for the Council’s Center on Global Food and Agriculture, a member of the advisory board for Omnivore, an affiliated expert of the Lugar Center, and is a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania.

Howard W. Buffett is a lecturer at Columbia University and at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Previously, he was the executive director of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, served in the US Departments of Defense and Agriculture, and was a policy advisor for the White House Domestic Policy Council. He received the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award—the highest-ranking civilian honor.

John Carlin is currently a visiting professor/executive in resident at Kansas State University. He served as chair of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, chair of the Pew Trust Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, chair of the National Governors Association and as Archivist of the US for 10 years. He served two terms as Governor of Kansas and 4 terms in the Kansas House of Representatives.

Jason Clay leads the Market Transformation work of WWF-US for agriculture. Dr. Clay invented Rainforest Marketing, one of the first fair-trade ecolabels in the US and has spent more than 30 years with human rights and environmental organizations, is National Geographic's first ever Food and Agriculture Fellow, and the winner of the 2012 James Beard Award for his work on global food sustainability.

Sir Gordon Conway is a professor of international development at Imperial College, and director of Agriculture for Impact, a grant funded by the Gates Foundation. He was chief scientific adviser to the Department for International Development. Previously, he was president of The Rockefeller Foundation, vice-chancellor of the University of Sussex, and recently president of the Royal Geographical Society.

Gebisa Ejeta is the director of the Center for Global Food Security at Purdue. He serves on the board of the Global Food and Agriculture Program at the Council, and is the 2009 World Food Prize Laureate and recipient of a national medal of honor from the President of Ethiopia. He has served as Science Envoy of the US State Department, and on the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development.

Cutberto Garza has served as chair of the WHO Steering Committee, Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board, and the National Research Council’s Board on International Scientific Organizations. He is the recipient of the Alan Shawn Feinstein World Hunger Prize for Education and Research, the Conrad Elvehjem Award for Public Service in Nutrition, and the Samuel J. Fomon Nutrition Award.

Dan Glickman is a distinguished fellow in the Center on Global Food and Agriculture, having co-chaired the Center for nearly a decade. Currently, he's a senior counselor and chair of the International Advisory Board at APCO Worldwide; senior advisor to the US Global Leadership Coalition; and lead director of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group).

Carl Hausmann has more than 35 years of experience in the agribusiness and food industries in Europe, North and South America, and Africa. He serves as the vice chair of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers and as a member of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council. Previously, he served as director of global government and corporate affairs of Bunge Limited. 

A.G. Kawamura is a founding member of Orange County Produce, LLC, and co-chair of Solutions from the Land, a nonprofit implementing climate-smart land management strategies. He serves on several boards and committees including American Farmland Trust Board member; Farm Foundation Board member; Western Growers Association Board member and former chair. He is the former secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (2003-2010).

Mark E. Keenum is an agricultural economist and president of Mississippi State University. Previously, he served as the US Department of Agriculture Under Secretary (2006-2008) and oversaw the Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency, and Foreign Agricultural Service. He also served as Legislative Assistant and Chief of Staff for US Senator Thad Cochran.

Thomas R. Pickering is the current vice chairman of Hills and Company. Formerly, he served as senior vice president of international relations and executive council member of the Boeing Company, the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1997-2001), and as US Ambassador to the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria, and Jordan. He holds the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the US Foreign Service.

In addition to director, Steven Radelet is the Donald F. McHenry Chair in Global Human Development at Georgetown. He's a development economist focused on economic growth, poverty reduction, foreign aid, and debt, primarily in Africa and Asia. He previously served as chief economist for USAID, senior adviser for development to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and deputy assistant secretary of the treasury for Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. He currently serves as an economic adviser to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia.

Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig is a senior research scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, where she heads the Climate Impacts Group. She is also a senior research scientist at Columbia University's Center for Climate Systems Research, cofounder of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project, cochair of the New York City Panel on Climate Change, and codirector of the Urban Climate Change Research Network.

Navyn Salem is the founder of Edesia Nutrition, a nonprofit food aid manufacturer producing over 8000 metric tons each year of ready-to-use foods for humanitarian agencies. In 2012, Navyn was named New England Business Woman of the Year by Bryant University, received the Roger E. Joseph Prize from Hebrew Union College for being an outstanding humanitarian, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in social sciences from Boston College.

Barbara Schaal is a plant evolutionary biologist focused on rice genomics, and the dean of the faculty of arts and sciences and the Mary Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. She served as chair of the Division on Earth and Life Studies at the National Research Council, member of President Obama’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology, and US science envoy for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Paul E. Schickler was President from 2007 to 2017 of DuPont Pioneer, the advanced seed genetics business of DuPont. In this role he continued to expand Pioneer’s global business by remaining focused on innovation that improves local productivity and profitability of farmers in more than 90 countries.

Dr. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda is the vice president for policy and strategic partnerships at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). She is an animal scientist by training and a practicing commercial beef cattle farmer. Previously, she was the chief executive officer and head of mission of the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN).

Robert L. Thompson is professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, where he held the Gardner Endowed Chair in Agricultural Policy. He is also a nonresident senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a senior fellow on global food and agriculture at the Council. Previously, Thompson also served as director of rural development at the World Bank.

Ann M. Veneman was the first and only woman to lead the United States Department of Agriculture as Secretary. She currently serves as a co-leader of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center. She was included on the Forbes World's 100 Most Powerful Women list and is a recipient of the Women Making History Award from the National Women’s History Museum.

Dr. Derek Yach is executive director of the Vitality Group, where he leads the Vitality Institute for Health Promotion. Previously, he served as senior vice president of global health and agriculture policy at PepsiCo, head of global health at the Rockefeller Foundation, and executive director for noncommunicable diseases and mental health at the World Health Organization.