BIFAD Chair & University Appointee - Dr. Brady J. Deaton

Chancellor Emeritus of University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Executive Director, Deaton Institute for University Leadership in International Development 

Dr. Brady J. Deaton currently serves as the Chairman for the BIFAD. Previously, served as Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Missouri from 2004 until 2013, with many years of service and experience in higher education, including senior positions at the University of Missouri since 1989. He spent 12 years at Virginia Tech, the last four as associate director of the Office for International Development. Brady holds leadership roles in many university, community and national organizations. He served as chair of the Academic Affairs Council of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) and also participates in numerous advisory roles. He has authored more than 100 articles, presentations and book chapters in his career in addition to co-authoring three books. In 2009 he received an honorary degree from Prince of Songkla University in Hat Yai, Thailand.

Brady holds a B.S. in Agricultural Economics, an M.A. in Diplomacy and International Commerce from the University of Kentucky, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin. From 1962 to 1964, Brady was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nan, Thailand, where he taught vocational agriculture in the Thai language.

Dr. Gebisa Ejeta

Distinguished Professor, Department of Agronomy
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana

Dr. Gebisa Ejeta is currently the Distinguished Professor of Plant Breeding & Genetics and International Agriculture at Purdue University and the Executive Director of the Purdue Center for Global Food Security. Prior to his tenure at Purdue, Gebisa conducted seminal sorghum research in Sudan for five years with the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

Gebisa has served on numerous science and program review panels, technical committees and advisory boards of major research and development organizations including the international agricultural research centers (IARCs), the Rockefeller Foundation and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. He has also served on the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the largest publicly funded agricultural research consortium in the world as a member of its Science Council (2008-2010) and currently as a member of its Consortium Board. Among his many awards, Gebisa was the recipient of the 2009 World Food Prize; and a national medal of honor from the President of Ethiopia. Gebisa was also recently designated special advisor to USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah in 2010.

Gebisa completed his early education in his native country including a BS in Plant Sciences from Alemaya College in 1973. He attended graduate school at Purdue University earning his Masters (1976) and PhD (1978) in Plant Breeding & Genetics.

Dr. Waded Cruzado

President, Montana State University
Bozeman, Montana

Dr. Waded Cruzado officially took office as Montana State University's 12th president on January 4th, 2010. During her tenure, Montana State University has competitively won more than $215 million in research grants. In 2011-2012, MSU set an institutional record of $112.3 million in research expenditures, including a $67 million grant from the Department of Energy for the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration partnership, which is housed as MSU.

Prior to joining MSU, Waded served as the executive vice president and provost at New Mexico State University, the nation's only land-grant university that is also a research-extensive and Hispanic-serving institution. She held that position from 2007-2010. In March 2012, Waded was honored as the 2011 Michael P. Malone Educator of the Year from Montana Ambassadors for demonstrating outstanding accomplishment, excellence and leadership in the field of education.

Waded holds Master of the Arts and Ph.D. degrees in Spanish from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literataure from the University of Puerto Rico.

Dr. Harold L. Martin Sr.

Chancellor, North Carolina A&T State University
Greensboro, North Carolina

Dr. Harold L. Martin Sr. became the chief administrator at North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T) as the 12th chancellor and first alumnus. Harold draws from his experiences in the classroom and from administration to lead, collaborate and build consensus within the university, among alumni and donors. His stated goal for NC A&T is to make it a preeminent institution of higher learning by 2020.

Prior to his appointment as chancellor at NC A&T, Harold served as the senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina from 2006 to 2009, where he focused on the development and implementation of the university's academic mission including teaching, research, international programs and student affairs. Previously, Harold was chief administrator and chancellor of Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) from 2000 to 2006, leading it from a baccalaureate institution to a graduate institution.

Harold is a Winston-Salem, North Carolina native and received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Dr. Pamela K. Anderson

Director General Emeritus, International Potato Center
West Palm Beach, Florida

Dr. Pamela Anderson served as Director General of the International Potato Center (CIP) in Lima, Peru, one of the research centers within the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), from 2005–2013; and as CIP’s Director of Research from 2002–2005.  Dr. Anderson also served as a senior entomologist and Coordinator of the Tropical Whitefly IPM Program at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia from 1996-2002.  Prior to joining the CGIAR system, Dr. Anderson spent two decades working with national programs in Latin America, including 11 years teaching at the national agricultural university in Nicaragua.  She has also served as an advisor to the Federation of American Scientists, a research consultant at Harvard University, a member of the Government of Ireland Hunger Task Force, and a Board member of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). 

Returning to the United States in 2013, Dr. Anderson served as Director for the Agricultural Development Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2014 –2016, where she lead the team that works to reduce hunger and poverty for farming families in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Pamela holds a B.A. in Biology from Northwestern University, an M.Sc. in Entomology from the University of Illinois, and an M. Sc. in Human Ecology as well as an D.Sc. in Population Sciences/Vector Entomology from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Hon. James M. Ash

Food & Agribusiness Group Leader, Husch Blackwell LLP
Kansas City, Missouri

James M. Ash is a Partner at the law firm of Husch Blackwell LLP.  He has served as Chair of the firm’s Food and Agribusiness Unit since 2013. For more than 30 years his legal knowledge has guided some of the world’s most visible food and agriculture companies, along with their investors and financers.  His engagements in the agribusiness industry cover a range of issues, including mergers and acquisitions, international expansion, and corporate governance.  Jim also manages his firm’s international services and relationships.  

Jim has been connected to agribusiness all of his life, growing up in the small southern California farming community of Somis, and working as a plant manager for the citrus cooperative Sunkist.  After attending Graceland University in Iowa, Jim received both his Bachelor degree, with honors, (1978) and Juris Doctor degree, with honors, (1981) from the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA). 

Jim also serves on the Board of Governors of the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and the Board of Advisors for Graceland University ENACTUS.

Dr. Cary Fowler

Former Executive Director, Global Crop Diversity Trust
Rhinebeck, New York

Dr. Cary Fowler served as Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust until 2012. Prior to this he was Professor and Director of Research at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of California – Davis, and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University.

He headed the team at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that produced the UN's first global assessment of the state of the world's plant genetic resources for agriculture and supervised negotiations of FAO's Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources. He has twice served as Special Assistant to the Secretary General of the World Food Summit and has represented the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in various international forums.

He led the international committee that proposed and designed the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and now chairs the facility’s International Advisory Council. He is a past member of the USDA’s National Plant Germplasm Committee.

Cary earned his Ph.D. at Uppsala University (Sweden). He is the recipient of the Heinz Award, the William Brown Award, the Vavilov Medal, and is a member of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He is vice-chair of the Rhodes College Board of Trustees.