Dr. Qu Dongyu took office on 1 August 2019 as the ninth Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and was re-elected for a second four-year term on 2 July 2023.
Before first being elected as FAO Director-General, Dr. Qu served as China’s Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), where one of his achievements was to promote inclusive and innovative development and make sure information and communication technologies (ICT) were available in rural areas so that more than 400 million farmers could use their smartphones as a new farming tool. Another national initiative led by Dr. Qu was to improve reporting of wholesale prices for agricultural products in China and foster the establishment of more than 100 specialty production areas geared to making local comparative advantages work to the benefit of local farmers.
Born in 1963 to a rice-growing family in China’s Hunan Province, Dr. Qu studied horticultural science at Hunan Agricultural University and then plant breeding and genetics at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He later added environmental science to his knowledge portfolio while earning a PhD at Wageningen University, in the Netherlands.

Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General, is an economist and politician from Cabo Verde. A leading expert in global development issues, she has worked in public service for over thirty years. She promotes an integrated, inclusive approach, resulting in greater cross-sectoral engagement and stronger strategic partnerships, better positioning FAO in its role to promote a transition to sustainable food and agriculture systems.
Before taking up her current duties in 2013, Ms Semedo served as FAO Representative in Niger, then as Deputy Regional Representative for Africa and Sub-regional Coordinator for West Africa. Prior to her international career, she was Minister for Fisheries, Agriculture and Rural Affairs from 1993 – the first-ever female minister in her country; and later Minister for Tourism, Transportation and Marine Affairs from 1995 to 1998, and then a Member of Parliament until 2003.

Joachim von Braun is Distinguished Prof. (em.) for Economic and Technological Change at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at Bonn University, Germany. He served as Co-Chair of the German Bioeconomy Council and is an initiator of the Global Bioeconomy Summits. He is President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican and member of various Academies (Leopoldina, acatech, Northrhine Westfalia, TWAS, African). von Braun is on the Board of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Crop Trust, Vice President of Welthungerhilfe, and Robert Bosch Foundation. 2020/21 he was Chair of the Scientific Group of the UN Secretary General’s Food Systems Summit. He received his doctoral degree in agricultural economics from the University of Goettingen, Germany.

Julius Ecuru, PhD, is an interdisciplinary scientist and researcher. He works on issues related to technological innovation, business and sustainable industrialization in Africa. His focus is on the theory and practice of innovation systems in relation to healthcare delivery, nutritious food, clean energy and safe drinking water. Julius also contributes scholarly works in the chemical and bioengineering sciences and supports regulatory science and research ethics capacity development. His research interests include interactive learning models that encourage collaboration between the university, industry, and government for innovation, growth and social development.

Isabella García Caffaro is a doctoral student at the Santiago de Compostela University in the program of Agriculture and Environment for Development. She works in Guatemala as a researcher and Technology Transfer Advisor. Through her career she has worked in R&D in collaboration with industry using biotechnology as a tool to increase production efficiency. She has participated in workshops to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Latin America. In 2019, she was selected as a Bioeconomy Youth Ambassador by the IACGB and since then, in collaboration with ECLAC and Guatemala’s National Secretary of Science and Technology, she has been working in the design of Guatemala’s first bioeconomy strategy.

Senator Pippa Hackett is Minister of State at Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity. She was appointed to this role in June 2020. Pippa was elected to the Agricultural Panel of Seanad Éireann in a by-election on 1 November 2019 and re-elected in 2020. She holds a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Essex, a postgraduate diploma from University College Dublin, and a PhD from the University of Limerick. She is a former member of Offaly County Council. You can contact Ms Hackett at [email protected]

Ross Hampton is Executive Director of the International Sustainable Forestry Coalition (ISFC). A veteran of public policy in the natural resources area, he plays a key role in bringing together the ISFC members and connecting with the globally important conversations.
A journalist by training, Mr. Hampton has been working in public policy for more than two decades. 
He has specialized in understanding and influencing the complex social, political and economic dynamics which determine outcomes in areas such as sustainable resource management, environmental protection, the circular economy, nature-based solutions, climate change and sustainable forest management.
Mr. Hampton has been awarded a Master’s Degree in Public Policy (Environmental Policy) from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Curtin University, Western Australia. 
Mr. Hampton is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).
Mr. Hampton is current Chair of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Advisory Committee on Sustainable Forest-based Industries (FAO ACSFI).

Gregory Jaffe is the Senior Advisor for Regulatory Affairs in the Office of the Secretary at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  In this role, Greg works on a broad portfolio of issues that include the bioeconomy, biotechnology, pesticides, food safety, and scientific research and development.  Before coming to USDA, Greg worked for many years as the Senior Director of the Biotechnology Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit consumer organization that conducts advocacy and education on food and nutrition.  He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Government from Wesleyan University and a law degree from Harvard Law School.  

Christine Lang is an entrepreneur in biotechnology and a consultant on bioeconomy. She has been Co-Chair of the German Bioeconomy Council and she is initiator of the Global Bioeconomy Summit series. She is Associate Professor for Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the Technical University Berlin and vice president of the German Association of General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM). In 2001, Lang founded Organobalance GmbH, which became part of Novozymes S.A. in 2016 and was CEO until 2018. Christine Lang is also co-founder and CSO of BELANO medical AG that focuses on the development of microbiotic products for human health.

National Secretary for Bioeconomy (vice-minister level), Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of Brazil
Carina Pimenta was nominated National Secretary of Bioeconomy, invited by the Minister of Environment, Marina Silva. She holds a degree in Business Administration from EAESP-FGV and a Master's degree in Social Development from the University of Sussex. Carina Pimenta co-founded Conexsus in 2018, having previously worked in both private sector and civil society organizations. 
Throughout her career, she developed expertise in green finance, innovative impact financing instruments, market access strategies, development of community businesses and small businesses, entrepreneurship and development of the bioeconomy in areas linked to socio-environmental issues in Brazil, especially in the Amazon.

Dr Warinthorn Songkasiri received the Royal Thai Government scholarship to pursue her Bachelor’s until Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering in the US. She graduated with Ph.D in Environmental Engineering from Northwestern University, USA. She joined BIOTEC to pursue her career as a researcher in environment and renewable energy areas in 2003. She was appointed a Director of Biochemical Engineering and Systems Biology Research Group in 2019.
Dr. Songkasiri’s expertise lies in starch engineering and process optimization, anaerobic wastewater treatment and biogas production technologies. She has published over 20 papers in national and international scientific, peer-reviewed journals and has presented over 60 conference papers. She also currently holds a position of Vice President for Research Strategy of King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT).

Dr. Ruiyan Wang, an accomplished professional, currently holds key positions at Bloomage Biotechnology Corporation Limited as the Bioactive R&D Director and Synthetic Biology R&D Director. She previously worked as a Program Manager at the CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Biotechnology and as an Assistant Researcher at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Dr. Wang also served as a Senior Industrial Researcher and Director at the China Fortune Research Institute Company Limited. Her extensive contributions include co-authoring reports on emerging technologies, global innovation trends, and biotechnology competitiveness. She actively participated in government development plans and graduated from Tsinghua University with a focus on life and health technologies.