CGIAR Consortium welcomes a new Director of Finance and Corporate Services

The CGIAR Consortium would like to extend a warm welcome to a new member of its leadership team.  Gerard O’Donoghue will take up the post of Director of Finance and Corporate Services at the Consortium Office in Montpellier during January 2013.  He brings to the position not only considerable professional experience but also a deep and thorough understanding of the CGIAR system.

“I have always been, and continue to be, a passionate believer in the role the CG system has to play in improving the livelihoods of the world’s poorest citizens”, says Gerard.  “The recent reforms can greatly increase the impact of CGIAR and I am delighted to be able to continue to contribute to the process.“

In his new role Gerard will play an extremely important role in contributing to the success of CGIAR overall, as the CGIAR Consortium moves towards its annual income goal of $1 billion to fund the CGIAR Research Programs.  As well as guiding the Consortium’s financial, administrative and HR functions, he will participate as a key member of the Consortium’s leadership team for strategy development and implementation, in conjunction with the Consortium Board.

He joins the Consortium from Bioversity International, in Italy, where he was the Director of Corporate Services. Prior to this he was Deputy Director General for Operations at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Sri Lanka. From 1998 to 2001, Gerard was at the World Bank, in Washington DC, where he served as the Senior Finance Officer at the CGIAR Secretariat. Previously, Gerard was the Chief Financial Officer at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

An Irish national, Gerard has a wealth of finance, management and professional leadership experience.  He was formerly a Senior Manager with Price Waterhouse, based in the City of London, where his work ranged from auditing to corporate finance, with a broad spectrum of high profile clients. This took him to locations as disparate as the New York Stock Exchange and the South of Sudan.  Engaged with the CGIAR system since the early 1990s, he has a demonstrated a commitment to best practice; implementing improvements to facilitate the science at both the institute and system-wide level.

Gerard succeeds Gordon McNeil, who was appointed as the first Director of Finance and Corporate Services in the Consortium Office in March 2010 and who will retire in March 2013.

Frank Rijsberman, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium said, “I am very much looking forward to having Gerry on board, having worked with him in the past at IWMI.“  Frank also emphasized “whilst we take the opportunity to welcome Gerry, we would also like to acknowledge the significant contributions made by the outgoing Director of Finance and Corporate Services, Gordon MacNeil.  Gordon’s contribution has been extremely valuable both to the nascent CGIAR Consortium and previously to many of its members.“