New
Leaders
IPGRI
The Board of Trustees of IPGRI have appointed Dr. Emile
Frison as IPGRI’s Director General Designate. He
takes up his new position on August 1, 2003 when Geoffrey
Hawtin’s term as Director General ends.
Dr. Frison is a Belgian national and currently serves
as Director of the International Network for the Improvement
of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP), one of IPGRI’s three
programs. He has worked extensively on bananas and plantains,
the world’s fourth most important staple crop. In
1997, he launched the Global Programme for Musa Improvement
(PROMUSA). In 2002 he launched the Global Consortium on
Musa Genomics with 27 members from 14 countries whose
goal is to decode the genetic sequence of the banana and
use it to improve the varieties available to smallholder
farmers.
Dr. Frison obtained an M. Sc. in plant pathology from
the Catholic University of Louvain, and a Ph.D. from the
University of Gembloux in Belgium.
ISNAR
Dr. Cyrus Ndiritu is the new Director-General designate
of ISNAR. He will assume his duties on June 16, 2003 when
Stein W. Bie retires.
Dr. Ndiritu, a Kenyan national, comes to ISNAR with a
long experience of national and sub-regional agricultural
research institutions in Africa, having served in key
CGIAR positions (Member of former Technical Advisory Committee,
Oversight Committee, and CIMMYT Board of Trustees). For
11 years (1989-2000) he was Director of the Kenya Agricultural
Research Institute (KARI). In addition, he helped found
ASARECA and the new Forum for Agricultural Research in
Africa (FARA).
Dr. Ndiritu obtained his Bachelor’s degree in veterinary
medicine from the University of Nairobi, a Master of Science
degree in pathology from the University of California-Davis,
and a Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi.
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