Position: Executive Director, CGIAR Science Council, based at FAO Headquarters, Rome

Career highlights: Chief, Rural Development, Sustainable Development Department, Inter-American Development Bank, responsible for preparation and implementation of the Bank's agriculture and rural development strategies and national investment programs; Research Officer, International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR); Research Fellow, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), including doctoral thesis research on public-private sector maize research and seed production systems in Guatemala and Mexico; Director, Technical Assistance Division, National Colonization Institute, Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, Uruguay.

Education: Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Agriculture, University of Uruguay (1981); Master of Science (MSc), 1985, and PhD in Agricultural and Applied Economics, 1988, both from University of Minnesota.

Personal: Married to Maria Eugenia Soldevila, two children, ages 25 and 22

Career pathways-thoughts on getting from there to here: I'm delighted to be getting 'back' in the CGIAR family. My association with the CGIAR goes back to my pre-doctoral research, trudging maize fields in Mexico and Guatemala. My relations with CGIAR have been varied, as a student researcher, scientist, and donor representative. Lately I have been involved with the CGIAR's Special Panel on Impact Assessment, and with the Working Group on Performance Measurement.

In the 13 years that I have been 'outside' the CGIAR system, much has changed in the agriculture and rural development landscape. The CGIAR has changed too. I am pleased that current development thinking is back into agriculture and rural development. More importantly, agricultural science and technology is being given its rightful place as a key factor in achieving a broad economic, environmental and social development agenda.

In my new position, I hope to contribute to the new CGIAR Science Council's mandate, forging links to partners outside the CGIAR system, with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and particularly with developing country research organizations as well as working better with the diverse components of the CGIAR system. Focusing on complementarities and capturing synergies will be important words in my lexicon. I see the Science Council Secretariat as a small but strong unit that helps the Science Council to fulfill its mandate of ensuring the relevance and quality of CGIAR science.

Coming from Uruguay-a small nation where agriculture is very important and with a population of little more than 3 million people-has its advantages. I'm naturally inclined to work with others and to look at the big picture!

The CGIAR has a track record of success, producing international public goods that have benefited lots of people and complemented the work of many others. The national programs in developing countries focus on the production of national public goods. It is the regional issues, the regional spillovers where the CGIAR and national partners can do much more to foster regional cooperation in promoting science and technology for development. Boosting cooperative agricultural research consortia will be key to capturing regional synergies.

It is easy to dream. We should strive to connect CGIAR research more directly to the activities of other development agencies (particularly those that provide financial assistance), so that national systems can benefit. Ultimately, science is a collaborative activity, and there is little doubt that achieving impact will depend on our ability to forge strong partnerships.
The CGIAR Science Council has an impressive set of challenges and also a huge workload in the near future. I look forward to contribute to this cause by hitting the ground running in Rome.

For more information, visit the Science Council web site.