Consortium Board Members

Tom Arnold joined the CGIAR Board in 2010. He has been chief executive officer for Concern Worldwide since 2001. Before that he was assistant secretary general and chief economist in the Irish Department of Agriculture and Food. Tom worked with the European Commission for ten years, three of which were in Africa. He was chairman of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Committee for Agriculture from 1993 to 1998. He served on the United Nations Millennium Project Hunger Task Force from 2003 to 2005 and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund Advisory Group from 2006 to 2009. He has also chaired the European Food Security Group, a network of 40 European non-government organizations and was a member of the Irish Government Commission on Taxation.

Tom is a member of the International Food Policy Research Institute Advisory Board. He is also a governor and director of the Irish Times, a leading newspaper in Ireland. Tom graduated in agricultural economics from University College, Dublin, and has masters’ degrees from the Catholic University, Louvain, and Trinity College, Dublin. He has received honorary doctorates in law and science from the National University of Ireland and University College Dublin respectively.