Jean Balié is Director of the CGIAR Poverty Reduction Livelihoods & Jobs Impact Area Platform. He previously served as Regional Director, South East Asia and Pacific, CGIAR, and Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). He has over two decades of experience in leadership and expertise developing policies for agriculture, food, and rural development. He most recently served as a member of Addressing Food System Fragilities and Building Back Better, a working group under the CGIAR COVID-19 Hub. As Director General of IRRI, he sets the global strategic direction of the institute and manages its affairs in accordance with the policies and decisions of the IRRI Board of Trustees. He joined IRRI in 2018 as Head of the Agri-Food Policy Platform and, before becoming Director General, served as Research Director – External Engagement and Deputy Director General for Research. Prior to IRRI, he worked as a Policy Officer, Senior Economist, and Program Manager at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He earned his PhD in agricultural economics at the University of Göttingen in Germany, and has master’s degrees from Montpellier SupAgro, École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse (ENSAT) and the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM).