Board of trustees

Dr. Tareq Alzabet brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to ICARDA with his Ph.D. in Water Resources Management from Germany and over 30 years of international experience. His distinguished career includes leadership roles as Deputy Minister and Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Environment in Canada. In these roles, Dr Alzabet was instrumental in shaping environmental policies and strategies, overseeing and driving significant advancements in environmental research, climate change adaptation, and sustainable development.

Dr. Alzabet's extensive international experience spans countries such as Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar. He has collaborated with numerous international development agencies, including UNDP, UNEP, USAID, CIDA, UNESCO, the European Commission, IDRC, and GIZ. His expertise in board governance is further evidenced by his roles on multiple boards, chairing and member of the enterprise risk management (ERM), finance, environmental and social governance (ESG), human resources, and environmental stewardship, combined with his commitment to impartiality, integrity, and sustainability,

Mouwafak Jbour  joined the ICARDA board in the spring of 2018. He has served as deputy director general of the General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research within the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform since 2015.

Between 2006 and 2012, he led the Syrian government’s institutional development of organic agriculture. He has published widely on topics of organic agriculture systems, emerging farming systems, and potato physiology and varieties. He serves as a member of the board of directors of the Higher Commission for Scientific Research in Syria.

He received his Ph.D. in agronomy in Warsaw, Poland.

Aly Abousabaa became ICARDA’s director general in October 2016. He brings 33 years of strategic leadership in sustainable development, operational and policy-based lending, and project management, spanning 35 countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

As vice president of the African Development Bank, Abousabaa led the preparation and execution of the Bank’s key strategies. He was also in charge of resource mobilization and management of a US$ 11 billion portfolio in the areas of agriculture, water, natural resources management, climate change, infrastructure, women and youth, and governance, making transformational impact on the lives of millions of people in Africa.

He has an established global network of international partners on development, including the World Bank, the United Nations, European Union, African Union, bilateral agencies, such as GIZ, DFID, and NORAD, and non-governmental organizations.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Alexandria University, Egypt, and a master’s in civil engineering from Montana State University in the United States. 

Ruth Haug is a Professor of International Development Studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). She received her PhD from the University of Maryland and began her professional career working nationally and internationally within the field of food security, dryland agriculture and rural development. At the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ruth Haug was Deputy Vice-Chancellor in the period 2008-20013, and before that, she headed the Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric) for seven years. Her field of expertise is within food systems, food security and international food policy; conflicts, forced migration and humanitarian action; climate change and management of natural resources; and gender issues in development. Ruth Haug has research, teaching and consultancy experience in Africa and Asia, and has worked with NORAD, the World Bank, and the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture. She has supervised many M.Sc and PhD students and has a good publication record. Ruth Haug has been a member of numerous national and international boards and committees, and she has been involved in several international policy processes in relation to food and agriculture. In particular, she has been representing Norway in CGIAR meetings in the period 1995 to 2012 and has been a member of the CGIAR Fund Council. She was a member of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Board of Trustees until the end of 2017, chairing the program committee. She has also been representing Norway in several CFS and FAO meetings and was a member of the Svalbard Seed Vault Council for eight years.

Dr. Lamiae Ghaouti is an agronomist and plant breeding specialist who currently serves as Director of the Moroccan National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), a position she has held since March 2025. She holds a PhD in Agronomy from the Georg-August University of Göttingen in Germany, where she specialized in genetic improvement and the development of faba bean cultivars for organic farming. Her scientific and professional career spans more than two decades, combining academic excellence, international research, and high-level institutional leadership.
 

Before joining INRA, Dr. Ghaouti was Associate Director for Cooperation, Partnership and Development at the Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine (IAV Hassan II), where she led major national and international initiatives in education, research, innovation, and capacity building. She has managed and coordinated numerous strategic projects funded by the European Union, the World Bank, FAO, and other global partners, notably in plant breeding, agrobiodiversity, climate resilience, and higher education reform.
 

She has received several distinctions, including the Kurt von Rümker Award (Germany, 2009) for outstanding young researchers in plant breeding, the CIHEAM Medal of Merit (2023), and the Morocco–Germany Friendship Award (2025) for her role in strengthening bilateral cooperation in sustainable agriculture.
Fluent in Arabic, French, and English, with proficiency in German, Dr. Ghaouti is widely recognized for her leadership in agricultural research, her commitment to innovation, and her contribution to shaping resilient and sustainable agri-food systems

Emmanuel Sackey, a Ghanaian expert in food science and intellectual property, holds an M.Phil. in Food Science and Technology specializing in Product Development and Food Biotechnology, along with multiple degrees and certifications in chemistry, education, French studies, and project management. A recipient of the prestigious WIPO Fellowship, he pursued advanced biotechnology and intellectual property studies in Sweden in 2000.

Sackey has significantly contributed to Ghana's National Agricultural Research Programme, post-harvest agro-processing, and integrated technologies. He played a key role in developing ARIPO protocols on traditional knowledge and plant variety protection and served as an African Facilitator at WIPO negotiations.

With over 48 articles and four books published, he is a global advocate for IP policy, innovation, and economic growth. He lectures at three African universities, serves on the AfricaRice Centre board, and chairs the Intellectual Property Network Ghana.

An experienced consultant with over 15 years of diverse professional experience in ethics, integrity, fraud risk management, investigations, training, auditing, risk advisory and compliance monitoring in various industries. These include humanitarian and development, financial services, manufacturing, telecom, transport – airlines, oil and gas, hotel, agribusiness, and public sector. Global expertise from working in Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, the Caribbean, Europe and the United Kingdom.

Astrid Vermeer is an enterprise transformation executive whose career has been defined by her ability to modernize the systems, strategies, and governance structures that allow organizations to thrive. At the Mortgage Bankers Association, where she served as Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, she introduced the association’s first enterprise risk framework and led the shift to multi-year financial planning. Each initiative has enhanced the Association’s resilience and given its leadership clearer visibility into both risk and opportunity.

Previously, as Chief Financial & Administrative Officer at Perkins School for the Blind, Ms. Vermeer led a team of 125 and oversaw a ~$100M budget and ~$500M endowment. As CFO of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Ms. Vermeer transformed day-to-day business operations across 30+ countries, replacing paper-heavy, HQ-centric processes with devolved, risk-based frameworks. While at the American Red Cross, she managed a $200M international budget and secured donor confidence through new financial disciplines. With the World Wildlife Fund, she rose from regional finance leadership in Suriname to Chief Operating Officer in Belgium, embedding procurement equity and operational consistency across multiple country programs. She currently serves on the boards of Consumer Reports and CLASP, where she contributes her financial expertise and governance acumen to issues of consumer rights, equity, and climate action.

Educated in Suriname, Belgium and Netherlands, with degrees in business economics, management and Accounting, Ms. Vermeer has paired analytical discipline with cross-cultural fluency throughout her career.

Dr. Mike Robson brings energy, analytical skills and relevant field experience following a 27-year association with FAO, including almost ten years as a country representative, in Syria and Bangladesh, as well as a period as senior advisor to the FAO Deputy Director General.  During his time in Syria, he was frequently called upon to stand in for the Humanitarian Coordinator, and regularly chaired the UN country team.  He has practical experience in building and running field programmes, particularly in resource mobilisation and programme governance.  Earlier, as a member of the management team of the Plant Production and Protection Division in FAO headquarters, he supported field programmes to manage pest and disease problems in staple crops in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. Prior to FAO, he worked as a management consultant with a large strategy consultancy in London, on organisational change and ERP projects.

Since taking early retirement, he has continued to advise on the development of the FAO Syria programme; developed programmes to support the recovery in Gaza; and is currently leading an IFAD evaluation of their work in 8 conflict-affected states in the Near East and North Africa.   Dr Robson has a degree in chemistry from Oxford and a PhD in economic history from the London School of Economics.