Matthias joined the Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture Division of Southeast Asia in late 2018. As an Agriculture Economist, he focuses on project design and preparation for agri-business, value-chain and water resource projects. His particular interest lies in climate-smart agriculture, precision farming and ways to engage youth more meaningfully in the sector. Prior to joining ADB, he was working for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) based in Rome, Italy.

Matthew is IRRI’s director general with decades of leadership experience driven by a passion for scientific excellence, an understanding of private-public partnerships, a sound capacity for stakeholder engagement, protection of intellectual property, and people engagement skills. Matthew is the institute’s chief executive officer (CEO), directly managing and administering its affairs in accordance with the policies and decisions of the IRRI Board of Trustees. He sets the institute’s strategic direction in close consultation with the board.

Jit is a farmer inhabitant of Gulariya Municipality-4, Tulsipur, Bardiya, Nepal.  She is the member of women managed local Community Forest User Group (CFUG). This CFUG has been managing a 1500-hectare evergreen forest in river basin flood and erosion prone area. She has served there as chairperson for 12 years when the whole country was at civil unrest.   

Javed is a 2019-2020 Visiting Fellow at International Program, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, USA. He is currently an ADB consultant working on the Rural Development and Food Security Forum and East Asia Department’s project preparation team for the Peoples Republic of China Silk Road Ecological Protection and Rehabilitation project. 

Jane is an Austria-based Filipina scientist. In January 2019, she was appointed as director of the IAEA’s Department of Technical Cooperation Asia and the Pacific Division which provides technical cooperation support to 37 countries and territories in Asia and the Pacific.  

Irakli is a Mathematical Biologist. He obtained his MA and PhD degrees in mathematics at Arizona State University. He then worked as a postdoc at Princeton University, where in 2002 he postulated that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (CO2) decrease the concentrations of minerals essential for human nutrition, including iron and zinc, in plants globally.  

Indra is a farmer from West Java Indonesia. During his study in agricultural businesses diploma of Padjadjaran University in Bandung Indonesia, he worked as an apprentice in a mushroom farming. After completing his study, he worked in a manufacturing industry in Japan for three years before returning to Indonesia and working in a cow farm. He then started his own mushroom farming. For the past five years, his focus has been on planting paddy. He is currently working with a group of farmers in the effort to build/ manage irrigation system. 

Howarth, a recipient in 2016 of the World Food Prize, pioneered the concept of biofortification in the early 1990s and founded HarvestPlus in 2003. He has devoted his career to turning this idea into a global movement that currently reaches more than 50 million people in smallholder farming families in low-income countries. He continues to actively champion biofortification and the work of HarvestPlus in the international agriculture and nutrition communities. 

Hemendra has over 23 years of experience in venture capital, private equity, management consulting and investment banking industry in India, South Asia, Europe, and USA. Mathur has about 10 years of experience in early-stage and growth capital investing. Working as Venture Partner with a deep-tech sector-agnostic fund. Raised a private equity fund earlier and managed a portfolio of mid-sized companies in the food supply chain.