Ambassadors

Dr. Agnes Kalibata has since 2014 led AGRA’s efforts in collaboration with public and private partners to ensure a food secure and prosperous Africa through inclusive, sustainable agricultural transformation, improving the productivity and livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers in Africa. Prior to joining AGRA, Dr. Kalibata was Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) from 2008 to 2014, where she drove programs that moved her country to food security helping to lift more than a million Rwandans out of poverty. She has a distinguished record of accomplishments as an agricultural scientist, policy maker and thought leader. She holds a doctorate in Entomology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is recipient of many prestigious awards including but not limited to the Yara Prize, now the Africa Food Prize, in 2012, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Liège in 2018, an Honorary Doctorate from McGill University in 2019, and the National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Medal in April 2019 for her work to drive Africa’s agricultural transformation through modern sciences and effective policy thereby improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers. She has also served as the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Food Systems Summit and sits on various panels, boards, councils, and commissions including Global Commission on Adaptation, the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, the Global Agriculture & Food Security Program (GAFSP), the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum, the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions, among others.

M. Ann Tutwiler is a Senior Fellow at Meridian Institute. Her current affiliations include the World Benchmarking Alliance, the Just Rural Transition, the Food Forward Consortium, Climate AI, FoodShot Global, the US Dairy Export Council and CABI. From 2013 to 2019, she led Bioversity International, a research institute focused on using and safeguarding agricultural biodiversity to improve nutrition, enhance resilience and to support genetic resource conservation.  From 2011 to 2013, she was the Deputy Director General for Knowledge at FAO.  Over her 35-year career, she has held senior positions in the US government, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Eridiania Beghin Say Company, and the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council.  She holds degrees from Davidson College and the Kennedy School at Harvard University, and agribusiness management certificates from INSEAD and Purdue University.

Dr. Arif Satria is a lecturer, professor, as well as the Rector of IPB University. He is an academic who was born in Pekalongan on September 17, 1971. He took his bachelor's and master's education at the Bogor Agricultural University, then completed his doctoral education at Kagoshima University. Apart from being active as a lecturer and rector, he is also the general chairman of the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association (ICMI). During his service, he has received many awards including the Extraordinary Intellectual Property Award (2009) by the Indonesian minister of education, Top 3 Lectures in The 2021 UNTA Masters Lecture Series in Sustainability (2021) by the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, and Second Winner of Academic Leader (Lecturer with Additional Tasks as Chancellor of PTNBH) (2019) by the Ministry of Education and Culture, and many other awards. Then, during his leadership period IPB University was ranked 1st in ASEAN and ranked 6th in Asia according to the World University ranking in the agriculture and forestry category.

A professional nutritionist and food scientist from Ethiopia, Bethlehem Lakew is also the co-creator and founder of two businesses, including BeNu Foods, a start-up biscuit business that strives to develop a nutritious, inexpensive, and locally sourced product for the community. In Ethiopia, she encourages healthy living as the founder and CEO of LeHem Nutrition Counseling, a company that provides nutritional counseling in things related with health and weight management. She also works at Addis Ababa Science and Technology University as a research assistant. She currently represents Ethiopia as a youth leader for the Act4Food Act4Change initiative. Working on a variety of action items, particularly those that address the following: Everyone should be able to afford healthy and nutritious food; Every child should have a healthy and sustainable lunch at school, college, or the nursery; and Value local and indigenous food knowledge. She contributes her free time to many charities. She currently works for a non-profit organization called Nutrition for Education, where she develops instructional materials on maternal nutrition. She spent five years working in Rotaract in a variety of roles, including vice president, director of professional development, and director of community service. Bethlehem earned her MSc in Food Science and Nutrition as well as her bachelor's degree in Food Science and Applied Nutrition with honors from Addis Ababa Science and Technology University.

Ertharin Cousin founded and today guides the Food Systems for the Future team as President and CEO. As a global nutrition and food systems thought leader and advocate Cousin also serves as a Distinguished Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford University, Center on Food Security and Environment. From 2012 until 2017, Cousin served as United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director. During her tenure, WFP operated in about 80 countries, with a budget averaging over five (5) billion dollars per year and a staff of 14,000 provided direct food assistance to more than 80 million people each year. With Cousin’s support the WFP team also identified, championed and implemented longer-term, more sustainable solutions for global food insecurity and malnutrition. In 2009, Cousin was nominated and confirmed as the US Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome. Prior to her global hunger work, Cousin helped lead the U.S. domestic fight to end hunger including service as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of America’s Second Harvest - now Feeding America. She has been listed numerous times on the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women List, as the Fortune Most Powerful Woman in Food and Drink, on Time’s 100 Most Influential People list, and as one of the 500 Most Powerful People on the Planet by Foreign Policy magazine.

Ms. Salim has spent more than 30 years in finance and banking. From 2004-2015, she served as Vice President Director of PT Bank Negara Indonesia, one of Indonesia’s largest state banks. With her leadership, the bank introduced ESG criteria into the bank’s credit model which received numerous awards in sustainability. She held other notable positions as Managing Director of the Jakarta Stock Exchange and at the height of the Asian Crisis in the late nineties, she served as Deputy Chairperson of The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, after an assignment as Head of the Secretariat for the Financial Sector Policy Committee. Ms. Salim actively supports not-for-profit initiatives and has been instrumental in co-founding and developing several key organizations, such as the Partnership for Governance Reform of Indonesia (Kemitraan), the TIFA Foundation; and The Transparency International Indonesia for which she is currently chairing. These organizations cover a wide range of initiatives: from working with communities, multi-sector governance reform and active participation in policy change. As Co-founder of ESAS (Empu Sendok Arts and Science), over the last five years, Felia has been working through the MIT Global Program delving into systems transformation addressing leadership in climate change.

Felipe is a Brazilian Regenerative Agribusiness Expert and Founder of reNature. A Dutch organization with extensive knowledge & experience in Regenerative Agriculture around the globe. Felipe is Forbes Under30 and TEDx Speaker. Regenerative Agriculture Lead Author at UN Environment for their GEO for Business brief on “The changing role of Business in Transforming Food Systems”, part of the Leadership Team on Action Track 3 at UN Food Systems Summit, Board Member at Climate Bonds Initiative and IPCC Expert Reviewer. Felipe’s ambition is to engage international corporations to make a transition in their agricultural practices using successful regenerative ag showcases that ensures economical viability and farmers' resilience.

In her current role, Hanneke leads Unilever’s Nutrition Business Group, including full profit and loss responsibility, strategy, mergers and acquisitions, innovation, marketing, digital and a supply chain spanning more than 200 countries.  Prior to becoming Nutrition President, Hanneke was President of Unilever’s Foods & Refreshment Division. Under Hanneke’s leadership, the Division’s growth accelerated significantly, resulting in its election as #1 in the World Benchmarking Alliance’s rating of 350 Food and Agriculture brands for responsible/sustainable business. Hanneke joined Unilever in January 2018 as President Unilever Europe. She has been a member of Unilever Leadership Executive since that time. Before joining Unilever, Hanneke was a member of the Executive Committee of global retailer Ahold Delhaize and held various international leadership roles at Procter & Gamble. Hanneke is also a member of the Board of Directors of Tapestry Inc. Prior to joining Tapestry in 2021, Hanneke served a five-year term on the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG, the life sciences company. Hanneke holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Houston, which she attended on a full athletic (diving) scholarship. She was a seven-time Dutch National Champion. Hanneke was recognised by Fortune magazine as one of the most influential international women in business, as #23 in the latest ranking issued in 2021. Hanneke is married and has a son and two daughters.

Joshua is a climate activist from Uganda and also a Professional Economist & Statistician. He believes in equality, integrity and a sustainable future for all. Joshua describes his sole purpose in life is to have a tangible contribution to the planet and to encourage more youths to have a heart for nature and the future generations. After realizing that climate change affects all of us, and many African countries may not be able to adapt easily to this crisis, he quit my full-time job and devoted all my time to making a tangible contribution towards a better tomorrow for all. Joshua raises awareness about climate change, climate action and stir up conservation on social media to reach as many people as possible. As part of this he has participated in movement building activities with climate leaders in over 21 African countries including leading campaigns against proposed oil blocks in the Congo Rain Forest.

Kirsten joined WWF International in January 2023 to lead and coordinate the federated global conservation organization, including the teams at the WWF International Secretariat and 34 country offices in Africa, Asia and Europe. She reports to the International Board. Prior to joining WWF International, Kirsten was CEO of WWF-Netherlands for over 6 years transforming the organization into a highly influential, data-driven conservation organization with a strong focus on resilient landscapes and societal movement. She was also a member of the executive committee of the WWF Network, the Network Executive Team (NET), for over six years. Kirsten has extensive experience in conservation and leading non-profit organizations, having worked in international conservation for twenty-five years, twenty of which in various global conservation leadership positions in WWF. Prior to WWF, she worked in Kenya and Malawi with local communities on wetland conservation. Throughout her conservation career, she has had a particular interest in the relationship between nature and socio-economic systems. Kirsten sits on several boards, including the Board of Wageningen University in The Netherlands. She holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences with the Erasmus University of Rotterdam and a Masters Degree in International Economics of the University of Maastricht.

Paul Polman works to accelerate action by business to tackle climate change and inequality. As CEO of Unilever (2009-2019), he demonstrated that business can profit through purpose, delivering shareholder returns of 290% while the company consistently ranked 1st in the world for sustainability. Today he works across a range of organizations to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which he helped develop. www.paulpolman.com  

Wanjira Mathai is the Managing Director for Africa and Global Partnerships at World Resources Institute. She is also the current Chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation and the former Chair of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya. An inspiring leader, Wanjira has over 20 years of experience advocating for social and environmental change on both local and international platforms. Wanjira is one of the TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2023.

H.E Dr. Yaseen Khayyat is an Experienced Executive with a demonstrated history of peer-acclaimed initiatives in the Public Servant Administration industry. Skilled in Leadership, Risk Assessment, Sustainable Development and Environmental issues. A highly regarded Community and Social Services professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) focused on Environmental Engineering from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, U.K. Dr. Khayyat served as Minister of Environment in Jordan from 2011 to 2012, and 2016 – 2018. He was also a Senator from 2013 to 2016, playing a key role in shaping environmental change in Jordan. Prior to assuming the Minister of Environment portfolio, he was director general of the Jordan Standards and Metrology Organization (JSMO) from 2004 to 2011. He has been Chairman of several board of directors and higher committees including, the Jordan Environment Protection Fund, the Green Economy, the Royal Administration for Environmental Protection (Rangers) and others.