Keynote Speaker

Dr. Swati Nayak is a scientist with CGIAR International Rice Research Institute. She is also the 2023 Borlaug Field Award Winner from World Food Prize Foundation.

M Govindaraj is a Senior Scientist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. He manages the biofortification crop development research network and builds research capacities for biofortification mainstreaming, among other tasks in the HarvestPlus program of the CGIAR. He holds a Ph.D., in plant breeding and genetics from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-India.

Howarth Bouis Biosketch

Dr. Govaerts specializes in the fields of bioscience engineering and soil sciences. He is renowned for pioneering, implementing, and inspiring transformational changes for farmers and consumers in meeting the sustainable development challenges. He brings together multi-disciplinary science and development teams to integrate sustainable, multi-stakeholder and sector strategies that generate innovation and change in the agri-food systems.

Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan... Bio Pending

Allison O’Toole joined Second Harvest Heartland in February of 2019 from the United States of Care, where she served as Senior Director of State Affairs focusing on the mission that every American has affordable health care.

Dr. Khush was born at Rurkee, district Jalandhar, Punjab, India on August 22,1935. He received B.Sc. degree from Punjab Agricultural University in 1955 and Ph.D. in 1960 from the University of California, Davis.  After serving as a faculty member of the University of California for seven years, he joined International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines as Plant Breeder, and was appointed a Head of Plant Breeding Department in 1972.  He retired in April 2002 as Principal Plant Breeder and Head of Division of Plant Breeding Genetics and Biochemistry.

Professor Ruth Oniang’o is Kenyan, a graduate of Washington State University, Pullman, and University of Nairobi. She has taught in Kenyan universities and has been Adjunct at Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA. She is past President of Academy of Food Science and Technology. She spearheaded the completion of Kenya’s food and nutrition policy, facilitated the establishment of nutrition departments in a number of African universities, and has given a voice to these issues regionally and internationally.

An accomplished leader in international organization reform and a powerful advocate for women and girls, Catherine Bertini has a distinguished career improving the efficiency and operations of organizations serving poor and hungry people in the United States and around the world. She has highlighted and supported the roles of women and girls in influencing change.