SESSION 2 AGENDA & SPEAKERS

Currently serving as Ambassador at Large for Global Food Security at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Government of Spain. Former Director General for Sustainable Development Policies from 2018 to 2021. In this position, he has been lead author and strategist of the 2030 Agenda Implementation Action Plan of Spain, coordinating the Spanish Voluntary National Review at the High Level Political Forum. Lead author of the Spanish Cooperation Joint Response Strategy to COVID-19 pandemic. He served in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary General from 2011 to 2017, including as Coordinator of the UN Secretary-General High Level Task Force on Global Food Security and as Team Leader of the UN Secretary General´s Special Representative for Food and Nutrition Security from 2016 to 2017, based in Rome. Senior policy advisor on sustainable development to the UN Secretary General´s Special Advisor for the Post2015 Development Agenda Ms Amina J Mohammed from 2012 to 2016, leading on food security, agriculture and food systems, financing and climate change. Renowned as being part of the team facilitating the process leading to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he was instrumental on crafting Ban Ki-Moon´s Zero Hunger Challenge and SDG 2. Before joining the UN, he was Deputy-Director General of Development Policies at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Spain from 2007-2010, leading on Spain´s global response to the global food crisis. He coordinated the 2009 Madrid High Level Meeting “Food Security for All” and substantially contributed to the reform of the Committee on World Food Security. In this position, he was lead author of the 2009-2012 Spanish Cooperation Master Plan and was instrumental on the set up of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), the L´Aquila Food Security Initiative, the UN Fund for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the "Spanish Fund for Cooperation on Water and Sanitation". Full time Professor of Development Theory and Planning at the School of Agricultural Engineering and Environment at the Technological University of Valencia UPV (2000-2007) and Director of its Development Cooperation Centre (2004-2007). An engineer by training, he holds a nationally awarded Ph.D on development planning and management. He is author or co-author of more than 50 publications.

Dr. David Cooper is the Acting Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Prior to his appointment, David was the Deputy Executive Secretary at the CBD Secretariat where he assisted the Executive Secretary by leading the strategic and planning activities of the Secretariat, as well as the intergovernmental processes and activities under the Convention and its Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols.  

David has more than 30 years of experience in environmental and agricultural science and policy, and international negotiations. As Secretary of the fifteenth meeting of the CBD Conference of the Parties (COP 15), David was instrumental in facilitating the complex pathway that led to the successful finalisation and adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and other key decisions.  

Before joining the CBD Secretariat, David worked at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, for the non-governmental organisation Genetic Resources Action International (GRAIN), the United Nations Association (UK) and in the Agricultural Research Council of the United Kingdom.  

David was a lead author for the third, fourth and fifth editions of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, the Convention’s flagship publication. He has also contributed to various assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and was a lead author for the Biodiversity Synthesis of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.  

He holds an MA in Agricultural and Forest Sciences and a DPhil in Plant Physiology, both from the University of Oxford. 

Special Representative for Australian Agriculture – Su McCluskey Ms Su McCluskey is Australia’s first Special Representative for Agriculture. With strong credentials and experience in regional economic development, research and risk management, she brings a wealth of experience to this unique role in promoting Australian agriculture and arguing for science and risk-based decision making to ensure that international standards and policies don’t impact trade and international food security. In addition to being the Special Representative, Su is also a Director of Australian Unity, Australasian Pork Research Institute, LiveCorp, Australian Wool Network Pty Ltd and is a Commissioner for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. Previously Su was the CEO of the Australian Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations and the Executive Director of the Australian Office of Best Practice Regulation. She was also the CEO of the Regional Australia Institute, a research and policy think tank focussed on regional Australia. Su has held senior positions with the Business Council of Australia, the National Farmers’ Federation and the Australian Taxation Office. When she isn’t working to promote and enhance the agricultural sector, Su runs a beef cattle farm in Yass, New South Wales.

Jamie Morrison joined GAIN in September 2022 to support national and global initiatives to strengthen food systems policy.  Formerly Director of Food Systems and Food Safety at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, he brings more than 30 years of experience in the provision of research, capacity development and technical assistance on the impact of trade and economic policy on processes of agricultural development and food systems transformation. Jamie holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of London, MSc in Agricultural Economics from Wye College and BSc in Agricultural Science from Massey University, New Zealand. 

Caterina is the Director of the Food System Economics Commission, while leading the policy and political economy workstream. She is Senior Advisor at SYSTEMIQ and consults for IFAD and other international agencies on issues related to rural poverty and a just transition to climate sustainability. 

She co-authored the Food and Land Use Coalition Global Report Growing Better and has served for two years as FOLU Research Director. 

In a previous life, Caterina worked for the World Bank as a poverty economist. An applied micro-economist by training, she has written and worked extensively on issues related to poverty and inequality, and in particular the distributional impact of policy reforms, the design of social protection programs, and different concepts of poverty. 

She holds a D.Phil. in Economics from the University of Oxford. 

She lives in London with her husband and two children, and in her spare time runs a charity bookshop on bookshop.org and advises il Barbagianni Editore, an Italian independent children books’ publisher. 

Christian Hofer has been the Director-General of the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) since 1 December 2019. He was previously Head of the Bern Cantonal Office for Agriculture and Nature (LANAT) for almost two years. From 2009 to 2017, he served as an Assistant Director of the FOAG, responsible for the Direct Payments and Rural Development Directorate. He studied Agronomic Engineering (specialising in crop production) at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, graduating in1998. He also qualified as a teacher and worked as an agricultural consultant at Inforama Rütti (Bern). From 2000 to 2003, he managed the Profi Lait office and also worked as a scientist for the Swiss Grassland Society (AGFF). In 2003, he became Head of Sales (Switzerland) at DeLaval – the Swedish manufacturer of dairy farming equipment – in Sursee (Lucerne). He also obtained an MBA in Integrated Management from Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH). 

Juan Lucas Restrepo is Global Director of Partnerships and Advocacy, CGIAR, and Director General of the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). A Colombian and French national, he worked in the agricultural domain, both in the public and private sectors, for the past 25 years. He has significant experience in policy, value chains, markets, and leading agricultural research. He has supported the work of CGIAR through the various governance roles he held over the years in the Committee of Genetic Resources Policy, Oversight and Executive Committees, and as the representative of the Colombian Government on the CIAT Board of Directors as an ex-officio member. Among other positions, in Colombia, he served as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as the Executive Director of AGROSAVIA, the largest agricultural research organization in the country, and as Chief Commercial Officer of the National Federation of Coffee Growers. As its Chair, he also led the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR), hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and its efforts to better integrate the agricultural research for the development community, with change and innovation by farmers. He holds a degree in civil engineering from Universidad de los Andes and an MS in agricultural economics from Cornell University.  

Follow Juan Lucas Restrepo on Twitter: @jlucasrestrepo