Board of trustees

Faouzi Bekkaoui is the Director of INRA Morocco. He was previously the Director of the Agriculture School and the coordinator of the AgroBioSciences Research program at the University Mohammed 6 Polytechnic (UM6P) Benguerir. Bekkaoui has also worked in the Wheat Improvement Flagship Program at NRC Canada 2012-2017, the NRC Plant Biotechnology Institute (PBI), ID Biomedical in the area DNA diagnostics, and Genome Prairie.  During his career, Faouzi has co-authored 38 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of DNA diagnostics, molecular biology, genomics, and plant physiology. He holds three U.S. patents involving DNA diagnostics.

Bekkaoui holds a Bachelor in Physiology from the University of Tours and a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from the University of Sorbonne (ex-Paris 6). 

Michel Afram is the Director General and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI). An agronomist by training, he is a specialist in agricultural education and policy and, amongst others, holds the positions of Deputy Director of the Global Association of Francophone Agricultural and Food Processing Universities, and Vice President of Confremo (conference of Francophone Universities and Institutions in the MENA region). Dr. Afram is also a member of the Lebanese Higher Agricultural Council, Professor at the School of Agriculture at Saint Joseph’s University, and a member of several Lebanese national committees pursuing improved agriculture and food production.

Dr. Afram is a recipient of the French Order of Academic Palms (Ordre des Palmes Academiques, 2016) for his work in teaching, scholarship and research. Dr Afram has received multiple other awards, including the Golden Award for Best Research and Practice from the European Society for Quality Research and the London-Oxford-Award for his research activities. Since 2018, Dr Afram has received various Bizz business excellence awards, including the Pinnacle of Success prize in 2021.

Dr. Nick Austin is an internationally recognized agriculture and natural resources expert, with extensive experience across public, private, and non-profit sectors in Australia and globally. He is President of Australia's Policy Advisory Council on International Agricultural Research, chairs the Agriculture and Food Forum at the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), is Deputy Chair of the Zero Net Emissions from Agriculture Cooperative Research Centre, and is a member of the governing board of Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations LLC, a St. Louis-based startup focused on accelerating technology translation. Previously, Nick was the Director of Agricultural Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle. He has also held key leadership roles, including interim Executive Director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in Montpellier, CEO of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and Executive Director of Agriculture and Deputy Director-General of Science and Research at the NSW Department of Primary Industries. Originally from a sheep station in Far North South Australia, Nick holds a B.E. (Agriculture) (Hons); a Master’s in management; and a PhD in sustainable water and fertiliser use in Australia’s irrigated dairy industry. He is an elected Fellow of ATSE, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and an experienced non-executive director.