WorldVeg Board of Directors holds 51st meeting

During the 51^st meeting of the Board of Directors (BOD) of the World Vegetable Center, 25-27 April 2017 in Seoul, Korea, Junne-Jih Chen was appointed as the new Chair, effective immediately. Dr. Chen is Director General of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute. The Board also approved the appointment of Masa Iwanaga, President, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), as the Vice-Chair as of 8 December 2017. Up to December 8, David Sammons, Dean of the International Center, University of Florida will continue to function as the Center’s Vice-Chair. Cathy Reade, Director, Public Affairs and Communication Crawford Fund will take over as Chair of the Nomination Committee and Gordon MacNeil, President, XCG Consulting, Inc. as Chair of the Audit Committee. Marlis Lindecke, Senior Programme Manager, Advisory Service on Agricultural Research for Development (BEAF), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) continues to function as the Chair of the Program Committee.

Board members Emmy Simmons and Jon Wilkinson completed their terms, and both were thanked for their valuable service and guidance to the Center.

In other business, the board approved the 2017-2020 operational plan, the 2017 working budget, and the Center’s Intellectual Assets Management Policy. It also agreed to the creation of an additional regional office for West and Central Africa in Cotonou, Benin to focus on coastal and humid regions. The regional office in Mali will focus on dry regions. The Board asked WorldVeg to develop a 3-year plan for the new regional office.