Board of Directors

Dr. Barbara Schaal is Chair of the Board of Directors of the SoAR Foundation, Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, and the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biology at...

Thomas Grumbly serves as Vice-Chair of the Supporters of Agricultural Research (SoAR) Foundation Board. Mr. Grumbly has held senior leadership positions across government, non-profits and industry over...

For the past 21 years, John McDonnell has been actively involved in establishing an entrepreneurial ecosystem in St. Louis to enable start-up companies to commercialize life science research...

Rose Barbuto is the Chief Executive Officer of Crystal Strategies, a consulting firm in Washington, DC. She most recently served as the Farm Journal Foundation’s Executive Director of External Relations,...

Dr. Roger Beachy is the Founding Executive Director of the World Food Center, University of California, Davis. In 2009 he was appointed by President Obama as the first director of the National Institute...

Dr. Vicki Chandler is Provost at the Minerva Schools at KGI. Previously, she was Dean of Faculty and Chief Academic Officer and Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at Minerva. She has served as the...

Neil Dierks is Chief Executive Officer of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC). In this position, he is responsible for the overall implementation of all NPPC programs. Dierks’ position requires him...

President of the American Farm Bureau Federation since January 2016, Zippy Duvall is a third-generation farmer from Georgia. In addition to a 400-head beef cow herd for which he grows his own hay, Duvall...

Robert A. Easter was appointed president-designate of the University of Illinois in March 2012, and became the university’s 19th president in July 2012.

Before becoming president, Easter spent his...

Doug Gollin is Professor of Development Economics at the Oxford Department of International Development. His research focusses on economic development and growth, with particular interests in agriculture...

Ronnie D. Green became the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s 20th chancellor on May 8, 2016. 

In July 2010, Ronnie Green was appointed as the Harlan Vice Chancellor of the UNL Institute of...

Dr. Leshner has been Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Executive Publisher of the journal Science since December 2001....

Chris Novak is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Croplife America. Previously, Novak was Chief Executive Officer of the National Corn Growers Association, a grower-led trade association with...

Carol Lee Tucker-Foreman, distinguished fellow at Consumer Federation of America’s Food Policy Institute, has an international reputation as a consumer advocate and food policy expert. For more than 35...

Richard Wilkins, a farmer from Greenwood, Del., is President of the American Soybean Association (ASA). He is one of nine soybean growers who make up the ASA Governing Committee.

Wilkins has served...

Dr. William H. Danforth served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, Chancellor Emeritus of Washington University, and Chair of the...