Dr. Sally Rockey recently retired from her position as the Executive Director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research in 2022.  Prior to this role, Dr. Rockey was a leader in federal research, overseeing the operations of the extramural programs in both agriculture and biomedicine. She spent almost twenty years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture where she held several positions within the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service including head of Competitive Research Grants and Chief Information Officer.  From there she spent eleven years with the National Institutes of Health as NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research where she led the operations of the world’s largest extramural research program.   

Returning to her roots in agriculture, and as FFAR’s first Executive Director, she saw the organization through its startup phase and witnessed it grow into a significant force in the agriculture research community through the development of innovative private/public research partnerships.  Dr. Rockey received her Ph.D. in Entomology from the Ohio State University and did postgraduate work at University of Wisconsin.  She has devoted her career to improving people’s lives through research and continues this mission today.