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Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General, is an economist and politician from Cape Verde. A leading expert in global development issues, she has worked in public service for over thirty years. Over the last decade, FAO has helped shape a new global narrative where agriculture is prominently recognized as a solution in addressing increasingly complex emerging issues – from transforming food systems to dealing with climate change.

Leading to deliver, Semedo promotes an integrated, inclusive approach, resulting in greater cross-sectoral engagement and stronger strategic partnerships, better positioning FAO in its role to promote a transition to sustainable food and agriculture systems. As part of the FAO Core Leadership Team, Semedo works to develop impactful initiatives such as the FAO Green Cities Action Programme and the corporate strategy for mainstreaming biodiversity across agricultural sectors, fostering multi-stakeholder dialogues that optimize the Organization’s 75+ years of technical expertise and experience, its global reach and innovative approaches, all contributing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Semedo is a firm advocate for women’s empowerment and is well-recognized for her work promoting gender equity and social parity. Since October 2019 she has chaired the FAO Women’s Committee, spearheaded the Organization’s mentorship programme. Acknowledging that we cannot end hunger and poverty without empowering both men and women farmers, Semedo works tirelessly for the recognition of the role of women and girls, participating in many international fora and ensuring gender mainstreaming across the Organization’s policies.

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Born on May 24, 1958, Dr. Zonrbach undertook his academic studies at the University of Hamburg, specializing in Biology with a focus on Applied Botany, Microbiology, and Entomology. He earned his PhD in Biology in 1990, conducting external research at the Biological Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry, with a focus on Plant Protection. Since 1990, Dr. Zornbach has dedicated over three decades to public service at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, holding key roles in the Division of Plant Protection and Integrated Pest Management until 2016, and subsequently working for Sustainability and Climate Change. 2019 he became Head of the Division on Sustainability and Climate Change. After reorganisation in 2022 he became Head of the Division on Climate Change and Water in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

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Enock Chikava leads the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s work to reduce poverty for millions of farming families in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia by promoting inclusive agricultural innovations that drive productivity and income growth for smallholder farmers in a sustainable way. He joined the foundation in April 2015 as a senior program officer focusing on crop innovations. Enock trained in Agricultural Economics and Business Strategy, with 30-years’ experience in agriculture. His career spans from farmer organizations, private sector seed industry, agribusiness, food processing, and now philanthropy. Enock Chikava is a board member of the African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) and former president of the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA). He was raised on a smallholder farm in Zimbabwe in a family of eleven and has dedicated his life to working towards smallholder farmers’ success as they use technology to raise productivity, incomes, nutrition, and economically empower themselves.

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Genna Tesdall is the Director of the network Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD). She is an agriculture systems thinker taking on projects to sustain the environment and people, striving to be a servant-leader in order to foster equality between generations (and all delimiters of privilege). Before joining YPARD, she was the federal agricultural policy officer at the German Rural Youth Association (Bund der Deutschen Landjugend) (2020). As a Fulbright Researcher at the Humboldt University of Berlin (2018-19), she focused on youth involvement in agricultural policy, and was the former president (2013-14) of the International Association of Agriculture and Related Sciences Students (IAAS). She is a graduate of the global oriented Iowa State (2015) and Penn State Universities (2018) with a M.Sc. in Plant Pathology and International Agriculture and Development.

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Imelda (Dada) Bacudo is currently a senior advisor to the COP28 Presidency of the UAE, ensuring the alignment of UNFCCC agreements on agrifood systems with Presidency partnerships initiatives. Previously, she worked for a decade as Senior Advisor to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its ten Member States for strengthened regional and international policies to support the transformation of ASEAN to a low emissions and resilient agrifood sector. She played a pivotal role in the development and coordination of the ASEAN Climate Resilience Network—a successful platform for knowledge exchange and support on climate smart land use; and the ASEAN Negotiating Group for Agriculture (ANGA), which capacitated the agriculture sector into engagements with the UNFCCC and is recognized as a subgroup negotiating under the G77 and China. She has over 20 years’ experience in the areas of biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and conservation finance in the Philippines, Latin America, Uganda, and Southeast Asia, working with NGOs, national governments, and international development agencies. Dada Bacudo acquired her Master’s Degree in Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science under a Fulbright Scholarship.

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Martina Fleckenstein is the Global Head of Policy of the Food Practice for WWF International. Martina has over 25 years of experience in national and international environment and development policies, based on a board knowledge on implementation of agriculture and sustainable food production projects in different geographies. She was involved in the preparation of the UN Food Systems Summit, supporting Action Track 3 “Boosting nature positive production at scale” and has broad knowledge on international policy agendas and processes.