Éliane Ubalijoro, PhD, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and Director General of ICRAF. She is the first African woman to lead a CGIAR Research Center and serves as a Professor of Practice at McGill University and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Appointed by the UN Secretary-General, she is a member of the 2027 Global Sustainable Development Report Independent Group of Scientists. She advises several international boards, including IKEA Forestry Advisory, Capitals Coalition, Genome Canada, and Rwanda’s National Science and Technology Council. Her previous roles include Executive Director of Sustainability in the Digital Age and Deputy Executive Director at Global Open Data in Agriculture and Nutrition. She received the International Leadership Association’s 2022 award for outstanding leadership practice. She also co-edited Building Resilient African Food Systems after COVID-19 and is a Fellow of the International Science Council.
