Juan Lucas Restrepo, new Director of Corpoica

The Chair of CIAT’s Board of Trustees, Juan Lucas Restrepo Ibiza, was appointed as new Executive Director of the Colombian Corporation of Agricultural Research (Corpoica). Said appointment was approved by Corpoica’s Board of Directors last 13 October in a meeting chaired by Colombia’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Juan Camilo Restrepo. Restrepo Ibiza replaces Arturo Enrique Vega Varón, who served as the Corporation’s Executive Director for a period of 5 years.

Restrepo Ibiza, a Civil Engineer from the University of Los Andes (Colombia), also holds a M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University (USA). Currently Commercial Manager of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, he has also served as Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Colombia, lead negotiator in Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the Colombia-US Trade Promotion Agreement, Director of Agricultural Development of Colombia’s National Department of Planning, and adviser to the Colombian Ministry of Finance on coffee matters.

In January of this year, Restrepo Ibiza assumed the chairmanship of CIAT’s Board of Trustees, a position that he will continue to occupy. More...