CABI appoints four board members

August 2009

CABI is pleased to announce the appointment of four members to its Board. Mr Andrew Bennett, Dr Don Merino, Professor Emmanuel Owusu-Bennoah and Mr John Ripley will join existing Board members swelling numbers from eight to twelve.

"I am delighted to welcome these distinguished experts to the CABI Board," said Professor John Regazzi, Chair of the Board. "Each new member brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience in key fields. Their guidance and advice will go a long way towards achieving CABI's goals."

Andrew Bennett has more than 40 years of experience in international development, having worked in development programmes in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. He is President of the Tropical Agricultural Association (UK), and Chair of the Boards of Trustees of the Centre for International Forestry Research (CGIAR) and of SciDev.Net. He is a Director of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture and of the Doyle Foundation.

Don Merino is General Manager of Intellectual Property, Intellectual Ventures, a company that invents, acquires and licences patented inventions. Dr Merino has acquired a deep knowledge of the issues surrounding Intellectual Property which he combines with an understanding of the internet and web based businesses. Prior to his role at Intellectual Ventures, Dr Merino was Director of Strategic Business Development, Intel Corporation.

Emmanuel Owusu-Bennoah has an extensive background as an academic and a scientist in the agricultural field, and has considerable experience with various regional developmental organizations in Central and West Africa. Professor Owusu-Bennoah has been involved in key regional organizations in Africa dealing with scientific development, cooperation and coordination in order to develop capacity and capability in Central and West Africa, most recently as Director General for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

John Ripley has recently retired from a successful 35-year career with the Unilever Group. He has extensive senior level corporate management experience. Most recently Mr Ripley was Head of Corporate Development. During his time at Unilever he was involved in developing regional and global business strategies, working internationally across different businesses and in Chief Financial Officer roles.

The new CABI Board members will join Dr John Regazzi, Dr Trevor Nicholls, Mr Ian Barry, Mr Gary Whitfield, Dr Pete Desai, Mr Hans Rutimann, Mr Martin White and Madame Josefa Sacko. 

For more information go to Governance