About

For media enquiries and interview requests please contact press@cabi.org or +44 1491 829395

I first joined CABI’s Swiss centre in 1989. Here, in collaboration with the University of Kiel, I completed my MSc and PhD in arthropod classical biological control. I then completed a post doc from 1996-97 at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. In April 1997, I was appointed as Head of CABI’s Swiss Arthropod Biological Control research programme and became responsible for the development and management of several international agricultural classical biological research projects, as well as the supervision of numerous international MSc and PhD students.

In parallel to this role, I built up the Integrated Crop Management Team at CABI. Today, the team comprises a number of consultants across CABI who provide technical support and facilitate activities in various developing, transitional and developed countries to improve agricultural practices. The group uses a multi-stakeholder approach to promote the implementation of ICM, especially the use of biologically-based integrated pest management, as a sustainable agricultural solution.

From 2010-2015, I was the Regional Director, CABI, Switzerland as well as Plantwise Programme Executive. Plantwise – CABI’s award-winning global programme, which has helped millions of farmers in 34 countries to diagnose and treat pest threats on their farms and reduce crop losses by strengthening national plant health systems

In 2016, I was appointed as CABI’s Executive Director, Global Operations, responsible for overseeing the management and operations at CABI’s 10 locations across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Within this role, I am also the professional lead for science within CABI worldwide. Since 2020, I am managing, alongside this role,  CABI’s new global programme, PlantwisePlus, which will support countries to predict, prepare for and prevent plant health threats, thereby aiming to reduce crop losses and empower farmers to increase income, food security and food safety by producing more and higher quality food. Furthermore, I am the professional lead for the open access CABI BioProtection Portal which helps farmers and advisory service providers to identify, source and correctly apply bioprotection products.