Maria Wanzala an agricultural economist with almost 10 years of experience working on African agricultural policy and market development issues. Her areas of expertise include market assessments, program planning and assessment,... more and policy research and analysis. Wanzala is on secondment to the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (the development agency of the African Union) from IFDC where her work involved agricultural input market assessment and development, proposal writing and project backstopping. She was heavily involved in the preparation of action plans for promoting the development of agricultural input markets in Africa which entailed country level assessments. Her country experiences include Malawi, Tanzania, Madagascar, Angola, Kenya, and Zambia. She has also conducted research work in Mexico. She is currently the Senior Policy Economist in the Program Implementation and Coordination Directorate at NPCA under the Agriculture and Food Security thematic area. Her main responsibilities include: a) Mainstreaming of fertilizer issues into the CAADP implementation process; b) Coordination and Implementation of the NEPAD Agribusiness Strategy (CADAP Pillar 2). Her key activities are: policy research and analysis, program design, and resource mobilization. less

Peter J. Heffernan is the director of IFDC’s Research and Development Division. He has 30 years of experience in economic analysis, market research, strategic planning and corporate development. He previously worked with IFDC... more as a corporate and private sector development expert with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future initiative. Prior to joining IFDC, Heffernan held several director-level positions with Bunge North America, a vertically integrated food and feed ingredient company. Heffernan also worked for IMC Global, which was one of the world’s leading producers of crop nutrients for the international agricultural community. Heffernan holds a doctorate and master’s degree in agricultural economics from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and business economics from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. less

Raymond Hoyum is President of Advantage International, a global agricultural consulting firm. He has been primarily responsible for directing agricultural marketing programs and communications, as well as, providing a brand... more strategy for domestic and international clients. He has also assisted clients with new product launches, in addition to, providing direction and leadership for global market development. More recently, he has been personally involved in guiding global government agricultural policies. He spent nearly 30 years in the fertilizer industry and was responsible for a wide range of programs, from agronomic support to product development and sales in over 40 countries. Prior to joining the fertilizer industry, he spent 8 years in academia in teaching, research and extension. Hoyum has authored or co-authored over 275 professional papers, technical reports and marketing brochures. He received a BS degree in soil science from the University of Wisconsin, and an MS and PhD in agronomy from Auburn University. less

David Atwood serves as food security policy advisor in USAID’s Bureau of Food Security. He retired from the Senior Foreign Service with USAID in 2011, having served in a variety of roles managing expert development teams,... more including Director of Africa Bureau’s Sustainable Development Office (2008-11), short-term Deputy Director in Haiti of the USG Office of Earthquake Response Coordination (2010), acting Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Europe and Eurasia Bureau (E&E) (2007-8),and Director of the E&E Office of Democracy, Governance and Social Transition. Earlier positions include long-term assignments in Mali , Bangladesh, and Egypt focused on agricultural development, private sector development and economic policy, as well as earlier AID/Washington assignments in the Africa Bureau and the Global Bureau. Prior to his USAID experience, Atwood served as an employment counselor in Providence, RI and Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic. He holds an MS in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, an MS in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University, and a BA in Anthropology from Brown University. He has written and/or published in the areas of land tenure reform, food security, famine, coalition building to reduce hunger and poverty, and engaging Muslim organizations in development. less