Ruben G. Echeverría is Director General of CIAT (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical) with headquarters in Colombia. He holds a BSc degree from the University of Uruguay with a MSc and PhD in Agriculture and Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota, USA. From the late 1970s to early 1980s, Ruben worked for the Uruguayan Land Reform Institute, heading its extension service. Afterwards, in connection with his PhD thesis, he conducted research in Mexico and Guatemala for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico. He then worked on strengthening national research capacities in developing countries with the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) in The Netherlands. In 1992, he joined the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington, D.C., serving as its Director of Agriculture and Rural development from 2000 to 2004.