- Stephen Rudgard is FAO Representative, Lao PDR, where he leads FAO's programme of work in support of agricultural development and food security. Before this post he was the Chief of Knowledge and Capacity for Development at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, where he worked for 14 years. He headed a global team which managed programmes aimed at strengthening capacities of institutions and individuals in developing countries to manage and share information and knowledge, with a major emphasis on e-learning. The team facilitated several global partnerships that provide access to agricultural information, and develops global standards for agricultural information management. He joined FAO in 2000 after ten years at CAB International (CABI) as a Director in its Information for Development Programme. He has a PhD in Plant Pathology and worked for 10 years on cocoa disease management in Latin America, before moving into agricultural information.