Thomas A. Lumpkin
Director General, CIMMYT, Mexico

Thomas A. Lumpkin has served as Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT, by its Spanish acronym) since 15 March 2008. CIMMYT is one of fifteen international agricultural research centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Lumpkin grew up on a small farm in eastern Washington State USA, located on the boundary between the irrigated desert and the rainfed wheat production area. As a young man, he served in the Peace Corps in the Konkan region of India, teaching rice production along with wheat and horticultural crops. He has a BSc from Washington State University in agronomy, and MSc and PhD degrees in agronomy from the University of Hawaii. He carried out his doctoral research in mainland China and served as a Research Scholar at IRRI for six months. Lumpkin worked at Washington State University as a professor and later as Chair of the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. Prior to taking up his appointment at CIMMYT, he served for five years as Director General of AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center in Taiwan.