Program Director and Chair, Dr. Ed Runge – Dr. Ed Runge has been one of the most visible agronomists in the last half of the 20th century. He served on the faculty at Iowa State University and the University of Illinois, and was Chairman of the Agronomy Department at the University of Missouri prior to becoming Head of the Soil & Crop Sciences Department at Texas A&M University. He has served in top leadership roles as President of the Soil Science Society of America in 1985 and as President of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) in 1989. He received the Texas A&M University Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award for Administration in 1988 and received the Agronomic Service Award from the ASA in 1995. Additionally, he has been a major advisor to and reviewer of the TROPSOILS, INTSORMIL and Peanut CRSP projects funded by USAID and has served on numerous college, university, agency and National Research Council committees and review groups. He has advised 19 graduate students, 10 of who were from foreign countries. He has lived or worked in more than 60 countries of the world with longer-term assignments in New Zealand and Indonesia.

Dr. Theodore Crosbie – Dr. Ted Crosbie is Vice President of Global Plant Breeding for Monsanto Company. Monsanto’s Plant Breeding organization is one of the largest breeding efforts in the world with more than 1,000 employees and more than 100 sites worldwide in 20 countries. Dr. Crosbie is responsible for seven crops worldwide and is a member of the Monsanto Advisory Committee and the Technology Leadership Team. Prior to joining Monsanto in 1996, Dr. Crosbie was the President and Chief Executive Officer of ICI Seeds, USA, and a faculty member involved in plant breeding research at Iowa State University.

Dr. Catherine Feuillet – Dr. Catherine Feuillet is research director and leader of the group “Structure, function and evolution of the wheat genomes” at the INRA, Clermont-Ferrand (France). She was educated at the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France) as a geneticist and molecular biologist and received her PhD at the University in 1993 on the isolation and characterization of a gene (cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase) involved in lignification in eucalyptus. She then moved to the group of Beat Keller in Switzerland, and after three years of postdoctoral studies at the Swiss Federal Institute for Agroecology in Zurich, she was hired as junior group leader at the University of Zurich (Institute of Plant Biology) where she continued to develop projects on the genetics and genomics of disease resistance and the evolution of the wheat and barley genomes. In 2004, she was appointed by the INRA as research director in Clermont-Ferrand (UMR Genetics, Diversity and Ecophysiology of Cereals) to lead and develop wheat genomics projects. She started a pilot project to construct the first physical map of a wheat chromosome (3B) and exploit it to better understand the structure, function, and evolution of this large and complex genome as well as to develop new tools for wheat breeders. She is one of the co-chairs of the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC), the International Triticeae Mapping Initiative (ITMI), and the European Triticeae Genomics Initiative (ETGI). In 2009, she was awarded as female researcher of the year by the "Femmes en or" committee, and she received the "Prix Foulon" (for integrative plant biology) from the French Academy of Sciences for her commitment and achievements on wheat genetics and genomics over the past 15 years.

Dr. Monty Jones – Dr. Jones is a breeder by profession and currently the Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa based in Ghana. He is co-winner of the 2004 World Food Prize for the development of the New Rice for Africa (NERICA), which is the interspecific progenies bred by traits of the traditional robust African rice varieties (O.glaberrima) with the productive Asian varieties (O. sativa). This true interspecific hybrid has important morpho-agronomic traits for weed suppression and higher levels of resistance and tolerance to major biotic and abiotic stresses, while also improving yield and taste. Dr. Jones is also the recipient of other awards, including an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham, Insignia of the Grand Officer of the order of the Rokel from Sierra Leone, National Order of Merit of Cote d’Ivoire and the King Bedouin award given to WARDA by the CGIAR. He has been listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2007.

Dr. Gurdev Khush – Dr. Khush is a plant breeder currently serving on the faculty of the University of California, Davis and as an advisor to the International Rice Research Institute. Dr. Khush spent most of this career at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines as a plant breeder and was appointed a Head of Plant Breeding Department in 1972. He retired in February 2002 as Principal Plant Breeder and Head of Division of Plant Breeding Genetics and Biochemistry. During his 35-year career at IRRI he spearheaded the program for developing high-yielding and disease- and insect-resistant varieties of rice, which ushered in a green revolution in rice farming. More than 300 rice varieties developed under his leadership have been released in Asia, Africa and Latin America. For his contribution to food security, Dr. Khush received the Japan Prize (1987), the World Food Prize (1996), the Rank Prize (1998), the Wolf Prize in Agriculture (2000) and numerous honorary doctorate degrees. Dr. Khush was elected to the Indian National Science Academy, Third World Academy of Sciences, U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Royal Society of London.

Dr. Ronald Phillips – Dr. Phillips is Regents Professor and McKnight Presidential Chair in Genomics, University of Minnesota. His postdoctoral training was at Cornell University. Dr. Phillips has advised more than 60 graduate theses and taught a course in plant genetics as a faculty member in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics for more than 40 years. Dr. Phillips received the prestigious Wolf Prize in Agriculture in Israel (2007) for “ground-breaking research in service of mankind.” In 1991, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Currently, he serves on the Board of Trustees of the International Rice Research Institute and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Other awards include: an honorary doctorate from Purdue University; Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America; the Purdue University Agriculture Distinguished Alumni Award; the DeKalb Genetics Crop Science Distinguished Career Award and the Crop Science Society of America Research Award. Dr. Phillips served as Chief Scientist of the USDA (1996-1998) in charge of the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program and chaired the Interagency Working Group that wrote the plan for the National Science Foundation Plant Genome Research Initiative. He served as President of the Crop Science Society of America in 2000 and Chair of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents in 2006.

Dr. Sanjay Rajaram – Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram is the owner and director of research and development for Resource Seed Mexicana (RSM), a small company engaged in the development and promotion of wheat varieties in Mexico, India, Egypt and Australia. Prior to establishing RSM in Mexico, Dr. Rajaram directed the Biodiversity and Integrated Gene Management Program (BIGM) of ICARDA, based in Aleppo, Syria (2005-2008). Dr. Rajaram spent most of his career at CIMMYT as the Director of the Global Wheat Program from 1996–2002 and as lead of the Bread Wheat Breeding Team from 1973-1995. While at CIMMYT, Dr. Rajaram trained more than 400 international scientists and authored or co-authored more than 400 scientific publications. He has received more than 80 awards nationally and internationally. He is a Fellow of American Society of Agronomy, Fellow of Crop Science Society of America and recipient of the Rank Prize Award, Friendship Award and Padma Shree.

Prof. Huqu Zhai – Professor Huqu Zhai has been President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) since 2001 where he is responsible for the development of strategic objectives for CAAS. Prior to this appointment, he served as President of the Nanjing Agricultural University. While serving in that role, Dr. Zhai established the first national key laboratory in crop breeding. His major research areas include: quantitative genetics and crop breeding research, rice hybrid sterilized gene location and genetics, capacity building for crop breeding programs, and science innovation work.

Dr. Mike Gale – Dr. Gale passed away on July 18, 2009. The judging panel was honored to have worked with a man so dedicated to the future of agriculture. We cherish his memory and recognize his intellect, humor and outstanding contributions to cereal genetics and plant breeding.

Dr. Mike Gale was a John Innes Foundation Emeritus Fellow, a Professorial Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, and a Member CGIAR Science Council. From 1968 through 2003 he worked as a plant geneticist at the John Innes Centre in Norwich and its predecessor, the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge. Dr. Gale is a recipient of the Royal Agricultural Society of England Research Medal (1994), the Rank Prize for Nutrition (1997) and Royal Society Darwin Medal (1998). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Dr. Gale authored more than 300 publications, mainly on wheat and comparative cereal genetics.