Ismahane Elouafi

Ismahane Elouafi is the Executive Managing Director of CGIAR. A visionary leader and strategic thinker, she is highly adept as a transformational ground breaker, delivering worldwide stakeholder engagement in the environmental research sector with not-for-profit research organizations and government agencies.

She previously held the position of Chief Scientist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Prior to that, she was the Director General at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) based in the United Arab Emirates.

Dr. Elouafi has held several senior scientific and leadership positions, including: Senior Adviser to the Assistant Deputy Minister, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Branch in Ottawa (AAFC), Canada (2006–2007); the National Manager of Plant Research Section (2007–2010); and Director of Research Management and Partnerships Division at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) (2010–2012).

She has worked as a scientist with several international research organizations and has been a member of various strategy expert panels and advisory groups, including the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA), and HarvestPlus. She has been a member of several governance boards, including: the boards of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in the United States; the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) in the United Kingdom; and the Professional Development Institute in Canada.

She was also a member of the Scientific Group for the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and of the CGIAR System Board. TIME magazine named Dr. Elouafi to their 100 Most Influential People list of 2025.