Kerri Conway

Serve as Special Advisor to the Chancellor and Director, International Agriculture in the College of Agriculture. Focused on building activities across multidisciplinary areas of research to engage CSU and partners in international research collaborations and programmatic activities. Responsible for developing the North American Agricultural Advisory Network (NAAAN) with the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States in collaboration with the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS). This is the first tri-national agriculture advisory and extension network. This work includes private and public sector partnerships, working with industry, foundations and universities to conduct groundbreaking programmatic work across the three North American countries. Also responsible for building the team to create the Colorado GROW Youth Institute, focused on bringing Colorado high school students to hold leadership roles as hunger heroes in Colorado, and in partnership with the World Food Prize Global Youth Institute. Oversee programmatic development of new and innovative activities in the CSU College of Agriculture, with local, national and international partners.

Developed new program to align international agricultural research efforts with partner institutions in Africa to deliver solutions in science, technology and innovation. Formulated information sharing platforms and policy dialogues to deliver on emerging technologies, through partnering with both private and public sector groups. Secured 2.2 million dollars in the first 18 months for the development of a technology platform focused on specialized data, including geospatial and analytical tools for training and delivery systems. Developed the initial proposal and strategy to bring the CGIAR Big Data Agricultural Platform to IFPRI and an incubator with U.S. and African universities focused on digital agricultural technologies, training, knowledge sharing and learning through capacity development.

Organized and managed the collective work of the 15 CEOs for the largest public sector agricultural research consortium, including formulation of shared communication and decision-making tools, formulation of the archives and institutional memory of shared research and decisions taken, budget oversight, and supervision of employees across key strategic programs.