Tony Simons is the Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre. Tony has worked for 27 years on issues at the tropical agriculture/forestry interface in more than 40 developing countries. This has spanned the private sector (Shell Forestry), academia (University of Oxford), official development assistance (ODA/DFID) and research (CGIAR). He holds a B.Ag.Sci degree from Massey University, NZ as well as Masters and Doctoral degrees from Cambridge University, UK.
In 2009, he was made an Honorary Professor in Tropical Forestry at the University of Copenhagen. Tony is a Board member of Africa Centre Technology Studies, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, DANONE Livelihood Fund and DCM International Imaging. He is also the Leader of IUFRO Forest and Water Task Force. He has published over 100 research papers and has sat on several journal editorial boards. His interests span the seven major research themes of ICRAF encompassing: tree germplasm; agroforestry systems; tree product marketing and extension; land health; climate change; environmental services and policies; and tropical forest margins. He is passionate about the transformative and profitable change that the private sector can bring to development.
