Gordon MacNeil

Gordon MacNeil, "a Canadian citizen, is an international civil servant with over 35 years of employment in the international development sector. Starting as an overseas CUSO volunteer in the early 1970's (the Canadian equivalent of the Peace Corps) he gained experience in administration and financial management through employment in Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) where he had increasingly senior assignments culminating as Deputy/Acting Director of the Social Sciences Division. During the IDRC period (1975-1988), he was based both in Ottawa and for nearly 5 years in the West African regional office (Dakar, Senegal). In early 1988 Mr. MacNeil joined the CGIAR system as the first Director of Finance and Administration of the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA—now known as the Africa Rice Center). In late 1992 he moved to the World Bank as senior finance officer in the CGIAR Secretariat. Over the next 6 years he had responsibility for the major financial management initiatives that are coordinated in the Secretariat, including participation in reviews and task forces. He joined the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in mid-1998, as Treasurer and Director for Finance where, in addition to the Institute management responsibility, he conceptualized and then participated in the creation of the CGIAR Internal Audit Unit (IAU). In mid-2002, he returned briefly to the CG Secretariat and then moved to ISNAR in The Hague, with the assignment of helping to coordinate its legal closure and the program merger/integration with IFPRI. Following the ISNAR assignment he was engaged as the interim resource director of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi. His work since the ILRI assignment has been as an independent consultant and he is now the President of the XCG International Consulting Group. He has participated in six CGIAR Board Orientation Programs (2004-2007), responsible for the fiduciary oversight module. Mr. MacNeil has a BSc (Loyola College), a diploma in Development Studies (U. of Ottawa), and an MBA (University of Western Ontario)."


 * Chair, International Center for Tropical Agriculture