Ganesan Balachander

Ganesan Balachander "received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Rutgers in 1995, under the direction of David Ehrenfeld. Dr. Balachander went on to a postdoctoral appointment as a Bullard Fellow at Harvard University. Having already earned an MBA in Finance from Carnegie-Mellon University and having served as a vice president at Citibank, he was well prepared to engage in practical conservation projects, beginning with a program working on tropical forests and coral reefs. These and other conservation projects have been based on the support and encouragement of small enterprises that provide rewards to participants. Dr. Balachander continued this work with the Nature Conservancy, developing green businesses, and then for the Mountain Institute, doing similar work in the Himalayas. In June 2003 Dr. Balachander was named Representative and Head of South Asia Programs for the Ford Foundation in New Delhi."

Overall responsibility for providing strategic direction and management of the BCN program.
 * Director, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (since August 2012)
 * Trustee, Bioversity International
 * Director on the recently constituted Consortium Board of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (March 2010 – to date)
 * Representative for South Asia, The Ford Foundation (June 2003-Dec 2008)
 * Director, Asia Programs, The Mountain Institute (September 2001-May 2003)
 * June 2000 – August 2001: Deputy Director and Chief Financial Officer, Compatible Ventures Group, The Nature Conservancy, Arlington VA.
 * June 1999-May 2000: Consultant to the Foundation for the Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) Bangalore, an Indian NGO involved in the conservation of medicinal plants in India. Evaluated the feasibility of setting up a community-based and owned enterprise to process medicinal plants.
 * March 1996-April 1999: Biodiversity Conservation Network (BCN), a USAID- funded program for the Asia/Pacific region, managed by a consortium of WWF, WRI and TNC
 * Regional Director, BCN July 1996- October 1997
 * 1993: Consultant to Appropriate Technology International
 * Doctoral degree in Ecology. Field research (April '89 - April '93) involved studying the interplay of ecology and economics in natural resource use in the Nilgiris biosphere reserve in South India.
 * 1986-1988: Citibank, New York, U.S.A. Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions, Northeast Division.