Dr. Yvonne Pinto is the Director General of the International Rice Research Institute and provides direction and management to meet the expectations of the Board, donors, investors, partners, stakeholders including farmers in rice-based systems across Asia and Africa. She led IRRI’s recent 2025-2030 strategy and guides innovation and scaled translation of IRRI’s sustainable efforts to solve some of the biggest global issues of climate change, nutrition, and environmental resilience. She champions breakthrough innovations in digital, and data across the CGIAR system and is the CGIAR Asia Pacific regional representative.

With 30 years of experience Dr. Pinto has held roles as Managing Director and Director of Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability in the private sector. Prior to that she spent 15 years in global philanthropic foundations where she managed intermediaries and set up institutions in the agriculture, finance and enterprise sectors. She supported Breeding Programs, Seed and Soil Health Systems Programs, Integrated Pest Management, Genetic conservation and Biodiversity, and women’s leadership and economic empowerment. She also established an impact investing fund and 2 NGOs in Kenya and Uganda and managed a relationship between a Foundation and its largest intermediary. Her early career was in Agriculture, and research in Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Virology.

She has worked with more than 250+ clients including donors, governments, private and non-government agencies in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. With combined scientific and economic experience and extensive networks she has provided unique perspectives and advantages to these clients. Her experience includes Agriculture Sector Transformation, Innovation Ecosystem Management, Commercialization of Innovations, ML&E, ESG, Capacity Building, International Development, and Policy Formulation and Evaluation.  She has analyzed digital innovations in Africa and Asia (26 countries) and assessed policies and frameworks for digital innovation and data security. She has advised within the start-up ecosystem, served on investment committees and been an assessor of health, life science and AgriTech enterprises and their growth.

Dr. Pinto is a strong advocate of good governance with successful board roles for over 25 years including Chair, Committee Chair, Board member and Secretary. Dr. Pinto has a BSc in Plant Sciences and Agriculture from Reading University, MSc in Biotechnology and PhD in Virology from Imperial College and General Management Executive Education from the Judge Business School at Cambridge University. She speaks widely on science and its relevance to health and agriculture.