Brigitte Laliberte

Brigitte Laliberté the Acting Director of the Cacao of Excellence Programme at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. She has over 30 years of experience in agro-biodiversity and crop genetic resources. Since 2010 she focuses her work on cacao and its genetic diversity, conservation and use in development of improved planting materials of quality and adapted to changing climate, tolerant to pest and diseases, low uptake of contaminants. She also coordinates the development of the International Standards for the Assessment of Cocoa Quality and Flavour (ISCQF).
She coordinates the Global Network for Cacao Genetic Resources (CacaoNet) implementing the Global Strategy for the Conservation and Use of Cacao Genetic Resources. Between 2003 and 2007 she led the development of over 20 regional and global crop strategies guiding the allocations of funds from the Global Crop Diversity Trust. And between 2007-2010 she coordinated the World Bank project supporting the 11 genebanks of the CGIAR.
Brigitte holds a BSc in agricultural sciences from McGill University, Canada and an MSc in crop genetic resources conservation and use from Birmingham University, UK.
She is an experienced facilitator focusing on complex multi-stakeholder collaboration. Brigitte is Canadian based in Rome, Italy. Her native language is French and she is fluent in English and Italian and has a good understanding of Spanish.