Professor Wendy Umberger

Wendy Umberger has transitioned from her role as Executive Director of the Centre for Global Food and Resources at the University of Adelaide to become CEO of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in August 2023. Her extensive career spans over two decades in sustainable agriculture and food systems research. Growing up on a family beef cattle farm in South Dakota shaped her lifelong passion for agribusiness. She holds a B.S. in Animal Science and M.S. in Economics from South Dakota State University, and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research has focused on consumer behavior, food economics, and value chain development across the Indo-Pacific region, with projects spanning Australia, North America, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and South Africa. She served as President of Australia's Policy Advisory Council for International Agricultural Research and Development from 2020 to 2023 and was a Board Trustee of the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics. Her current role as ACIAR CEO involves managing a $111 million budget and developing innovative partnerships to address global food security challenges. She maintains positions as Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Distinguished Fellow of the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, and Honorary Fellow of Food Standards Australia New Zealand.