The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is welcoming five new members to its Board of Governors and an independent member to its Audit, Finance and Risk Committee. Each of the new members will play a key role in guiding IWMI’s growth and development as it takes forward the new IWMI Strategy 2024-2030.
We welcome:
Richard Golding. Golding joins the Board as an appointee of the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee of the CGIAR Integrated Partnership Board. He is an independent management consultant providing governance and risk management advisory services to multilateral and other international organizations. In addition to his membership of the CGIAR Audit, Finance and Risk Committee of the Integrated Partnership Board, he also serves on the Board of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture and is the Chair of its Audit, Finance and Risk Committee, as well as a member of its Program and Governance Committees. He previously served on the Board of the International Livestock Research Institute from 2015 to 2022 and was the Chair of its Finance Committee as well as a member of its Program Committee and Audit and Risk Committee.
Mauricio Lopes. Lopes joins the Board as an appointee of the CGIAR Integrated Partnership Board. He is a senior researcher at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), Brazil, and a leading expert in agricultural research and innovation. With extensive expertise in the integration of science, policy, and international cooperation, Lopes has significantly contributed to advancing tropical agriculture. His current work focuses on developing sustainability metrics, assessing the impact of agricultural technologies, and future studies to enhance the integration of agriculture into the bioeconomy. He also serves as an advisor to multiple public and private organizations, contributing to the formulation of policies and strategies that support sustainable food systems, agriculture, and energy transitions. Lopes previously served as President of Embrapa from 2012 to 2018, leading the organization through a period of transformative growth. During his tenure, he introduced innovative management frameworks, strengthened public-private partnerships, and launched a strategic intelligence platform to align Embrapa’s research priorities with global sustainability goals.
David Molden. Molden is no stranger to IWMI, having served as its Deputy Director General, Acting Director General, and other roles from 1995 to 2011. He was Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) from 2011 to 2020. Presently a consultant on agriculture water management to the World Bank, Molden’s expertise spans water and natural resources management, and he excels in bringing together people from different backgrounds to develop solutions to real-world challenges faced by people and governments on the frontline of sustainable development. At IWMI, Molden worked on concepts and tools for addressing agricultural water management including water scarcity, water accounting, irrigation performance assessment, and water productivity. He spearheaded the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, which culminated in the seminal report Water for Food, Water for Life (2007). IWMI received the International Water Resources Association’s Crystal Drop Award in 2011 and the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize recognizing Molden’s work on the Comprehensive Assessment. Molden was honored with the CGIAR Science Award for Outstanding Scientist in 2009.
Henk Ovink. Ovink is the Executive Director and founding Commissioner for the Global Commission on the Economics of Water and was the first ever global water ambassador appointed in 2015 by the Dutch Cabinet as Special Envoy for International Water Affairs. He co-led the second UN Water Conference in 2023. Ovink served on President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force where he led the long-term innovation, resilience, and rebuilding efforts and developed and led the groundbreaking Rebuild by Design competition. Before joining the Task Force, Ovink was both Acting Director General of Spatial Planning and Water Affairs and Director – National Spatial Planning for the Netherlands, after multiple roles in the private sector and academia. He holds an honorary doctorate from Delft University. In 2023, Ovink was the 10th recipient of the Foreign Affairs Decoration of Honor in Gold for his unique and outstanding water diplomacy work and global leadership.
Enrica Porcari. Porcari joins the Board as an appointee of the CGIAR Integrated Partnership Board. She is the Head of the Information Technology Department at CERN, in Switzerland. She has over 30 years of leadership and management experience in technology, knowledge management, and communication within the development sector, providing strategic guidance to several international organizations. She is a proven innovator and creative thinker. Porcari was previously Chief Information Officer and Director of the Technology Division at the World Food Programme (WFP), where she oversaw the organization’s digital technology strategy and systems across its global operations. Concurrently, she chaired the UN Emergency Telecommunications Cluster. Porcari also spent 15 years at CGIAR, holding various leadership roles including Director of Shared Services, Acting Director of Communications, and Chief Information Officer.
Imtiaz Khan. Khan has been appointed as an independent member of the IWMI Audit, Finance and Risk Committee. Khan currently chairs the Asset Management Committee of Arise BV and also the Board Audit Committee of Liberty Life Assurance, a long-term insurance provider in Kenya. He has over 30 years of private equity investment, corporate finance advisory, and audit experience in emerging and developed markets in Africa, Asia, Europe and the USA. Khan has served as an independent non-executive director on the boards of companies listed across stock exchanges in East Africa for over 15 years, including until the end of 2023, Standard Chartered Bank in Kenya, where he chaired the Board Audit Committee and the Board Credit Committee. He was previously an independent non-executive director on the board of East Africa’s largest listed investment company, Centum Investment Company, where he also chaired the Board Audit and Risk Committee and sat on its Investment Committee.
Leaving the Board is Dhesigen Naidoo. A Commissioner and Climate Adaptation Lead for the South African Presidential Climate Commission, Naidoo served on IWMI’s Board since January 2024. IWMI thanks him and deeply appreciates his service during the past year and wishes him the very best on his appointment to the CGIAR Integrated Partnership Board.
