Joan Boer

Joan Boer is a member of the Board of Trustees at East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation. An anthropologist by profession, he started his career as a development worker in Kenya and Rwanda. Joan joined the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1979. Posts in the Ministry included Head of the Food and Agriculture Department, Director of Special Programs, Deputy Director-General for International Cooperation, and Auditor/Inspector. As an Ambassador, he represented the Netherlands at OECD and IEA in Paris and, later on, while based in Bangkok, served as Ambassador to Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. Joan has also carried out various other assignments, such as President of the Club du Sahel and West Africa, Co-Chair of Management for Development Results at OECD/DAC, and Chair of the External Relations Committee of OECD.