Our Staff

The Crop Trust considers its staff its most important asset.

The Crop Trust is a small organization with a big mission. With around 30 people, the Crop Trust has staff with broad talents and exceptional drive to ensure the conservation of crop diversity, forever. Browse individual staff pages below or view our current vacancies. 

Filter by categories

  • Executive office

  • The science team

  • The external affairs team

  • The finance team

  • The corporate operations team

Executive office

Stefan Schmitz

Executive Director

The science team

Luigi Guarino

Director of Science

Charlotte Lusty

Head of Programs, Genebank Platform Coordinator

Benjamin Kilian

Senior Scientist Plant Genetic Resources

Matija Obreza

Information Systems Manager

Janny van Beem

Genebank Quality Management

Nelissa Jamora

Agricultural Economist

Nora Castañeda-Álvarez

Project Manager, Seeds for Resilience

 Beri_Bonglim

Beri Bonglim

Technical Specialist

Peter Giovannini

Project Coordinator, Global Crop Conservation Strategies

Faith Wambua-Lüdeling

Program Assistant

 Peter_Pozar

Peter Pozar

Administrative Assistant

The external affairs team

Hannes Dempewolf

Director of External Affairs & Senior Scientist

Hannah Bisset

Head of Communications

Rodrigo Barrios

Strategic Partnerships Manager, Food Forever Campaign Manager

Luis Salazar

Communications Manager

Isbandiyar Valiyev

Partnerships Assistant

Azzura Lalani

Outreach and Engagement Specialist

Laura Marshall

Communications Assistant

Bailey Cate

Partnerships Assistant

The finance team

Janet Muir

Director of Finance

Stefan Thyen

Contracts and Grants Manager

Dezreen Cameron-Stein

Finance and Investment Manager

Mary Ghira

Finance and Procurement Officer

 Eva_Hasikova

Eva Hasíková

Finance officer

 Maite_Rodriguez_Ruiz

Maite Rodríguez

Financial Accountant

Penny Thayer

Finance Officer

Alexander Kambili

Finance and Procurement Officer

The corporate operations team

Christoph Beck

Christoph Beck

Director of Human Resources and Corporate Operations

Dagny Poser

Travel and Meetings Officer

David Westphal

Corporate Operations Officer

Alireza Mohammadi

IT Manager

Linus Schulte

ICT Assistant