The CGIAR is delighted to announce that Dr. William S. Niebur has agreed to serve as the new chair of the Private Sector Committee (PSC). As required by the CGIAR charter, Niebur was appointed by the CGIAR Chair, in consultation with the PSC and CGIAR members.

Niebur began his relationship with the PSC as member on January 1, 2003. He officially assumed his new role as chair of the committee during a leadership transition meeting held at the Secretariat in Washington DC on October 2, 2006. He will be replacing Usha Zehr, who joined as chair of the PSC on January 1, 2004. Namita Datta, Governance Advisor in the CGIAR Secretariat, will serve as Secretary to the PSC. Niebur is currently DuPont Vice President of Crop Genetics Research and Development. He is responsible for driving worldwide crop genetics research strategies to create new value for seed and agricultural value chain customers through advanced plant genetics.

Niebur began his career at DuPont subsidiary, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., in 1983 as a maize research station manager. In 1989, he was named European maize research director and relocated to France. He moved to Johnston in 1997 to serve as a maize research director. He was named a Pioneer vice president in 2002.

Niebur has extensive global experience in plant genetics and biotechnology. In his current role, he has been instrumental in integrating new and proprietary technologies like gene shuffling and marker assisted selection into DuPont plant genetics product development. Earlier in his career, Niebur made material contributions to the development of the best performing maize hybrids for North American and Europe.

Bill holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Iowa State University. He earned his doctorate in plant breeding and cytogenetics from the University of Minnesota.