Regional Directors

JIANMIN XIE

Region: China

Title: Director of CCCAP

Citizenship: Chinese

Location: Yanqing, Beijing, China

Profile Summary: Jianmin Xie is the Director of the CIP-China Center for Asia and the Pacific (CCCAP). His duties include leading the development and implementation of the CCCAP research and innovation strategy, in line with the CIP and One CGIAR strategies; overseeing CCCAP fundraising in accordance with its business plans, trends, and needs; leading CIP’s operations in China, and ensuring CCCAP and CIP staff deliver impactful research there.

A citizen of China, Mr. Xie has more than 30 years of experience in agriculture and rural development, planning and international cooperation. Before joining CIP, in October 2022, he worked as Counsel Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs’ Department of International Cooperation, in Beijing. Prior to that, Mr. Xie worked as Deputy Representative and Counsellor of the Permanent Representation of China to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, based in Rome. He holds a master’s and post graduate studies in Economics from the School of Economics, China Renmin University, in Beijing.

JOYCE MARU

Region: Africa

Title: Regional Director for Africa

Citizenship: Kenyan

Location: Nairobi

Profile Summary: Joyce provides leadership across Africa, Asia and Latin America, to expand the current portfolio through new initiatives engaging CIP scientists in all related disciplines, linkages with related CGIAR research programs, and key research and development partners globally.

Prior to her appointment, Joyce has served as a Senior Program Coordinator since 2018 at CIP leading design and implementation of CIP’s projects such as the FCDO funded Development and Delivery of Biofortified Crops at Scale (DDBIO), Technologies for African Agriculture Transformation (TAAT) and USAID Accelerated Delivery Initiative (ADI-I). She also works as a Work Package Lead for the CGIAR initiative on National Policies and Strategies (NPS) and is also contributing to the Resilient Cities Initiative and the Regional Integrated Initiative for Eastern and Southern Africa (Ukama Ustawi). Previously, she worked as a Capacity Development and Communication Specialist with CIP’s Building Nutritious Food Baskets (BNFB) project (2016-2018). Prior to joining CIP, Joyce worked at ILRI as a Capacity Development Specialist and as a Learning and Development Advisor at the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.

Joyce holds a PhD in Doctor of Business Administration (Leadership and Organizational Change), with a research interest in team leadership for collaborative partnerships in research. She also holds a Masters in business administration from Teesside University (UK), She also holds Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) from Huddersfield University (UK), a Bachelors degree in education, alongside other professional training in Leadership and Management, Facilitation and Presentation skills among others.