The LONY Director, Ms Florence Chenoweth, functions as the Director-General's Representative at the UN in New York. The Director is responsible for the analyses and reporting of events and issues and for the exposition and clarification of FAO's policies and programs of special interest. The Director represents the Organization at both official and unofficial meetings involving government agencies, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, academic institution, the media and other international agencies and institutions. In these tasks, the Director is supported by a Liaison and Executive Officer and a Liaison Officer. The LONY staff also includes five administrative staff.

Ms Chenoweth is a national of Liberia and holds a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the University of Liberia, an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics and a Ph.D. in Land Resources from the University of Wisconsin, USA. Her career began with prominent positions in the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance in Liberia, and culminated in her serving as Minister for Agriculture of Liberia from 1977 to 1979.

Ms Chenoweth's experience includes assignments with the World Bank, from 1983 to 1986, where she served as Technical Adviser in Lusaka and as a consultant in Washington, D.C. to prepare a status report on National Agricultural Research Stations in Africa.

Ms Chenoweth has also been an academic, commencing in 1979 as Assistant Professor, Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Liberia, and continuing with the University of Wisconsin, as Team Leader in Zambia implementing a six-year agricultural planning, training, policy and research programme from 1986 to 1993. From 1993, Ms Chenoweth was Senior Scientist/Programme Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin, USA.

Ms Chenoweth joined FAO in 1995 as the FAO Representative in Banjul, The Gambia, where she served until January 1998 when she was appointed FAO Representative in Pretoria, South Africa.

Ms Florence Chenoweth
Director, LONY
Tel. (212) 963 6036
Fax: (212) 963-5425
Florence.Chenoweth@fao.org