Alexandra DE ATHAYDE
Chair of the FAO LEAP Steering Committee 2025-2026
Executive Director, International Feed Industry Federation
Cluster: Private sector

Thanawat TIENSIN
Co-Chair of the FAO LEAP Steering Committee
Assistant Director-General, Director, Animal Production and Health Division and Chief Veterinarian at FAO

Sophie BERTRAND
Co-Chair
Sophie leads European communication programmes on sustainability for the European Milk Forum and is Director of Communication and Environment for the French Dairy Interbranch Organization. For over 20 years, she has led and participated in various scientific and technical projects to improve the environmental performance of the dairy industry, including the French Livestock Institute (9 years) and the French Dairy Interbranch Organization (10 years). Sophie has chaired the International Dairy Federation’s Standing Committee on Environment and led technical groups to deliver sector-specific guidelines. She has also served as a member of several FAO LEAP TAGs. She holds a Master of Science in Agriculture.

Raimon RIPOLL-BOSCH
Co-Chair
Raimon is an Associate Professor of the Wageningen University & Research’s Animal Production Systems Group. He has been involved in several research projects and initiatives at the international, regional and national levels and is interested in understanding the role of livestock in developing a sustainable future. Raimon uses a systems approach to explore the complex interactions between livestock farming, climate change, biodiversity, ecosystem services and the economy. Raimon holds a PhD in sustainability assessment of livestock farming systems.

Barbara AMON
Co-Chair
Barbara is an Associate Professor in Environmental and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Zielona Góra, Poland, and a Senior Research Scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy of Potsdam, Germany, where she coordinates the research programme “Precision farming in crop and livestock production”. Barbara also participates in many panels dealing with sustainable agriculture, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability and the FAO LEAP Partnership. She is also Co-Chair of the Agriculture and Nature Panel under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections and the Expert Panel on Mitigation of Agricultural Nitrogen under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen.

Philippe BECQUET
Co-Chair
Philippe is an animal nutritionist at the Institut National Agronomique in Paris, France. He has spent his last 40 years in the animal nutrition and feed environment holding various positions in different companies, ranging from feed production and marketing to marketing and regulatory support for feed additives. In recent years, Philippe has built his own business and now supports the International Feed Industry Federation as a technical expert. During the last few years, he has contributed to activities involving the sustainability of livestock production, including the development of the Product Environmental Footprint of compound feed for livestock in the European Union, the FAO LEAP guidelines on feed additives and the FAO LEAP report on methane.

Tim MCALLISTER
Co-Chair
Tim McAllister is a Principal Research Scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, Alberta, where he leads a diverse research team that has published over 900 scientific papers studying strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, improve water use efficiency, curtail antimicrobial resistance, improve food safety and enhance biodiversity. His recent interests include studying the role of livestock in provision of ecosystem services within a circular bioeconomy. He is the past Chair of the FAO LEAP Steering Committee and currently co-hosts the popular “Cows on the Planet” podcast with Kim Stanford.

Alexandre BERNDT
Co-Chair

Alexandre is a biologist and agronomist from the University of São Paulo, holding a Master’s degree in Animal Production and a PhD in Agroecosystem Ecology. His work focuses on low-carbon livestock production systems, with particular emphasis on methane emissions and mitigation. He contributes to Brazil’s national communications to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and serves as a reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. Dr Berndt previously co-led the FAO LEAP Technical Advisory Group on Large Ruminants Guidelines and contributed to the LEAP report on methane emissions in livestock and rice systems. He also represents EMBRAPA in FAO’s Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL) and is a former President of the Brazilian Society of Animal Science.

Alexander N. HRISTOV
Co-Chair

Alexander is a Distinguished Professor of Dairy Nutrition in the Department of Animal Science at The Pennsylvania State University. He holds a PhD in Animal Nutrition and has held research and academic positions in the United States and Canada, including at the United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) Dairy Forage Research Center, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and the University of Idaho. His research focuses on protein and amino acid nutrition of dairy cattle and on mitigating nutrient losses and gaseous emissions from dairy operations. Dr Hristov has an extensive publication record and has contributed to several FAO projects, including FAO LEAP guidelines on nutrient flows and FAO publications addressing greenhouse gas mitigation in livestock production.

Andrea PICKERING
Co-Chair

Andrea leads New Zealand’s agricultural Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) capability-building programme and holds a PhD in Plant Physiology, with a research background in soil science and climate impacts on plant production. She previously served as Lead New Zealand Agricultural Inventory Compiler, where she played a key role in developing quality assurance processes and documenting the Tier 3 inventory methodology. Dr Pickering has contributed to the development of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme and to multiple international research initiatives, including the Global Research Alliance, European Research Area Network (ERA-GAS), and Horizon 2020. She is Co-Chair of the Global Research Alliance Inventory and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Network, a member of the IPCC Emission Factor Database Editorial Board, and a UNFCCC expert reviewer.

Claudia ARNDT
Co-Chair

Claudia is a Senior Scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute and Team Leader of the Mazingira Centre. Her work centres on livestock greenhouse gas emissions, mitigation, and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), particularly in African production systems. Through the Mazingira Centre, she leads research on enteric methane, manure management, and biogas emissions, generating empirical evidence that supports country-level inventory improvement and mitigation planning. Dr Arndt has contributed to FAO- and LEAP-aligned knowledge products and capacity-building activities, including serving as a reviewer for global emissions assessments and as an author for FAO publications on methane emissions in livestock and rice systems.