Dr. Fawad Shah is the current President and CEO of Minnesota Crop Improvement Association (MCIA). Under his leadership, MCIA provides seed certification, seed testing, and organic certification services, identity preserved grain inspections for specialty crops, and foundation seed services. In addition, Dr. Shah serves as Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul where he developed curriculum for Seed Science, Technology and Society course and teaches this class during Fall Semester. He also works with researchers and NGOs to aid in international agricultural development. Dr. Shah’s career in agriculture spans nearly twenty five years of leadership work in the areas of seed quality, certification, regulatory, and senior management. Prior to joining MCIA, Dr. Shah served as the Director of USDA AMS Seed Regulatory and Testing Division and represented the United States of America as its Designated Authority and voting delegate to the OECD Seed Schemes. He chaired the OECD Seed Schemes 2014 annual meeting of 58 members countries in Zagreb, Croatia. Furthermore, he served as the country expert and a 3-member delegate to Senegal to evaluate her Seed Certification System. Based on the recommendations of this evaluation mission, Senegal was admitted to the Seed Schemes as its 59th member country. A native of Pakistan, Dr. Shah completed his B.S. and M.S. in Plant Breeding & Genetics, from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan and completed his Master of Science in Business Administration and Ph.D. in Seed Technology from Mississippi State University