Dear friends,

I am happy to report that the CIFOR’s Board of Trustees recently appointed Frances Seymour to replace me as director general. She will be coming on board in late September. Frances currently directs the Institutions and Governance Program of the World Resources Institute. Before that she worked in various tropical regions with the World Wildlife Fund, the Ford Foundation, and USAID. Her initial training was in zoology and public policy. I first came to know her about seven years ago when she coordinated a major study on the World Bank’s experience with trying to press countries into reforming their forestry policies. During our interactions I was greatly impressed by her understanding of the issues, scientific rigor, and sense of how to use research as a tool to make better policies. I have no doubt she will be an excellent director general.

As for myself, on August 1st I will move to the Ford Foundation office in Mexico City to work on community forestry issues in Mexico and Central America. My email address there will be d.kaimowitz@fordfound.org I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank all of you that have supported CIFOR’s efforts over these last five years I have been director. That support has meant the world to me, and I am very grateful.

Many people have asked me about the future of POLEX. CIFOR remains fully committed to POLEX and it will definitely continue. I will continue to be personally involved for another six months or so and will then hand over to Frances. At some point soon we will start to send the messages out from a new mailing address. We will let you know when that happens.

Regards,

David Kaimowitz