About
Devon is a strategic communicator and program leader with a proven skill set in strategic management and communications, combined with a technical background in agroecology and a lifelong commitment to ecological sustainability and social equity. He has dedicated his career to tackling development challenges, ensuring that diverse audiences—from policymakers to researchers, funders, and local communities—understand the critical importance that environmental sustainability, social equity, and agriculture-based security play in ensuring a peaceful and prosperous future.
Currently, as Managing Director for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement (ILCI), Devon leads complex, multi-institutional initiatives focused on advancing crop improvement efforts in target regions around the world. He has extensive experience in strategic communication, stakeholder engagement, and process management, working with small and large teams to strengthen collaboration, streamline operations, and enhance program impact.
Devon has worked extensively in West Africa and other international contexts, applying his expertise in agroecology and rural development to real-world challenges. As a Project Manager for two gender-focused initiatives—the Gender-responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT) project and the Advancing Women in Agriculture through Research and Education (AWARE) initiative—he played a key role in strategic visioning, partner coordination, and process optimization. Prior to that, he led programmatic aspects, communications, field training, and donor reporting for the Improving and Scaling up the System of Rice Intensification in West Africa (SRI-WAAP) project, including developing a mobile data collection and GIS-based monitoring systems to support climate-resilient rice farming.
Devon’s career is rooted in a broad commitment to social and ecological justice. Before joining Cornell, he served in the Peace Corps in Niger, spearheading development of a 60-village regional farming cooperative, and Benin, where he led new program development, training initiatives, and seed system development for Songhaï Center, a UN-designated Center of Excellence for agricultural and economic development in Africa. His works also includes farming and environmental advocacy in the U.S., and he has been deeply involved in local food planning efforts in Ithaca, NY, including as a member of the Tompkins County Food Policy Council and a former board member for the Ithaca Community Gardens.
Devon holds a Master’s in International Agriculture and Rural Development from Cornell and is currently pursuing a Master’s in City and Regional Planning, focusing on municipal climate change mitigation. He lives in Ithaca with his wife and small child and enjoys biking, hiking, gardening, and caring for fruit trees.
