Meet the team

The Enterprise Breeding System, or simply EBS, a digital product hosted and provided by Breeding & Research Services (BRS), has been developed by a distributed team combining talents from several CG Centers and partners.
Digital Solutions (DS), a BRS organization, is responsible for the maintenance and continuous evolution of EBS, thanks to the co-participation of our current and future users, who contribute in the definition of the requirements, development,  and adoption of this revolutionary digital solution for breeding data management, ensuring that the needs of breeders and other BRS stakeholders are met – or exceeded!

Breeding & Research Services Leadership

The BRS Leadership Team is driven by the mission of providing CGIAR-NARES networks with first-class breeding services, practices, and technologies. To do that, we seamlessly integrate our services and teams into a business-model framework, and within breeding programs. To know more about BRS, please visit our CGIAR page.

Sharifah Syed Alwee

Sharifah Syed Alwee

Breeding & Research Services Senior Director


Gustavo Teixeira

BRS Global Shared Services Lead


Bert De Boeck

BRS Breeding Analytics Coordinator


Andre Moretto Embersics

Lead, BRS Digital Solutions


Amer Najm

BRS Business Process Management Coordinator


Digital Solutions Leadership Team

With the purpose of delivering “[…] digital solutions that enhance efficiency in research data management, knowledge sharing, and decision-making by the CGIAR community“, the BRS Digital Solutions Team is serious about making CGIAR and their partners’ success its own.

To meet our purpose, the DS Leadership Team ensures that the excellence achieved by our team with our flagship digital product, EBS, is scaled up across the CGIAR Centers and their NARES partners through three main pillars:

  1. Fast response to maintain existing operations.
  2. Expansion of the reach of the value delivered.
  3. Transformation of the business environment.

Andre Moretto Embersics

Lead, BRS Digital Solutions


James Clevenger

Lead, Solutions Engineering & Innovation


Marko Karkkainen

Lead, Solutions Operations


Digital Solutions Extended Leadership

The DS Extended Leadership Team – or simply DS XTL – is formed by DS’s team leaders who are key in maintaining the connection between the Digital Solutions strategy and its execution.

Ernesto Briones Pereyra

Ernesto Briones Peyreyra

Core System and Service Management IT Team Lead


Jack Lagare

Internal Services Team Lead


Jahzeel Ramos

IT lead


Kate Dreher

Implementation coordinator


May Sallan

Implementation Coordinator


Ruth Carpio

IT project manager


Simon Imoro

Implementation Coordinator


Digital Solutions Technical Team

Our great team brings in many years of expertise and several success cases of delivering value through an international, multi-cultural organization – and are very fun to work with, too!

Albert Crisostomo

Software engineer


Argem Flores

Breeding Analytics Lead Specialist


Doris Pagtananan

Software project manager


Erica Banasihan

Software engineer


Eugenia Tenorio

Software engineer


Franjel Consolacion

DevOps engineer


Jaymar Bantay

Software engineer


Jorge Alberto Rojas

Software engineer


Jose Miguel Castillo

Software engineer


Karen de la Rosa

Software engineer


Larise Gallardo

Software engineer


Lois Go

Software tester


Luis Alberto Puebla

Software engineer


Maria Relliza Pasang

Software engineer


Newman Edmundo Montes

Software engineer


Philip Sinohin

Software tester


Renee Lat

Software engineer


Rosemary Shrestha

Requirements Analyst


Our partners across the CG Centers

We only exist thanks to the support that we receive through the strong, long-lasting partnerships that with establish with the CGIAR Centers!

Eduardo Covarrubias

Eduardo Covarrubias

Senior Scientist, Breeding Analytics


Hans Bhardwaj

Deputy Director for Research


John Derera

Senior Director, ABI/Plant Breeding and Pre-Breeding


Kevin Pixley

Program Director, Dryland Crops Program and Interim Program Director, Global Wheat Program


Khuloud Odeh

Global Director, Digital & Data


Michael Baum

Michael Baum

Research Team Leader - Breeding and Scaling Improved Varieties


Prasanna Boddupalli

Prasanna Boddupalli

Program Director, Global Maize Program


Sankalp Bhosale

Deputy Head - Rice Breeding Innovation


Sarah Hearne

Director ad interim, Global Research Program


DS contributors

As we grow, we cross paths with many great people who are always willing to contribute with our team, share our vision, and become part of our successes.

Alaine Gulles

Software engineer


Aubin Amagnide

Data Management Coordinator


Bunmi Bossey

Bunmi Bossey


Carolina Saint Pierre

Business Change Manager, Wheat


Cesar Petroli

Requirements analyst


Damien Platten

Business Change Manager, Native Trait Development


Diego Castanon

Diego Castañón

IT project manager


Ibnou Dieng

Business Change Manager, Analytics


Khaled Al-Sham’aa

Data Management Coordinator


Leo Herrera

Business Change Manager, Wheat


Ma. Concepcion Lotho

Requirements Analyst


Parthiban Prakashj

Parthiban Prakash

Business Change Manager, Core Breeding


Silvestro Meseka

Business Change Manager, Maize


Thanda Dhliwayo

Global maize program representative, Business change manager


Victor Ulat

Software project manager


Wende Mengesha

Business Change Manager, Maize


Wuletaw Tadesse

Business Change Manager, Wheat


Yoseph-Beyene

Yoseph Beyene

Business Change Manager, Maize


Past contributors

The following people have contributed to the development of EBS.

Special mention: Tom Hagen

The original project manager of EBS, Tom Hagen, was responsible for setting the vision and scope of EBS, laying the foundation of the data architecture, and bringing together the community required to make the project a reality.

Abduljelil Olalekan

Alain Gulles

Albert Crisostomo

Alex Cañeda

Angel Manica Villanueva Raquel

Argem Flores

Cesar Petroli

Danny Feng

Diego Castañón

Dinia Grace Gepte

Doris Pagtananan

Elizabeth Jones

Erica Banasihan

Erika Cisneros

Ernesto Briones

Eugenia Tenorio

Evan Kelly-Johnston

Fernando Toledo

Franjel Consolacion

Gene Romuga

Gerardo Copado

Jack Lagare

Jahzeel Ramos

James Clevenger

Jaymar Bantay

Jorge Alberto Rojas

Jose Francisco Vergara

Jose Miguel Castillo

Joshua Lamos-Sweeney

Juan Suarez Sosa

Karen Delarosa

Kate Dreher

Kenichii Ana

Kevin Palis

Krizzel Llantada

Larise Gallardo

Lois Go

Luis Alberto Puebla

Luis Ricardo León Treviño

Ma. Concepcion Lotho

Maria Relliza Pasang

Marko Karkkainen

May Sallan

Mijail Javier

Newman Edmundo Montes

Nikki Carumba

Oliver Xi

Pedro Medeiros Barbosa

Philip Sinohin

Randel Bautista

Renee Lat

Reuben Durham

Ricardo Benitez

Rick Spence

Rose Morantte

Rosemary Shrestha

Roy Petrie

Ruth Carpio

Salvador Ortega

Simon Imoro

Star Yanxin Gao

Taylor Poltich

Viana Calaminos

Victor Ulat

Vishnu Govindaraj

Yaw Nti-Addae

Young Wha Lee