Teunis van Rheenen is the Director of Business Development and External Relations in the Director General’s Office, based in Washington, DC. Dr. Van Rheenen has over 19 years of experience working in IFPRI developing and strengthening strategic partnerships, raising and diversifying funds, and enhancing business development strategies. In this role, he leads engagement with key partners and networks, pursues innovative fundraising activities, and provides strategic support across IFPRI’s offices, divisions, programs, and senior management team. In addition to ensuring that IFPRI’s partnerships and fundraising efforts are well-coordinated, Dr. van Rheenen has also been active in global events and projects that address food and nutrition security challenges and explore food systems transformation in developing countries, particularly in Asia and Africa. From 2022 to early 2025 he took on the responsibility of Senior Director, Science Groups, Innovative Finance and Resource Mobilization in the CGIAR.
Before joining IFPRI, Dr. van Rheenen was a Senior Economist at the Agricultural Economics Research Institute in The Hague, The Netherlands, focusing on issues related to nature and the economy. In this capacity, he provided leadership to numerous national and international projects, and successfully participated in many fundraising efforts. Prior to this, at the University of Goettingen, Dr. van Rheenen led a project on natural resource management issues in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. He has extensive knowledge of Africa and worked for four years as the Scientific Coordinator of the Antenne Sahelienne Program in Burkina Faso. For his PhD, which he obtained from the Wageningen Agricultural University, Dr. van Rheenen studied farm-level optimal resource allocation in East Java, Indonesia.
