Julie Howard

Julie Howard is an independent consultant on international development issues with a focus on agricultural development, youth employment, and sub-Saharan Africa. She serves as senior adviser for several organizations working on international development and food security and is a member of the Board of Directors of the World Vegetable Center. From 2015 to 2018, she was senior adviser to the associate provost and dean for international studies and programs at Michigan State University, where she provided leadership in the area of economic and skills development for youth in the transforming agrifoods systems of sub-Saharan Africa. From 2011 to 2014, Dr. Howard served as the first chief scientist in the Bureau for Food Security at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and as senior adviser to the USAID administrator on agricultural research, extension, and education. At USAID, Dr. Howard directed the research, policy, and human and institutional capacity development programs of Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative. Previously, she was Feed the Future’s deputy coordinator for development, with responsibility for initiative-wide strategy and policy development, budget management, monitoring and evaluation, interagency coordination, and enhancing donor and nongovernmental organization engagement. Before joining USAID, Dr. Howard served from 2003 to 2011 as chief executive officer for the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, a Washington, D.C.-based nongovernmental research and advocacy organization. From 1994 to 2011, she was an adjunct and visiting assistant professor of international development at Michigan State University. Dr. Howard holds a B.A. from the George Washington University and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Michigan State University. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic.