Marcela Quintero is the associate director general, research strategy, and innovation at Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. She leads the implementation of the CGIAR agroecology initiative, a transdisciplinary global research initiative that responds to the needs of food system actors in seven countries while aligning with funders priorities. Marcela is an ecologist from the Universidad Javeriana of Colombia and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Florida.