New leaders at ARC

November 2016

SA GRAAN/GRAIN EDITORIAL TEAM and ELRI BURGER, ARC-Small Grain Institute, Bethlehem

Two new leaders were appointed at the ARC-Grain Crops Institute (ARC-CGI) and ARC-Small Grain Institute (ARC-SGI) during this year.

Dr Kingstone Mashingaidze

Dr Kingstone Mashingaidze was appointed as senior research manager at the ARC-CGI in Potchefstroom on 14 April.

He has a PhD in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Michigan State University, USA. His expertise includes crop breeding, transgenics, crop physiology, agricultural biotechnology, seed science and technology and public-private partnerships.

In 2004 he joined the ARC as a senior researcher in maize breeding, after he had been a senior lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe and Africa University for five and ten years, respectively. Before assuming his current position, he was a research team manager in Plant Breeding at the ARC-GCI and provided research leadership in breeding programmes for cowpeas, dry beans, groundnuts, maize and sorghum, as well as germplasm conservation.

He has extensive experience in maize breeding for stress tolerance and has been the principal investigator for the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) and Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA), which are international public-private partnership projects.

Born in Zimbabwe, he grew up on his parents’ small-scale commercial farm near Chegutu. Dr Mashingaidze is married to Sipiwe and they have two daughters, Rumbidzai and Rujeko and a son, Ruvimbo.

Dr Toi John Tsilo

Dr Toi Tsilo has been appointed as the senior research manager at the ARC-SGI since 7 September this year.

He was initially appointed as a senior researcher/biotechnologist at the ARC-SGI in January 2011. In 2013 he was promoted to research team manager for the Germplasm Development and Biotechnology Programme. Prior to his appointment at the ARC, Dr Tsilo was a post-doctoral scientist/research associate in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota from 2009 to 2011. He was also employed as a research assistant at the same university from 2004 to 2008, while studying. Before that, he worked for the Free State Department of Agriculture as an agricultural scientist responsible for farming information in the Free State Province from 2003 to 2004.

Dr Tsilo holds a PhD in Plant Breeding/Plant Molecular Genetics from the University of Minnesota, where he also obtained a MSc in Applied Plant Sciences. His undergraduate studies were at the University of the North (now University of Limpopo) where he obtained a BSc Agric degree, cum laude.

He serves on several editorial boards as a member and associate editor. He has international scientific standing with several research publications in top tier international journals. He is an adjunct professor and is affiliated with several universities in South Africa. He also is advisor to MSc, PhD and post-doctoral candidates.

His vision is to build on research capacity and position the ARC-SGI as a leader in Research and Development.

Dr Tsilo grew up in Qwaqwa in the Free State. He is married to Tsepiso, a research technician at the ARC-SGI and they have a son, Learnmore.

Publication: November 2016

Section: Relevant