The Director Generals of IICA

Overview:
Main emphasis of management:
The First Expansion, Fitting into the Inter-American System

Ralph Herbert Allee, IICA’s second Director General, established the organization’s headquarters in Turrialba, Costa Rica. During his tenure from 1943 to 1960, Allee was instrumental in the formation of many key IICA programs. He devoted years to the progress of agricultural sciences in the Americas while always keeping faithful to Pan American ideals.

He established the graduate school at Turrialba and initiated the organization’s first agricultural development projects outside Costa Rica. His efforts were crucial in establishing IICA’s first regional offices in Uruguay, Cuba and Peru for the southern, northern and Andean zones. Before heading IICA, Allee directed the USDA Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations and was a member of the Inter-American Tropical Agricultural Committee, which selected the Turrialba field office’s location.

On February 22, 1960, Dr. Ralph H. Allee tendered his resignation as Director of the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Through resolution, Dr. Allee was designated as an Honorary Director of the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences.