Since 2008, John Beer has been the director of CATIE’s (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) Research and Development Division. He had previously served in various positions at CATIE: deputy director general, director of the Department of Agriculture and Agroforestry, head of the Area of Watershed Management and Agroforestry, scientist and leader in different regional agroforestry projects, and faculty member of CATIE’s Graduate School. He has worked in collaboration with many international partners, including activities together CGIAR (in particular, with ICRAF and CIAT), GTZ, CIRAD, the World Bank and Universities (including U. Laval), always with a focus on using applied research to contribute to resolving production and environmental limitations in rural areas, particularly of small and medium farms and the corresponding organizations that serve them. He is president of the scientific collaboration platform “Agroforestry Systems with Perennial Crops".