Dr. Lee Ann Jackson is Head of Programmes at the Forum on Trade, Environment, and
the SDGs (TESS), where she oversees the design and delivery of TESS programmes, high-level policy dialogues, and research.

Prior to joining TESS, Lee Ann was Head of the Agro-Food Trade and Markets Division in the Trade and Agriculture Directorate at the OECD. In this role, she led a team of economists and statisticians responsible for developing and communicating evidence-based policy advice to governments. She oversaw flagship outputs, including the annual OECD–FAO Agricultural Outlook and and multiple research outputs addressing evidence gaps in food systems. At the 2022 OECD Agriculture Ministerial Meeting, Lee Ann led the negotiation process for the Ministerial Declaration “Transformative Solutions for Sustainable Agriculture,” helping to secure consensus among member countries.

Before her tenure at the OECD, Lee Ann spent 16 years at the World Trade Organization (WTO), where served as Counsellor in the Agriculture and Commodities Division and as Secretary to the Committee on Agriculture. In these roles, she advised WTO Members on agricultural trade policy and multilateral negotiations, coordinated the organization and delivery of multilateral meetings on agriculture, and represented the WTO in key international trade policy fora.

An accomplished academic, Lee Ann has held research and academic positions with the World Trade Institute, the University of Barcelona, the University of Adelaide, and IFPRI. She has served on a number of advisory groups and boards including the Malabo Montpellier Panel and the high-level Advisory Board for IFAD’s 2025 Rural Development Report. Lee Ann is a certified mediator and executive coach. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota, joint Master’s degrees in Public and Private Management and Environmental Studies from Yale University and an undergraduate degree in Biology from Princeton University.

Selected Publications

• Jackson, L., Maggi, F., Piermartini, R., & Rubínová, S. (2022). Monitoring agriculture policy at the WTO: Insights from a new quantitative database. Journal of International Economic Law, 25.
• Deconinck, K., Giner, C., Jackson, L. & Toyama, L. (2022). Making better policies for food systems will require reducing evidence gaps. Global Food Security, 33.
• Deconinck, K. Avery, E., & Jackson, L. (2020). Food supply chains and Covid‐19: Impacts and policy lessons. EuroChoices, 19: 34-39.
• Acharya, R., Al-Battashi, S., Boghossian, A., Ghei, N., Herrera, T., Jackson, L., Kask, U., Locatelli, C., Marceau, G., Motoc, I., Müller, A., Neufeld, N., Padilla, S., Pardo de Leon, J., Perantakou, S., Sporysheva, N., & Wolff, C. (2019). Trade and women—Opportunities for women in the framework of the World Trade Organization. Journal of International Economic Law, 22: 323-354.
• Jackson, L. & Vitikala, H. (2016). Cross- cutting issues in regional trade agreements: Sanitary and phytosanitary measures. Chapter in Regional trade agreements and the multilateral trading system (WTO).
• Santana, R. & Jackson, L. (2012). Identifying non-tariff barriers: Evolution of multilateral instruments and evidence from the disputes (1948-2011). World Trade Review, 11.
• Jackson, L. & Jansen, M. (2010). Risk assessment in the international food safety policy arena - Can the multilateral institutions encourage unbiased outcomes? Food Policy, 35: 538-547.
• Jackson, L. (2009). Agriculture and trade solutions for rural poverty. Chapter in Trade and poverty reduction in the Asia-Pacific region: Case studies and lessons from low-income communities, 195-337 (WTO).
• Anderson, K. & Jackson, L. (2006). Transgenic crops, EU precaution, and developing countries. International Journal of Technology and Globalization, 2: 65-80. 

• Jackson, L. (2005). Agricultural biotechnology and the privatization of genetic information. The Journal of World Intellectual Property, 3: 825 - 848. 

   

  Books

• Trade and poverty reduction in the Asia-Pacific region. (Editor, Cambridge University Press, 2009)