MIDAS Professional Staff are assigned to project sites in Thailand, Laos and other locations in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Full-time Professional Staff consist of people with expertise in:

• project management;
• agronomy;
• natural resources conservation and protected areas management;
• environmental planning and management;
• agricultural and financial economics;
• irrigation engineering;
• farm management; and,
• natural resource economics.

MIDAS also has a core group of Senior Professional Associates and technical specialists who have expertise in sustainable agricultural development, protected areas management, natural resources management, and agribusiness development throughout the ASEAN region.

MIDAS Professional Staff include:

Mr. Anthony M. Zola, an agricultural economist, is the co-founder of MIDAS Agronomics and serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the MIDAS Group of companies in Thailand and the United States. Mr. Zola has worked extensively as a natural resources planner and agricultural economist throughout South and Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. His specific areas of expertise are natural resources planning and project management. His career spans over 30 years in Asia and the Pacific. Mr. Zola has worked as an advisor to the governments of Thailand and Laos, on projects funded by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Mr. Zola is the Chairman of the MIDAS Board of Directors.
(View CV.)

Mr. Cherdchai Ongsiriwittaya is an agricultural economist who serves as the Executive Director of MIDAS Agronomics. He has worked extensively in the fields of irrigated agriculture, farm management, socio-economics, and agricultural extension in Thailand and Laos. He currently is responsible for project management, business administration, and private sector research and development programs. He serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the MIDAS Group of companies in Thailand.
(View CV.)

Mr. James J. Dalton is a public administration specialist, who represents MIDAS in Washington, D.C. on a full-time basis. His career in Asia spans more than five decades, through his associations with the Asia Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development. His areas of expertise cover a broad range, including public administration, governance and local development, decentralized local government strengthening, institutional capacity strengthening, organization and management of public institutions, development of public health institutions, institutional development of irrigation and rural development institutions, and development administration.

Mr. Dayut Rukmanee is the Office Manager of MIDAS Agronomics in Bangkok, Thailand. He is responsible for management and administrative backstopping of all MIDAS projects in Thailand, including business development and company representation. He specializes in Project Management activities.

Mr. Phanthavadone Bandasack is the Office Manager and Permanent Representative of MIDAS Agronomics in Vientiane, Lao PDR. He is responsible for management and administrative backstopping of all MIDAS projects in Laos, including business development and company representation. Mr. Phanthavadone is a certified health care worker, with extensive experience in providing medical and health care services in France and Laos, over a period of nearly twenty years. He is responsible for providing technical backstopping services for projects undertaken by MIDAS in the field of public health.

Mr. Viwat Hongpoo is the General Manager of the Khao Saming Farm Project, Trat Province, Eastern Thailand, a 200 hectare fruit tree plantation. His field of expertise is farm management and marketing of horticultural crops, including post-harvest handling, packing, and transport. He has an academic degree in agricultural economics and extensive hands-on experience in irrigated agriculture production, fruit and vegetable crop production agricultural commodity marketing, training and community development.

Mr. Petchai Sumangka is the General Manager of the Nongkhai Farm, Nongkhai Province, Northeast of Thailand. His field of expertise is farm management and marketing of horticultural crops, including post-harvest handling. He has an academic degree in agriculture and extensive hands-on experience in irrigated agriculture production, fruit and vegetable crop production agricultural commodity marketing. He has many experiences working with Thai and Lao public and private sectors.

Mr. Chanthalath Pongmala, is an Reaserch Assistant of MIDAS Agronomics in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

Mr. Wirat Sae-Kuai is an Research Associate.

Mr. Buntoon Srethasirote is an environmental scientist engaged by MIDAS in early 1995. He specializes in the fields of water quality management and analysis, coastal and marine resources, and natural resources planning and management. Mr. Buntoon undertakes short and long term assignments for MIDAS in the field of natural resources planning.

Ms. Phasinee Bunnag is an information technology specialist whose work is focused on designing hardware systems and software programs for application to the management of data required for development administration, public policy analysis, program assessments, and information control.

Dr. Tawin Krutkul, is a soils expert, specializing in land use and soils investigations throughout Southeast Asia.

Mr. Akradet Artachinda, is an agricultural engineer specializing in rural infrastructure development and management information systems.

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A core group of MIDAS Senior Professional Associates bring with them a wide range of technical expertise and professional experience in the ASEAN regions. These associates include:

Dr. Robert Muscat, a macro-economic planner represents MIDAS in New York and Washington D.C. assisting with business development. Most recently he served as the Director of the Policy Reform Institute (a private research institute) in Washington, D.C., and, as a visiting scholar at the East Asian Institute of Columbia University, New York, where he completed two books on the history of Thailand's economic development. He was formerly Chief Economist of the Agency for International Development, serving in Washington, Korea, and Thailand. His career in Thailand spans three decades, through his association with the National Economic and Social Development Board of the Royal Thai Government.

Dr. George Radosavich, an internationally recognized expert in water law and irrigation institutions, who operates throughout South, Southeast, and East Asia from his base at the MIDAS Headquarters Office in Bangkok. He works extensively with the World Bank, UNDP, the Mekong River Commission Secretariat, and the network of international legal and technical centers on aspects of water law, participatory management of irrigation structures, water management, and irrigation and water institutions development.

Mr. Michael H. Zola, a professional agricultural manager who administers The MIDAS Group Corporation in Akron, New York. Mr. Zola's specialty is Farm Management, having been an owner/operator of a dairy farm and producing fruit and vegetables on a commercial basis for more than forty years.

Mr. Richard F. Forrestel, a civil engineer who provides technical engineering and advisory services to MIDAS Agronomics and the MIDAS Group Corporation. He has owned and operated his family's Cold Spring Construction Company, the largest civil engineering firm in Western New York State. As a lawyer, banker, and engineer, Mr. Forrestel is engaged by MIDAS to provide advisory services on a permanent basis.

Mr. Gordon Claridge, a natural resources planning and management specialist who has been engaged by MIDAS Agronomics since 1994 to assist with assignments related to coastal area planning and protected areas management. He specializes in environmental impact assessments, environmental monitoring, natural resources planning, and coastal zone planning and management.