Gianfranco Romanazzi got the degree cum laude in Agricultural Sciences at University of Bari, where he joined the PhD in "Crop Protection", and he is Professor of Plant pathology and Plant disease management at the Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy. He studies the diagnosis and characterisation of plant pathogens, including seedborne, and the control of plant diseases, both in the field and after the harvest, through the use of environmentally friendly means. He is involved in setting up novel sustainable strategies to manage cucurbit, cabbage and onion diseases caused by seedborne pathogens based on application of chitosan, other basic substances and resistance inducers. Sensitive and accurate protocols for the identification of seedborne fungi have also been setted up. In 2004-2005, part of his research was carried at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Parlier, California, and in 2015 he spent a period in at Vineland Research and Innovation Center, Ontario, Canada. He published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and edited three special issues and one book. He is member of ISPP Seed Pathology Committee since 2014, Vice Chair since 2018 and interim Chair since 2021. He serves for editorial boards of Postharvest Biology and Technology, Australasian Plant Pathology, Phytoparasitica, Scientific Reports, Frontiers in Plant Sciences, Frontiers in Microbiology. Since 2020, he is serving as President of Italian Association for Plant Protection (AIPP).

Lindsey du Toit grew up in KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa, where she completed her undergraduate education at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg in 1991 in plant pathology. Lindsey then completed MS (1995) and PhD (1998) degrees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, majoring in plant pathology. She then served as a diagnostician for the Plant & Insect Diagnostic Lab at the Puyallup Research & Extension Center of Washington State University (WSU), from 1998 to 2000. Lindsey then took a position as Assistant Professor & Extension Specialist in vegetable seed pathology for WSU in 2000, based at the WSU Mount Vernon NWREC. Lindsey was promoted to Associate Professor in 2006, and Professor in 2013. The focus of her vegetable seed pathology research and extension program is the etiology, biology and management of diseases that affect vegetable seed crops grown in the Pacific Northwest USA, primarily small-seeded, dry-seeded vegetable seed crops - spinach, brassicas, carrot, onion, radish, Swiss chard, and table beet. Lindsey teaches a graduate course in field plant pathology. She is a member of and has served as chair of the Seed Pathology Committee of the American Phytopathological Society (APS). Lindsey has served on editorial boards for Plant Disease, Phytopathology, and Agronomy Journal. Lindsey was an APS Councilor-at-Large from 2014-2017, and on the APS presidential team from 2017-2021.  

José da Cruz Machado is a Full Professor on Plant/Seed Pathology at the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), MG, Brazil. He got the PhD Degree on Plant/Seed Pathology at the University of Manchester, UK in 1980. His sabbatical year was spent at the PRI /Wageningen University, NL, on Seed Pathology in 1991. As lecturer, Dr. Machado is responsible by teaching seed pathology on Agronomy (B.Sc.) and Plant Pathology (Master and Doctorate) Courses. His major research lines are concentrated on Seed Pathology with focus on seed health testing, epidemiological aspects of pathogen-seed interactions and seed treatment addressed to major seed-borne fungi in soybean, maize, cotton and common bean. Dr Machado has published several papers in Brazilian and International Journals, being also author and co-authors of some books and several chapters covering seed pathology aspects. In addition to his position as Coordinator of Post-graduate Course, Head of International Cooperation Office and Research Dean at UFLA for several years, Dr. Machado dedicated part of his professional life as assistant to Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture on activities related to national seed health issues. He was leader of many research projects and chair/member of the Seed Pathology Committee of the Brazilian Association of Seed Technology for several years. He was also member of ISTA Plant Disease Committee for a period of ten years.

Gary Munkvold is Professor of Plant Pathology at Iowa State University. He holds a PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of California, Davis. He has worked for more than 20 years in research, extension, and teaching in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology (1993-2002; 2006-) and Seed Science Center (2006-) at Iowa State University. His current research program focuses on seed pathology in a range of crops, and the epidemiology and management of mycotoxin-producing fungi in maize, especially the role of insects in ear rot development. He teaches the only seed pathology course offered in the U.S., and serves as Chair of the ISU Graduate Program in Seed Technology and Business, a distance-education curriculum. He also serves as Co-Director for the U.S. National Seed Health System, which is responsible for approving seed healthe testing methods for phyto sanitary certification. From 2003-2006, he was Research Coordinator for the Pathology, Entomology, and Seed Science group at Pioneer Hi-Bred, International, Inc. in Johnston, IA, with global responsibilities for coordinating and improving disease and insect resistance evaluation of Pioneer maize hybrids. Dr. Munkvold has authored more than 100 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, more than 200 extension articles and publications, and several book chapters; he has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences. Dr. Munkvold was named as ISU's first Seed Science Endowed Chair in 2006. He is a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Soc. and a member of the ISTA Seed Health Committee.  

Dorota Szopińska has worked for more than 20 years in research and teaching in the Department of Plant Pathology, Seed Science and Technology at Poznań University of Life Sciences (Poland), when she complited Msc (1997) and PhD (2001) degrees and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017. Her research focus on methods of seed health testing, location of pathogens in seeds, seed treatment methods and prognostic value of seed quality parameters. She is an author or co-author of about 80 scientific publications. Her educational work is related to the various areas of seed science and technology, particularly seed pathology and seed biology. She supervised 52 BSc and MSc theses concerning mainly evaluation of seed health testing methods, seed quality improvement and location of pathogens in seeds. She participated in many international meetings and visited a number of institution involved in seed production and postharvest control in Europe and China. Dorota is currently a member of Polish Phytopathological Society where she serves as Secretary of the Board and the Chair of Seed Pathology Division, and a member of the ISTA Seed Health Committee.   

Dr. Ron Walcott is a Professor of plant pathology at University of Georgia (UGA) where he also serves at the Vice Provost for Graduate Education and the Dean of the Graduate School. A native of Barbados, he earned his BS and MS degrees in Plant Pathology in 1993 and 1995 respectively, from Iowa State University. He then earned his PhD in plant pathology from UGA in 1999. After a short stint as a post-doctoral associate, Dr. Walcott joined the faculty in the UGA department of plant pathology and was promoted through the ranks to full Professor in 2012. Dr. Walcott’s research focus is plant pathogens that infect and are transmitted by seeds. He is recognized internationally as a leading expert on Acidovorax citrulli, the causal agent of bacterial fruit blotch, that infects seeds of cucurbit species like melon and watermelon. To date and he has published more than 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and edited two books. Dr. Walcott uses advanced molecular tools to understand the host-pathogen interactions that lead to plant/seed infection, with the overarching goal of limiting the economic impact caused by seedborne pathogens. More specifically, he is interested in molecular factors that contribute to the ability of phytopathogenic bacteria to infect seeds, colonize germinating seedlings and distinguish between host and non-host plant species. Dr. Walcott is the currently vice president of the American Phytopathological Society.

Valerie Grimault has a PhD in plant pathology from University Paris XI. She has worked in several research institutes (INRAE, INA-PG, University of Lille) and has been manager of a phytopathology laboratory in a vegetable seed company for 9 years. She has been working in GEVES (Group for control and study of varieties and seeds) for 15 years as head of the Phytopathology laboratory with activities in seed health testing, evaluation of efficiency of seeds and plantlets alternative and classical treatments and evaluation of resistance of varieties to pests. She is member of ISHI, IBEB-EU and IBEB-G and 2 UFS (French seed federation) WGs. She is chair of ISTA Seed Health Committee, of ISF Disease Resistance Terminology working group and vice chair of Végéphyl, a French association for plant health. She is involved in several research projects, for validation of seed health testing methods, epidemiology and setting up and harmonization of variety resistance protocols.