Luis Guillermo Santos Meléndez

Luis Guillermo Santos Meléndez is an Agronomist from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, a Business Administrator from Universidad del Valle, and holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering with a specialization in Quality and Operations from Universidad Icesi.  He is a seed conservation specialist and plant genetic resources professional with more than 16 years of experience in ex situ conservation, seed quality management, viability assessment, and international germplasm distribution. 

He currently serves as Bean Collection Curator and Seed Conservation and Viability Coordinator at the Future Seeds Genebank of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT in Palmira, Colombia, where he helps safeguard one of the world's largest and most important collections of beans and tropical forage genetic resources. His work supports the long-term conservation of more than 60,000 accessions from over 140 countries, contributing to global food security, agricultural resilience, and biodiversity conservation. 

Luis has played a key role in strengthening the safety duplication of these collections, with more than 92% securely backed up at both CIMMYT (Mexico) and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norway). His expertise spans seed conservation strategies, viability monitoring, germplasm management, and quality systems for genebank operations. 

He has participated in international collecting and exploration activities focused on crop wild relatives, including missions in the southern United States in collaboration with the USDA and New Mexico State University, as well as the International Workshop on Exploration and Bioprospecting of Genetic Resources in Costa Rica. 

Luis has contributed to scientific publications, capacity-building initiatives, and the training of students and researchers in seed conservation and plant genetic resources. He is committed to advancing the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity to support future generations and climate-resilient food systems.