William (บุญ) Sparks Email & Phone Number

Thailand

The USDA-funded Thailand Regional Agriculture Innovation Network (#thaiRAIN) project identifies, validates, scales and shares climate-smart agriculture technologies and practices that have been validated through a rigorous, evidence-based, participatory process known as “5-S:” 1) Source; 2) Support; 3) Scale; 4) Sell; and 5) Share. RAIN validates climate-smart tech, builds the capacity of private and public sector actors to disseminate tech to farmers, and supports farmers in adoption of tech. RAIN works with sub-partner Michigan State University to implement this project in 11 provinces in Thailand across three important agriculture value chains: rice, cassava and fruit. The goal is to increase productivity, profitability, and trade opportunities in the Thai agriculture sector while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions and natural resource depletion.

Thailand

Represent Winrock International and develop partnerships for joint activities.

Bangkok Metropolitan Area, Thailand

William Sparks is a natural project leader, marketer, and organizational development professional with 25 years’ experience designing business transformation strategies and leading change management initiatives in agricultural markets, technology ecosystems, and the private sector. Effective in emerging markets and conflict and post-conflict environments, he is a skilled facilitator and motivator who has designed gender and youth empowerment tools to better integrate marginalized populations into new market opportunities and leadership positions. As project director (chief of party) of the FTF Asia Innovative Farmers Activity ($19M award), he applied a market systems approach that spurred a global network and system, bringing together innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors to source, validate, and market technologies that enhance farmers’ access to markets. As Senior Vice President at ACDI/VOCA, Mr. Sparks provided technical and organizational support to a portfolio of agriculture resilience and market systems programs that exceeded $312 million. He co-designed 16 enterprise development and capacity building tools that systemized approaches across 15 countries. His experience as a turn-around manager in the private sector, where he managed up to 120 employees and assets of more than $25 million, enhanced his ability to engage, coach, and motivate staff and partners.Mr. Sparks is a sought-after trainer, facilitator, and speaker. Over the past five years, he has been invited more than 20 times by donors, industry associations, and governments to present on topics such as process mapping and systems analysis at multi-donor and multi-country conferences. His books include Process Mapping Road Trip: Improve Organizational Workflow in Five Steps. In 2013, InsideNGO awarded the Operational Excellence Award to Mr. Sparks for his contributions to organizational development. He was also awarded the Dr. J.P. London Award for promoting ethical behavior.

Bangkok Metropolitan Area, Thailand

Project Director/Chief of Party for Asia Innovative Farmers Activity (AIFA), a USAID Feed the Future initiative to discover, develop, and disseminate agricultural innovations throughout SE Asia. Based in Bangkok, AIFA has established innovation networks in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Nepal. Across the region, AIFA is establishing an innovation ecosystem, facilitating market-driven technology transfer, lowering technology trade barriers, and supporting youth entrepreneurship in agriculture.

Washingon, Dc

Assist the CEO by supporting technical design and implementation of development projects, with an emphasis on behavioral change and organizational capacity building. Created numerous systems including Sell More For More farmer organization capacity building, M4 farmer organization assessment tool, AchieVe staff development program, Inspire onboarding, and STAIRS workplan methodology. Completed assignments throughout Africa, Middle East, South America and Asia. A few example assignments are listed below:Global: Facilitated the design and field-testing of Smallholder Market Support guidance materials for the World Food Programme. This included the synthesis of materials generated over five years of the Purchase for Progress pilot, and field testing in four countries.Rwanda: Conducted the successful implementation of a USAID-funded capacity building program in Rwanda that trained over 100 cooperatives and 57,000 farmers in improved cooperative management and enhanced technical skills. Trained cooperatives achieved 80% acceptance rate from World Food Programme compared to 47% for non-participants. Tanzania: Completed a three-month assignment in maize and rice growing regions to establish a capacity building program for 103 producer associations. A majority of the associations were able to aggregate a surplus of high-quality product in the first season after our intervention.India: Facilitated actors across the entire value chain, including Fortune 500 corporations, in multiple sessions over two years to strengthen market linkages and to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. This collaboration resulted in the production of a manual of best practices in mint production and community-level processing.Sierra Leone: Led a multi-stakeholder event of over 130 participants through a collaborative workplanning event to align priorities, identify regional interventions, and coordinate actions across community, private, public, and NGO sectors.

Minnesota / Wisconsin / California

Hospitality management: operations (hotel, restaurant, outlets), marketing, finance, human resources, asset management, public relations. Worked to provide an atmosphere for guests and employees alike to feel welcome and support their intentions.

Burbank, Ca

Designed and delivered experiential Leadership Theory and Application course to adult students to empower them in their careers and personal lives.

Hancock, Mi

Empowered incoming students with the possibilities of higher education, new connections and pursuit of their callings.

Masters Of Science, Organization Development

Learned how to develop strong strategies and empowered employees to achieve an organization's mission. Completed international consulting.

Certificate, Graduate Institute Of Cooperative Leadership

Bachelors Of Science, Business, Psychology

Activities and Societies: summa cum laude (highest GPA) Learned how to establish successful organizations by incorporating both sound.

Associate In Arts, Liberal Arts

Established my desire for lifelong learning, an appreciation for all fields of knowledge, and the pursuit of a personal mission.