Jon Unruh is a seasoned expert with over two decades of experience in post-war recovery projects, food security, land tenure, natural resources, and agriculture. He has designed and implemented various research and development projects across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. His specialization lies in land rights and their intersection with environmental change, pastoralism, food security, war-torn scenarios, land, and policy development, and implementation. He holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Arizona and an MSc in Land Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Unruh has worked with UN agencies, the World Bank, bilateral, and multilateral donor organizations and NGOs.

Unruh has previously held multiple roles during his career, including Associate Professor at McGill University, Consultant at War-related land and property rights, Country Representative - Ethiopia at Associates in Rural Development, USAID, Mozambique Project Manager at Land Tenure Center, Somalia Research Specialist at Land Tenure Center, among others. He was also formerly an Associate Director at the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change, Indiana University, and Associate Professor at Indiana University.