William Sparks

William (บุญ) Sparks is the Country Director of Thailand and Project Director of #thaiRAIN at Winrock International, based in Bang Khen, Bangkok City, Thailand.1 His LinkedIn username is williamsparks.

About RAIN Project::

• The USDA-funded Thailand Regional Agriculture Innovation Network (RAIN) project aims to expand the adoption of climate-smart production practices among 30,000 farmers through the creation of a regional knowledge hub.1
• The RAIN project identifies, validates, scales, and shares climate-smart agriculture technologies and practices to increase productivity, profitability, and trade opportunities in the Thai agriculture sector, while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions and natural resource depletion.1
• The project validates climate-smart technologies and builds the capacity of private and public sector actors to disseminate these technologies to farmers, supporting farmers in adopting them.1
• The project works with Michigan State University in 11 provinces in Thailand across three important agriculture value chains: rice, cassava, and fruit.1
• The USDA-funded Thailand RAIN project identifies, validates, scales and shares agricultural 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.13
• The project timeline is from September 19, 2022, to August 31, 2027.3

Experience::

• Project Director / Chief of Party at Winrock International From August 2022 to Present, Sparks is the Project Director / Chief of Party at Winrock International.1
• Country Director, Thailand at Winrock International From December 2020 to Present, Sparks represents Winrock International and develops partnerships for joint activities.1
• Senior Advisor, Ventures-Innovations-Partnerships at Winrock International From April 2019 to August 2022, Sparks designed business transformation strategies and led change management initiatives in agricultural markets, technology ecosystems, and the private sector.1 He is experienced in emerging markets and conflict environments and is skilled in gender and youth empowerment.1 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, bringing together innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors to source, validate, and market technologies that enhance farmers’ access to markets.1
• Project Director / Chief of Party at Winrock International From August 2017 to March 2019, Sparks was the 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, establishing innovation networks in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Nepal.1
• Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives at ACDI/VOCA From May 2005 to August 2017, Sparks assisted the CEO by supporting technical design and implementation of development projects, with an emphasis on behavioral change and organizational capacity building. He 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 and completed assignments throughout Africa, Middle East, South America and Asia.1
• General Manager at Marcus Corporation From January 1994 to April 2005, Sparks was a General Manager and was responsible for hospitality management, including operations, marketing, finance, human resources, and asset management.1
• Adjunct Faculty at Woodbury University From 2004 to 2005, Sparks designed and delivered an experiential Leadership Theory and Application course to adult students.1
• Admissions Counselor at Suomi College / Finlandia University From August 1991 to December 1993, Sparks empowered incoming students with the possibilities of higher education.1

Education::

• Pepperdine University, The George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management Sparks earned a Masters of Science in Organization Development from 2002 to 2004.1
• Woodbury University Sparks earned a Bachelors of Science in Business, Psychology from 2000 to 2002.1
• Suomi College / Finlandia University Sparks earned an Associate in Arts, Liberal Arts from 1989 to 1991.1
• University of Missouri-Columbia Sparks earned a certificate from Graduate Institute of Cooperative Leadership in 2010.1

Awards & Honors::

• Sparks was awarded the InsideNGO Operational Excellence Award in August 2013.1
• He received the Dr. J.P. London Award for Promoting Ethical Behavior in June 2012.1

There is another William Sparks (Will Sparks), who works at Google as Recruiting Lead for Cloud CISO.2 He went to NYU Stern School of Business and is based in New York.2