Secretary William Dollente Dar is a Filipino horticulturist and public servant who is the 45th Secretary of Agriculture of the Philippines. He was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte on August 5, 2019 to replace Emmanuel Piñol. Dar held the same position under President Joseph Estrada from 1998 to 1999.

Dr. Dar earned his BS in Agricultural Education in 1969 and MS in Agronomy in 1976 at Mountain State Agricultural College, now known as Benguet State University (BSU), in La Trinidad, Benguet. At BSU, he started as a researcher and instructor in 1979 and rose to become Professor VI and Vice President for R&D support services in 1985. In between those years, he pursued a PhD in Horticulture at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, completing it in 1980.

When the DA was reorganized in 1987, Dr. Dar was appointed as the first director of the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research. He also served as executive director of PCARRD, from 1994 to 1998. The agency is now called the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), based in Los Baños, Laguna.

He received eight honorary doctorate degrees in various fields from several state universities and colleges in the Philippines.

Morgan joined the Manila Office of Agricultural Affairs in July 2019, where he serves as head of office for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), managing personnel and programs in the Philippines. Prior to this assignment, he served USDA in Rabat, Chengdu, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Seoul, and Washington, where he also was detailed to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He has a Master’s degree in Economics with an emphasis in Agricultural Economics from South Dakota State University. He is married and continues to be an active member of his family farm in rural Minnesota.

Dr. Briones is a Senior Research Fellow at PIDS, where he conducts policy research for the Philippine government, with specialization in agriculture. He has authored numerous published research papers and co-edited five books, on irrigation policy, on the economics of agriculture and natural resources, rural development, food security, international trade, and the macro economy. He is a Board Member of the consultancy group Brain Trust Inc., past Board Member of the Philippine Economic Society, as well as a Fellow of the Foundation for Economic Freedom. In 2017, he was a University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) College of Economics and Management Outstanding Alumnus for Economics and Public Policy. Previously, he was an assistant professor at Ateneo de Manila University and UPLB. He obtained his Ph.D. from the UP School of Economics in 2000 and did postdoctoral research at the WorldFish Center in Penang, Malaysia.