José Antonio Vázquez-García, 1961-, Guadalajara, Mexico (PhD 1995, UW-Madison); a National Researcher in the highest category of SECIHTI (CONAHCyT)-MEXICO. Prometeo scholar at the highest level from SENECyT and Universidad Estatal Amazónica of ECUADOR. Delegate of the Chinese-Latin American Alliance for Agricultural Education and Innovation (CLAERIA); and delegate for Mexico and Central America of the Global Conservation Consortium for Magnolia (GCCM). His botanical leadership impacted the declaration of the 350,000-acre Sierra de Manantlán as MAB-UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. He has contributed to the description of six new genera of succulents and over 120 new species, including 90 Magnolia species from Mexico, Central America, the Andes and Amazonia. He has been funded or supported by BGCI, CLAERIA, GCCM, MSI and the Franklinia Foundation to foster research and conservation strategies on magnolias in several countries. He promoted and co-organized several world Magnolia symposia, in China, Ecuador, México and Honduras. Author of over 220 publications including 130 scientific papers and a dozen books, including Flora de Manantlán, a work of more than a decade of close collaboration between the University of Guadalajara and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently a full Professor at the University of Guadalajara-CUCBA, Zapopan, MEXICO, with 46 years of research, teaching, outreach and conservation experience in botany.