Elsa Murano

Elsa Murano
Director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture & Development
Assumed office
2012-present
23rd President of Texas A&M University
In office
January 3, 2008  June 15, 2009
Preceded byEd J. Davis (Interim)
Robert M. Gates
Succeeded byR. Bowen Loftin
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety
In office
October 2001  December 1, 2004
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byCatherine Woteki
Succeeded byMerle Pierson (Acting)
Personal details
Born
Elsa Alina Casales

(1959-08-14) August 14, 1959
Havana, Cuba
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Peter S. Murano
(m. 1985)
EducationMiami Dade College
Florida International University (BS)
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (MS, PhD)

Elsa Alina Murano (born Elsa Alina Casales August 14, 1959) is a Cuban-born American executive and the Director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture and Development at Texas A&M University's Agriculture & Life Sciences program since 2012. She served as the 23rd president from January 3, 2008, until her resignation on June 15, 2009.

From August 2021 to June 2022, she took a temporary leave from her duties at the Institute to serve as Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives at Texas A&M's Agriculture & Life Sciences Program, focusing on federal initiatives engagement.

Murano also served as the Vice Chancellor and Dean of Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences from 2005 to 2007 and as the U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety from 2001 to 2004.

In 2006, Murano joined the board of directors at Hormel Foods. In 2024, she joined the board of directors at Blue Bell Creameries.