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Helping Create Change that Matters
about us
Open Cities helps organizations to become more effective as they work towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Our work spans the macro and the micro, the conceptual and practical, prompting change and managing change, the beginning and the end of projects. We work at local and at national levels, in the UK and around the world. Some of our work spans multiple countries and is commissioned by international organizations like the World Bank.
Our standards match those of the world's very best organizations. We know that because over the years we have ourselves worked in and excelled at the heart of many blue-chip organizations. Our commitment is to deliver at the highest possible standards - at affordable prices.
clients
International development agencies
Government departments around the world
Sovereign wealth funds, banks and central banks
Multinational Companies
Local authorities
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"Marc Stephens is one of the best in the field"
- official in the Department for International Development
about us
Marc Stephens - CEO
Marc works at the nexus of environment and development. He began his career in the human rights organization, Al Haq, in the West Bank, where he worked on economic rights during 1987-1991. Al Haq won the Carter Menil prize (jointly with BTselem) in 1990 for best global human rights organization.
Marc has worked extensively in the areas of business for development, economics in development (including 5 years at the World Bank which he joined as a YP in 1994) and corporate and public sector governance for development. After leaving the World Bank in 1998 Marc joined the Bank of England where he managed the global forecast team and was responsible for presenting the global outlook directly to the Monetary Policy Committee.
He has worked on cities for over 20 years including 5 years with the London Development Agency as Director of Strategy and then Executive Director for Business and Skills; work with McKinsey on the development of a new city in Saudi Arabia (which won the firm’s prize for innovation in 2007); and consultancy for the Mayor of London and local boroughs in London.
He has also worked extensively on oceans during the last 5 years notably with the International Maritime Organization and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
During 2016-24 he was a board member of the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), winner of the Partners for Green Growth 2018 global prize for innovative partnerships, and chair of the audit and risk committee. Marc is a qualified barrister, has an MSc in Climate Change Management, with distinction (University of London) and a PhD in economics (from New York University).
George Beardon - Consultant
Passionate about promoting social justice and fostering a fairer, more compassionate society, George is an economist with particular expertise in the area of behavioural economics. Based in Berlin, he is experienced in working for multilaterals within the UN System and beyond, including the World Bank where he has worked on a range of Country Management Unit products mostly in Africa. He played a central role in the recent, highly successful, strategic review of the World Resources Institute, as well as previous assignments with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and Irish Aid.
George has additional experience and skills in regional and national socio-economic profiling and impact assessment; Geographical Information System (GIS) data mapping; quantitative econometric analysis; qualitative data analysis and mixed methods research; and primary research method. Comfortable working in French, including a strong reading ability.
Prior to joining OpenCities, George worked for London-based Volterra Economics where he produced a report for Transport for London in which the external costs of car use in Greater London were estimated, including emissions costs. The report influences the design of a next generation road pricing system to replace the Congestion Charge. He has also provided socio-economic reporting and impact assessments on development projects in Greater London, such as the residential regeneration of Nine Elms, and he contributed to the design of London Borough of Lambeth’s Employment and Skills Strategy and Affordable Workspace Strategy using socio-economic analysis of labour market trends
George has a First Class Honours degree in Economics from the University of Bristol and received his Master’s in Behavioural Economics from the University of Amsterdam with a final score of 8.5 (equivalent to a Distinction).
David Norman - Senior Associate
David Norman is a senior associate of OpenCities Ltd and the Director of Global Insight Consulting Ltd. He specialises in helping NGOs and companies to strengthen strategy and partnerships for sustainable development. Additional roles include facilitating the development of strategy, evaluations, policy briefings, speech writing and leadership coaching. Recent assignments include: a strategic review of The Elders’ first decade, running the process to produce their new 5-year strategy; an independent review of Save the Children’s global partnership with GlaxoSmithKline; and running SABMiller’s contributions at Davos and the World Economic Forum on Latin America (Mexico) and Africa (Cape Town).
Previously David was a Non-Executive Director at Saferworld and Senior Manager for Sustainable Development Policy at SABMiller plc. He also held senior posts at WWF-UK and worked as Global Education Adviser at Save the Children UK. He has a BSc (first class) in Natural Science (OU) and an MPhil in Sociology and Politics of Developing Countries (Cambridge).
Claudette Forbes - Senior Associate
Claudette Forbes is a senior associate of OpenCIties Ltd and the Director of CAF Consulting. She has successfully led the development and implementation of city development, economic development, and holistic local area regeneration programmes and is an adviser to local authorities, central government, non-profits and partnerships. She led work at the Royal Borough of Kingston on developing an employment and skills plan to respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy and was academic peer reviewer for the recent Independent Commission on Aid Impact report on UK support for Sustainable Cities.
Claudette herself grew up in inner city Bristol, an area of Britain which was the subject of regeneration following race riots in the early 1980s. Her international experience includes working with the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil to support the development of the City of Salvador’s first City Strategy.
Claudette is an award-winning ceramist as well as an executive coach specialising in leadership.
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