Dr. Lucie C. Phillips
founder and President of International Business Initiatives, has been designing, implementing and evaluating social and economic development programs and policies in Africa and Latin America for twenty-five years. She is a recognized development economist focusing on trade and investment policy, as well as rural job creation through artisanal and small-scale mining for the past decade.

Dr. Phillips lectures part-time as a Professorial Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and is author of numerous books, articles and reports. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jane Goodall Institute, which is dedicated to improving the environment for both people and animals throughout the world. Dr. Phillips developed a wide network of highly qualified people for specialized international work through her professional consulting experience and memberships, and as the wife of a former Ambassador. She is in the Corporate Council on Africa, the Professional Services Council, the Small Business Association of International Contractors, and the Cosmos Club.

Dr. Joel E. Schlesinger
has over thirty years of private, public, and NGO experience in Africa. He has designed, led, and evaluated scores of economic development projects from economic policy reform at the highest levels of government to cluster building, technology transfer, and asset creation among the most vulnerable at the village level. Prior to joining IBI, Dr. Schlesinger served for seven years as Director for Africa for Chemonics International, a leading American firm providing technical assistance to the developing world. A Senior Foreign Service Officer, he served as USAID Mission Director in Mali and Deputy Mission Director in Tanzania. As the USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Legislative and Public Affairs, he represented the agency to Congress. He also served as the Country Director for two NGOs working directly at the grassroots. As IBI’s Senior Vice President for Business Development, Dr. Schlesinger combines his long-standing commitment to Africa and his deep interest in leadership as the starting point for analysis of how leadership on the continent must change if African organizations are to compete successfully in an era of globalization.

David R. Colvin
is an experienced communications professional with a background in Middle Eastern and African affairs and specialized field work in small-scale mining. He has worked to build the capacity of institutions and individuals in Western, Eastern and Southern Africa. He is a skilled project manager, with a thorough understanding of U.S. Government development assistance policies and procedures. Prior to joining IBI, Mr. Colvin served for seven years in the U.S. Department of State as a public diplomacy officer. He also worked for three years at the Managing Editor of The Middle East Journal, published by the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC. As Senior Vice President for Operations at IBI, Mr. Colvin provides strategic and operational leadership for a variety of economic development projects by bringing to bear the latest and most innovative management techniques. He provides management oversight for a variety of projects primarily in Africa, using IBI’s approach of “Global Insight, Local Solutions” on issues concerning poverty, corruption, environmental damage, judicial incompetence, and failed fiscal and monetary policies.

Jim Dobbin
is Vice President and the head of IBI’s Dobbin Planning Group. He is a regional planning and landscape architecture expert and a pioneer in the design and implementation of integrated, multi-sectoral approaches to regional growth and development. In 1976, he founded Dobbin International, which was the first consulting firm in the world to specialize in integrated coastal management (ICM) planning. In his more than 30 years of experience, Mr. Dobbin has provided expertise in ICM; strategic environmental assessments and ocean planning; biodiversity conservation (terrestrial and marine protected areas); tourism, ecotourism, resort and recreation planning; environmental audits and impact assessments; land planning, landscape architecture, and waterfront planning; and demonstrative evidence, graphics and litigation support. In 2007, Dobbin International merged with IBI.