Renewal: A New Era for International Development Professionals
2016 Annual Conference, May 9 - 10, 2016
Hellenic Meeting & Reception Centre, 1315 Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa, Ontario
| Session: | How to Win Contracts Funded by the Multilateral Development Banks |
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Speakers: |
Chair: Hugh Wilkinson, Principal, Coral Hill LLP Laura Dorling van der Oord, Advisor, Office of the Executive Director for Canada, Ireland, and the Caribbean, World Bank Group Amber Mackereth, International Business Consultant Brett Maitland, Senior Counselor, Canada, Inter-American Development Bank Craig Steffensen, Representative, North American Representative Office, Asian Development Bank |
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Objective: |
Canadian consultants continue to perform remarkably well in winning lucrative contracts funded by the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). The major MDBs - also known as IFIs (International Financial Institutions) – approved over US$100 billion in new funding in 2015 for hundreds of projects in over 180 countries. During this session, representatives from senior levels of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank - along with two distinguished MDB business consultants - will tell you what the SDGs, recent major procurement reforms and other new trends mean for Canadian consultants who want to identify, pursue and win MDB business. Using live tender notices, MDB websites, project examples and Canadian success stories, a key focus of the session will be to demystify MDB procurement, while highlighting actionable success strategies and tips for consultants, whether you’re a one-person freelancer or a multi-disciplined consulting firm. This dynamic session will help you learn how to avoid common pitfalls, overcome challenges and understand the critical success factors for unlocking a myriad of business opportunities funded by the MDBs. Panelists will also be available for one-on-one meetings with attendees. |
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Biography(ies): |
Hugh Wilkinson, Prinicipal, Coral Hill LLP
With 30 years’ experience in international development, Hugh Wilkinson is also a specialist in the design, management, monitoring and evaluation of long-term projects, with a focus on judicial reform. Clients have included Fortune 500 firms; consulting, law and technology firms; foreign governments and the MDBs themselves. He has been a trusted advisor and MDB procurement support consultant to companies like Microsoft, HP, GE, Hachette Livre, Gowlings, and Dillon Consulting. He also advises private firms on corporate social responsibility strategies and related sustainable development initiatives. He co-moderated the CSR Americas E-Forum sponsored by the World Bank and delivered executive seminars on CSR and social investment for the Inter-American Foundation to business groups in the Caribbean. A native of Canada and graduate of the University of Western Ontario's Ivey Business School, his career includes 10 years working in Washington at the Inter-American Development Bank and at the Canadian Embassy’s Office for Liaison with IFIs. Presentation: How to Win Contract$ funded by the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) Laura Dorling van der Oord, Advisor, Office of the Executive Director for Canada, Ireland, and the Caribbean, World Bank Group
Ms. Dorling van der Oord also represented Canada as a Senior Counsellor on the Inter-American Development Bank’s Board of Executive Directors (2004-2008) and she was a diplomat with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade as a Team Leader in the International Financing Division and previously with the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade as an Export Consultant with Ontario Exports Inc. Presentation: Opportunities for Canadian Development Consultants Amber Mackereth, International Business Consultant
Amber previously served as the Trade Commissioner for International Financial Institutions based out of the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. In this role, she provided strategic advice and assistance to Canadian businesses in their pursuit of opportunities financed by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank specifically. She has also worked within not-for-profits and private sector organizations in an international business development capacity. Amber has a Masters Degree in International Affairs and is fluent in English, French and Spanish. She has worked in more than 20 countries and is currently based in Ottawa where she works as an independent consultant. Presentation: Challenges & Strategies for Independent Consultants & Small Firms
Brett Maitland is Senior Counsellor, Office of the Executive Director for Canada, at the Inter-American Development Bank Group in Washington, D.C. As Senior Counsellor, Brett helps to lead engagements by Canada’s Office on corporate issues and funding proposals presented to the boards of the Executive Directors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC). He also helps to promote awareness among Canadian organizations of the IDBG’s mandate and work in LAC. Brett has more than 15 years’ experience with Canada's international development assistance programs. Prior to assuming his current duties in September 2015, Brett was Counsellor (Development) and Alternate Representative (2011 - 2015) at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the Organization of American States (OAS), where he helped to lead Canada’s development engagements at the OAS and with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Previously, he managed a unit at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) – now part of Global Affairs Canada – that funded health initiatives worldwide, and was Head of Cooperation at Canada's High Commission to Guyana, where he was also responsible for Canada's development assistance relations with the Caribbean Community Secretariat. Brett studied Journalism at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada) Presentation: Business Opportunities Through the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDBG) Craig Steffensen, Representative, North American Representative Office, Asian Development Bank
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Laura Dorling van der Oord joined the Office of the Executive Director for Canada, Ireland, and the Caribbean at the World Bank Group in July 2012. She previously worked with the World Bank on multiple geographic teams as a Senior Governance Specialist and Senior Disaster Risk Specialist (2008-2012) and she was a member of the World Bank’s post-earthquake disaster response team in Haiti in 2010.
For more than ten years, Amber has been supporting Canadian organizations in their pursuit of IFI-funded opportunities. She provides counsel to firms, industry associations and government on the subject, and provides business matchmaking services for international trade missions, including missions to the IFIs and many borrowing member countries. She has spent time at all of the main IFIs, is intricately familiar with their operations and procurement, and is familiar with techniques and success factors for winning and managing IFI-financed contracts.
Brett Alexander Maitland, Senior Counsellor, Office of the Executive Director for Canada, Inter-American Development Bank Group
Craig Steffensen has served as Representative to the Asian Development Bank’s North American Representative Office (NARO) in Washington, DC since May 2013. An American national, Mr. Steffensen leads efforts to mobilize finance, share knowledge and experience, establish and deepen partnerships, and raise public awareness of ADB in the US and Canada. Prior to this assignment, Mr. Steffensen has served as ADB’s Country Director for Thailand, leading ADB's re-engagement with Myanmar; Country Director for Afghanistan, serving at the forefront of efforts by the international community to assist in Afghanistan’s recovery and reconstruction; Head, Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Unit, based in Almaty; and Resident Advisor to the Ministry of Finance in Bangkok during the Asian financial crisis. He has worked for the World Bank in Lao PDR and Washington, DC; The Asia Foundation in Thailand and Cambodia; USAID in Thailand and Washington, DC; and the US Peace Corps in the rural Philippines. Mr. Steffensen holds a Master’s degree in development economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Purdue University.