Profiles
David Shear
Senior Partner
David Shear has over 30 years of experience in development planning and management, including direct involvement in Africa, Asia and Latin America. His work covers the full spectrum of development activities: region-wide macroeconomic development, country development strategies, country budget planning, project design and implementation, private investment and evaluation.
During a 22-year career with the Agency for International Development (AID) he held such responsible positions as USAID Mission Director in Senegal; Director of the West Africa and Sahelian Affairs Office in Washington; Regional Director for West Africa, Abidjan, Ivory Coast; and Director of Planning, Budget and Congressional Affairs for the Africa Bureau in Washington.
After retiring from AID in 1984, Mr. Shear served as the Washington Director of the Organization for Rehabilitation through Training, working with the World Bank, AID, and the UNDP. He has also worked with many other donors, including FAO, IFAD, OPIC, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He has lived in Nigeria, Tanzania, the Ivory Coast and Senegal.
In addition to his current responsibilities as Senior Partner at Citizens International, Mr. Shear is a Senior Advisor to the OECD. He was also a member of the faculty of the Woodrow Wilson Graduate School in Public and Business Administration at Princeton University for eight years where he taught graduate seminars on development planning and management.
David Shear joined the Board of the Jane Goodall Institute in 1997 and became Chairman of the Board in 2002.
John Bruce Wells
President
John Bruce Wells has 20 years of experience in the design and management of innovative public-private alliances and the analysis of corporate strategies to manage social and environmental concerns. Prior to joining Citizens International, he led the corporate consulting practice of Chemonics International Inc, where he helped clients such as BP, Shell and Honeywell apply corporate social responsibility principles to their developing country operations.
Mr. Wells was also the founder and president of The Bruce Company, a two-time Inc. 500 firm that advised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Energy, World Bank and United Nations Development Programme on global environmental issues. His firm led efforts to launch EPA’s voluntary programs on climate change, including the ubiquitous Energy Star program, and he was awarded a Citation of Excellence by the United Nations Environment Programme "in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the protection of the earth's ozone layer".
Mr. Wells received his undergraduate degrees in Economics and Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences from Northwestern University, where he completed his graduate studies in Economics. In his side career as a supernumerary, he has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Washington Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Teatro Real La Zarzuela of Madrid.
Leslie Fox
Vice President
Mr. Fox has over thirty years international development experience both as a policy advisor and a practitioner. He is a recognized expert in the design, management and evaluation of development assistance efforts aimed at strengthening the capacity of local governments and community organizations to become more effective partners in local governance matters, including development decision making and implementation. He has provided such assistance to the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, USAID and a number of US policy institutes, foundations and non-profit organizations. Mr. Fox has a Master’s degree in Development Economics from John Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies; is fluent in French and West African Krio and has a working knowledge of Spanish and Swahili; and has extensive long- and short-term experience in Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Over the past three years, Mr. Fox has brokered development partnerships and leveraged funding in Africa and Asia between multi- and bilateral donors; multinational companies, federal, state and local governments and US foundations in the areas of community health, women’s empowerment, conservation & natural resource management, local governance & youth employment. In addition, he has conducted country and sectoral assessments related to Public-Private Partnerships, supported international corporations in the formulation of corporate social responsibility & community engagement strategies, and national governments in the development of long-term investment strategies, including resource mobilization and sustainability plans.
