About CBI: Staff & Board

David Plumb is a Senior Associate at the Consensus Building Institute. David is a mediator, facilitator, trainer and researcher specializing in consensus building, negotiation, conflict resolution, and designing stakeholder engagement strategies. He plays a leadership role in CBI’s Corporate Stakeholder Engagement practice and has experience managing complex natural resource disputes and public policy issues in the U.S., Africa, Latin America, and Europe.

Prior to joining CBI, David was director of the Sustainable Business Practice at Search for Common Ground, a world leader in conflict resolution. The practice assisted corporations and their stakeholders to find common ground and create sustainable relationships. He was also a financial journalist and correspondent. A bilingual Spanish speaker, David has spent half of the past decade living and working in developing countries.

Areas of Focus
Corporate stakeholder engagement, sustainable development, natural resources, mining and extractives, forestry, aquaculture, fisheries, and global voluntary standards development  

Highlighted Projects 

• WWF Aquaculture Standards, (2009-ongoing). Facilitating the development of credible environmental and social standards for aquaculture worldwide, with a focus on farmed salmon and trout. Guiding a multi-stakeholder, consensus-building process between environmental groups and aquaculture producers.
• Chevron Nigeria Participatory Stakeholder Evaluation, (2008). Co-led and facilitated a participatory stakeholder evaluation of Chevron’s community engagement mechanisms in the Niger Delta, involving Chevron, oil-impacted communities, civil society and government representatives.
• CAO Review of IFC Performance Standards on Social and Environmental Sustainability, (2009-2010).  Co-led a stakeholder engagement and assessment process as part of a global review of the Performance Standards for Social and Environmental Sustainability of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), on behalf of the Compliance Advisor and Ombudsman Office (CAO), an independent oversight body of the World Bank. Co-designed assessment approach and methodology and managed an assessment team in India.  
• United Nations Development Operations Coordination Office and United Nations System Staff College, Strategy, Negotiation and Political Acumen Skills Training, (2009-ongoing). Co-development of training materials and co-delivery of training programs for heads of UN development agencies. Training integrates strategic priority setting, negotiation and consensus building in politically significant contexts.

Education
A Fulbright Scholar, David holds a BA in Politics and Latin American Studies from Princeton University.