Globalisation:Roger Usher
Roger Usher is ASI’s Managing Director and head of the Government Reform Practice. Roger is a widely respected public sector consultant with extensive experience of designing and implementing government reform programmes in the UK and internationally. He has an outstanding record in project delivery for public sector clients throughout Asia , Africa and the Caribbean and working with International Development Agencies.
He has also worked on behalf of the UN and its agencies including the FAO and WMO. His work has included budgetary reform, governance and institutional reform of central and local government, and the improvement of public service delivery. He is currently directing ASI’s project to rebuild public sector management capacity in Afghanistan. [1]
As managing director of Adam Smith International, a London-based independent international development consultancy, new RSA Fellow Roger Usher has had significant involvement with reform and reconstruction in many of the world’s most troubled and impoverished countries. Trips to Baghdad for consultations with Iraq’s nascent government or meetings with the Palestinian Authority are not infrequent fixtures in his diary. From Iraq and Afghanistan to Rwanda, Ghana, India and Bangladesh, Usher and his dedicated team have played a part in helping these countries establish more effective governments.
Before undertaking this career path, Usher completed a PhD in particle physics, but decided against academia in favour of joining the civil service. After several years in Whitehall he was head-hunted by consultancy Coopers & Lybrand, where his enthusiasm for development consultancy was allowed to flourish. His appointment as managing director of Adam Smith International in 2002 enabled him to focus his energies even more.
Today, Usher’s particular expertise and interest lie in the delivery of good governance and planning institutional reform of central and local government in countries where war, mismanagement and poverty have ravaged state institutions and inhibited the country’s development. “We work with administrations that are looking to change their own practices and organisation so that they operate more openly, more efficiently and more effectively to the benefit of all citizens,” says Usher. “It’s our view that good government favours all sections of society, but especially the poorest.” [2]
