Adam Blackwell

VP International Development Services

USA

VP International Development Services Group/World Economic Forum Meta-Council/
Ambassador Adam Blackwell serves as Vice President, International Development at Development Services Group, Inc. and provides consultation to DSG projects on criminal justice and security sector reform. He is also the Chair of the Managing Board of Techtrace S.A. A Swiss company is active in the fight against illicit trade.

Ambassador Blackwell worked at the Organization of American States in Washington, DC until Oct 2015. Assistant Secretary of Finance and Administration in 2006, Secretary for External Relations in 2008 , and Secretary for Multidimensional Security  till October 2015. During his career, Mr. Blackwell has participated in and led several election observation missions as well as received numerous awards and honors. Most notable of these are; The Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella Grand Cross with Silver Breast Star, of the Dominican Republic, and the Minister’s Award for Management (1995). He also was a contributor and coordinator of the 2013 OAS Drug Report.  Most recently, as a Diplomat in Residence at the William J. Perry Center for the Hemispheric Defense Studies (NDU). He is also the Chair of the Meta-Council on the Illicit Economy of the World Economic Forum (WEF), President, Trust of the Americas, Member of the Board of POLCYB, Member of the Board of Wright Thomas International, formerly a member of the Commission to Reform Public Security in Honduras and a member of the Technical Coordinating Committee to manage the Peace Process in El Salvador. Ambassador Blackwell is also an active presenter in international fora such as Chatham House, the Ditchley Foundation, Brookings Institution, the Wilson Center as well as regional and annual meetings of the WEF, including Davos.

His most recent books, “If the War on Drugs is Over – now what?  Security Without Easy Answers” was published by Friesen Press in 2015 and “Si la Guerra contra las Drogas llega a su fin – Que Sigue? “ published by Inacipe Mexico 2016.
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