Larry Cooley

Larry Cooley founded Management Systems International (MSI), an international development consulting firm, in 1981 and served as its president until March 2015, when he transitioned to president emeritus and senior adviser. Before founding MSI, he worked at the World Bank, UN Development Programme, Practical Concepts, and as a Peace Corps volunteer. For more than four decades, Larry has been a thought leader, author, and lecturer on a wide range of development management issues. A specialist in strategic management, public sector performance, and organizational development, he has served as an adviser to cabinet officials in six federal agencies and in more than a dozen countries. He currently serves as global board chair of the Society for International Development and previously served for 15 years as chair of the Development Management Network of the American Society of Public Administration. He is an elected fellow and board member of the U.S. National Academy of Public Administration and serves as a trustee of NAPA, World Learning, and ELMA Philanthropies.

For 11 years, Larry directed the Implementing Policy Change program that assisted governments worldwide to manage complex policy reforms, and he served as external facilitator for interagency task forces on small business development, food safety, post-Castro Cuba, and the future of the national wildlife refuge system. More recently, he oversaw a nine year effort to rebuild Iraqi public administration and leads a global community of practice on scaling innovation which he co-founded in 2015. Larry holds a master’s degree in economics from Columbia University, a Master of Public Administration in public policy from Princeton, and a Master of Philosophy in management from the U.K.’s Cranfield School of Management.