Top global development employers in Boston: A primer

Boston, Massachusetts, holds much promise for development professionals looking for opportunities or for development organizations looking to recruit. The Greater Boston area — which includes Cambridge, Medford, Waltham and Watertown — has over 50 colleges and universities, notably, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Apart from the top talent these universities provide, they have incubated development actors that have made an impact in global development. MIT has seen its professors establish global organizations, such as Education Development Center, Inc. and more recently The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, which uses randomized evaluations to answer critical policy questions in global development. As Boston’s universities have played a significant role in development, the city’s health care infrastructure — boasting some of the best hospitals in the U.S., such as Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital — has supported the growth of many health-focused development implementers, such as Management Sciences for Health, Pathfinder International and Partners In Health, among others. Between its universities and hospitals, Boston is also home to satellite and regional offices of many leading global development organizations and firms, such as the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Mercy Corps, FHI 360 and CARE. The city is also the center of operations for a number of prominent international development implementers and organizations. Below are some of the main development groups and top development employers that are headquartered in the Greater Boston area. Check out the Devex jobs board for a comprehensive listing of opportunities in these organizations. Abt Associates Inc. Type: Development consulting Founded: 1965 President and CEO: Kathleen L. Flanagan Sectors: Environment and climate change; food security and agriculture; health, housing and communities; income security and workforce Headquartered in Cambridge and with program offices in more than 40 countries, Abt Associates conducts research, evaluation and implementation of programs in the fields of health, social and environmental policy, and international development. Projects range from malaria prevention activities in 17 African countries to climate change mitigation in Mexico. Half of the firm’s 2,700 full-time and 400 part-time staff have either a master’s degree or a doctorate. The company reported gross revenue of $565 million in 2014, up from $553 million the previous year. It also has strong client relationships with the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.K. Department for International Development, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. CDM Smith Type: Development Consulting Founded: 1947 CEO: Stephen J. Hickox Sectors: Water, environment, transportation, facilities and energy CDM Smith provides engineering, construction, operations and consulting services across the project life cycle. The company is a result of the acquisition of Wilbur Smith Associates by CDM in 2011. With more than 5,000 employees worldwide, the employee-owned firm has a presence in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. In 2015, CDM Smith moved its headquarters from Cambridge to State Street in downtown Boston. The company has annual revenue of $1.3 billion, and is one of five prime contractors for a $500 million USAID contract for architecture and engineering services, which include disaster and post-disaster and conflict response. Clinton Health Access Initiative Type: Implementing NGO Founded: 2002 CEO: Ira C. Magaziner Sectors: Health financing; HIV and AIDS; tuberculosis; human resources for health; malaria; maternal, newborn and child health; vaccines As an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. was founded in 2002 to dramatically scale up antiretroviral treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS in the developing world. Based in South Boston, CHAI became a separate affiliated entity in 2010. Today, it employs 1,500 staff with operations in 38 countries. The organization had total revenues of $141 million in 2014, up from $109 million in 2013. Its impact is significant, with more than 70 countries able to access CHAI-negotiated price reductions, vaccines, medical devices and diagnostics. Education Development Center Inc. Type: Implementing NGO Founded: 1958 Acting president and CEO: Marvin J. Suomi Sectors: Education, health, economic development Education Development Center was founded in 1958 by Jerrold Zacharias, a physics professor at MIT, with the aim of improving math and science curriculums in the U.S. Today, EDC has become one of the leading development actors in designing, implementing and evaluating programs to improve education, health and economic development in over 30 countries. Headquartered in Waltham, EDC currently employs 1,350 staff and reported revenues of $162 million in 2014, down from $206 million in 2013. Its projects range from large-scale education reform in developing countries to developing radio instruction for schoolchildren in Africa and Asia. John Snow Inc. Type: Development consulting Founded: 1978 President: Joel Lamstein Sector: Public health John Snow Inc. provides technical and managerial assistance to public health programs worldwide. Over the past 37 years, it has implemented projects in 106 countries, ranging from health systems strengthening to supply chain management. Headquartered in South Boston, JSI currently operates from eight U.S. and 60 international offices, and has more than 500 U.S.-based professionals and 1,600 host country staff. The company is a top USAID contract awardee, winning 15 contracts worth $271.3 million in fiscal year 2014. Management Sciences for Health Type: Implementing NGO Founded: 1971 President and CEO: Jonathan D. Quick Sector: Public health With over 2,400 employees in 65 countries, Management Sciences for Health provides research, innovation, advocacy and capacity building to health systems around the world and responds to priority health problems, such as HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and maternal, newborn and child health. Headquartered in Medford, MSH reported revenues of $313 million in 2014, down from $321 million in 2013. The bulk of the firm’s program expenses is directed toward integrated health programs (60 percent), followed by HIV and AIDS (24 percent) and tuberculosis (6.5 percent). Many of the firm’s interventions for HIV and AIDS as well as maternal health have wide coverage in Africa, with an estimated 16 million people reached in Ethiopia and 12 million in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Oxfam America Type: Implementing NGO Founded: 1970 President: Raymond C. Offenheiser Sectors: Poverty, water and sanitation, human rights, and humanitarian relief In response to the humanitarian crisis created by the fight for independence in Bangladesh, a group of volunteers founded Oxfam America in 1970. Today it is one of 17 members of the international Oxfam confederation, which works to reduce poverty and hunger around the world. Headquartered in Boston’s North End, Oxfam America employs 308 staff across its offices in the U.S. and international offices in Senegal, Ethiopia, Sudan, Cambodia, El Salvador and Peru. The organization spent $82.6 million on its programs in 2014, up from $79 million in 2013. Partners In Health Type: Implementing NGO Founded: 1987 CEO: Gary Gottlieb Sectors: Cancer and chronic diseases, child health, cholera, community health workers, Ebola, HIV and AIDS, mental health, nursing, surgery, tuberculosis, and maternal health Partners In Health aims to bring modern medical science to those most in need. Headquartered in Boston, PIH employs 16,000 staff spread across 10 countries, with revenues of $97 million in 2014, up from $92 million in 2013. About half of program expenses (44 percent) are channeled to Haiti, with Rwanda receiving 18 percent, Lesotho (7 percent) and Peru (7 percent), among others. Projects range from providing health care to 65,000 people through mobile clinics in Haiti to hiring more than 200 Ebola survivors in Liberia and Sierra Leone to help expand PIH’s response to the crisis. Pathfinder International Type: Implementing NGO Founded: 1957 President and CEO: Purnima Mane Sectors: Adolescents and young people, advocacy, cervical cancer prevention, contraception and family planning, HIV and AIDS, and maternal and newborn health Pathfinder International works to improve the sexual and reproductive health of women, men and young people in developing countries. Headquartered in Watertown, the organization employs more than 1,000 staff spread across 19 offices in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Pathfinder has an annual budget exceeding $100 million, which is mainly directed toward sexual and reproductive health programs in more than 20 developing countries. Its projects have ranged from providing family planning services in Yemen to scaling up home-based care for people living with HIV and AIDS in Tanzania. Root Capital Type: Investment and finance Founded: 1999 CEO: Willy Foote Sectors: Financial services Root Capital is a nonprofit social investment fund that invests in small and growing agricultural businesses in Africa and Latin America. Since 1999, the fund has disbursed more than $740 million in credit to over 530 businesses in Africa and Latin America. Apart from lending capital, it provides businesses with financial training and helps strengthen their market connections. In 2014, the fund disbursed $178 million to 279 small businesses. Headquartered in Cambridge, Root Capital employs over 120 staff in eight offices across the U.S., Latin America and Africa. Other noteworthy development employers in the Greater Boston area: ● Accion International ● Advanced Engineering Associates International Inc. ● Center for Global Health and Development (CGHD), Boston University ● FSG ● Hunt Alternatives Fund ● The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab ● World Education Inc. Did we miss any major development organization based in the Greater Boston area? Let us know in the comments section below. Also check our lists of top aid groups in other global development hubs such as London, New York, Paris and Washington.