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Merrick Hoben

Director, Washington Office / Corporate-Community Engagement Practice

Merrick Hoben is Director of CBI’s Washington D.C. Regional Office where he provides assessment, facilitation, training, coaching, and dispute system design services to public and private clients worldwide. Merrick also co-leads CBI’s Corporate-Community Engagement Practice Area.  His core competence is helping organizations, companies, and diverse groups apply negotiation and consensus building tools toward more creative, effective, and efficient stakeholder engagement and decision-making.  Internationally, he has worked with numerous multilateral development agencies, global NGOs, governments, major companies, and other national partners to institutionalize collaborative approaches to planning, resource, and project management.  Merrick is also a Practitioner Associate at the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program, and Faculty Associate at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.  He is fluent in Spanish. 

Areas of Focus

Merrick helps communities, companies, and authorities to interact more constructively and engage in productive problem solving; address historical grievances and mistrust; and explore creative solutions to complex environmental and social dilemmas. Merrick has expertise in agricultural commodity supply sustainability chains, the extractive industry, and international development issues. He helps lead regional and global efforts to create environmental and social standards for key aquaculture and food commodities. He works with both community-based organizations and Fortune 500s alike to strengthen dialogue capacity, improve community relations, and social performance.  Merrick also supports complex teams transitioning toward higher levels of impact and organizational strategic planning. 

Exemplary Projects

  • Stakeholder facilitation and dispute resolution guidance for IFC/World Bank related to land conflict, human rights, and development disputes in Honduras
  • Design and delivery of tailored social performance training and coaching curriculum for Royal Dutch Shell community-facing staff
  • Inter-American Development Bank Advanced Negotiation and Conflict Management Workshop design and delivery.
  • Participatory stakeholder evaluation and facilitation between Chevron Nigeria, oil-impacted host communities, government, and NGO leaders seeking to improve engagement and decision-making
  • Design and mediation of multi-stakeholder supply chain sustainability initiatives for the Guatemalan palm oil sector, international traders, and concerned stakeholders
  • Operational alignment building and coaching for World Wildlife Fund Global programs and network initiatives 

Clients

The following is a partial list of clients:

International Organizations

  • Inter-American Development Bank
  • World Bank - International Finance Corporation/ Compliance Advisor Ombudsman Office
  • UN Development Programme
  • UN Environment Programme
  • Numerous Government Agencies (in Latin America, Asia and Africa)

Federal Agencies

  • U.S. Department of State
  • Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
  • Environmental Protection Agency
  • Department of Interior
  • National Peruvian Ombudsman Office

Companies

  • Unilever
  • Shell
  • Chevron
  • Newmont
  • Colburn
  • Tahoe Resources

Nonprofit Organizations

  • Oxfam America
  • World Wildlife Fund for Nature
  • The Forest Trust
  • Conservation International
  • Hispanic Access Foundation
  • Niger Delta Partnership Initiative
  • Society for Pediatric Research & American Pediatric Society
  • Lincoln Institute for Land Use Policy

Education and Affiliations

Merrick holds a Masters from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resource and Policy, with a thesis in Dispute Resolution and Human Behavior. He is a faculty associate at the Lincoln Institute for Land Use Policy and a board member for The Access Facility, a dispute resolution resource group.

Books and Articles