WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cloudburst Group, a leading consulting firm serving public and private sector clients in natural resource management, housing and community development, and public health, announced today that Dr. Gregory Myers has joined the company as Director of Private Sector Engagement. Dr. Myers will oversee Cloudburst's growing practice area supporting private sector clients in improving their policies and practices for managing land tenure and property rights issues related to their investments. 

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Prior to joining Cloudburst, Dr. Myers spent 13 years leading the United States Agency for International Development's work on land tenure and property rights. As the Director of USAID's Office of Land Tenure and Resource Management, Dr. Myers managed a $700 million global program focused on improving land and resource governance in developing countries.

During his time at USAID, Dr. Myers served as the United States Government's senior technical adviser on land governance issues. In this capacity, he played a key role in the development of the United Nations Committee for World Food Security's two landmark agreements in this sector: the Voluntary Guidelines for Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT) and the forthcoming Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (RAI). Dr. Myers served as the Chair of the negotiations for the former and the lead negotiator for the United States Government for the latter. Dr. Myers was a leading force in developing a global group for the donor community focused on land governance.  With over 20 donor members and nearly 3 billion dollars invested, this group has become the preeminent body focused on supporting implementation of the VGGT, and is positioned to also support the forthcoming RAI. Since 2012 Dr. Myers has worked closely with the White House, providing technical support for G7/G8 agreements.

"Dr. Gregory Myers is widely recognized as a global thought leader on land tenure, property rights and responsible agricultural investment," said Cloudburst President, J. Patrick Moynahan. "Dr. Myers' energetic thought leadership and deep expertise – both in the field and in high-level international fora – will be a tremendously valuable asset for The Cloudburst Group. We are delighted to welcome him to our team."

Dr. Myers has worked on land governance issues in over 25 countries for more than 25 years. He speaks and writes frequently on the subject of property rights and investment. To keep up with Dr. Myers' work and publications, follow him on Twitter at @Gregorywmyers.

About The Cloudburst Group

Since 2005, The Cloudburst Group has worked to improve the effectiveness of programs that assist underserved socially and economically disadvantaged persons in the United States and around the world. With expertise in research and evaluation, data and knowledge management, policy analysis, technical assistance, training, and communications, Cloudburst provides services to government and industry clients across practice areas including natural resource management; public health; housing and community and economic development.  For more information, visit www.cloudburstgroup.com and follow us on Twitter at @CloudburstGroup.

Contact: Jeremy Green, Program Analyst, +1-240-582-3611, jeremy.green@cloudburstgroup.com

SOURCE The Cloudburst Group