Robert Cole

Senior Consultant & Facilitator

Robert Cole is a Certified Professional Facilitator and Accredited Mediator. He has been working in the dialogue space for over 15 years and with private and public sector clients as a consultant for over 20 years. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from McGill University in 1999 and Masters in Business Administration from HEC-Montréal in 2003, Rob spent 3 years as a management consultant before moving into the field of environmental consulting, as the Director of the social consulting practice at a boutique E&S consultancy, working primarily on the human impacts of large-scale development projects. Throughout this time, he worked closely with affected communities and Indigenous Peoples in North America, the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa. This phase of his career also saw Rob spend 5-years working in Development Finance both for the World Bank in Washington DC as a Senior Social Development Specialist and for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London.

Throughout his career to date, Rob has led small and large-scale dialogue processes for clients in the private and public sectors as well as for international organizations. His work now focuses on facilitation and mediation with a focus on public policy dialogue, public consultation, consent processes, international development and indigenous peoples. He continues to work in Canada as well as internationally. Rob has worked extensively with government agencies including Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, National Defense, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Transport Canada and others. He facilitates bilingually (English & French) and also speaks Spanish.