Dr. Gregory Myers Joins The Cloudburst Group As Director, Private Sector Engagement, Land Tenure

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 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. 

Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140908/143933

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

NSA Uses Private Sector Data Collection for Public Sector Purposes: Impacts on Big Data and Commerce

— Frost & Sullivan finds “Trolling” communication highways in the interest of information threatens personal privacy

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The National Security Agency (NSA) now has access to virtually all online and mobile communications, as well as most credit card transactions, conducted in or through the U.S. The NSA is also tapping into the most popular smartphone applications, including Angry Birds, Google Maps, and Twitter. However, the NSA is far from the only entity treading on personal privacy to achieve its objectives; the private sector is teeming with examples of companies obtaining personal user data through questionable means and deploying it in even more questionable ways.

Frost & Sullivan’s new analysis, Stratecast Confidential: The Impact of the NSA on the Big Data Market – and Global Communications, finds that the NSA obtains information related to 99 percent of the calls placed within or outside the U.S. This is because even when calls originate with another operator, they are carried, at least in part, over equipment owned by the U.S.-based carriers whose data the NSA obtains. The research goes on to analyze the issues and impacts resulting from the actions of the NSA, as well as commercial and research entities, both on the populace at large and particularly on the Big Data market.

For complimentary access to more information on this research, please visit: http://bit.ly/V4qSQK

“Since electronic communications are the lifeblood of commercial activities, the fact that the NSA is collecting data from companies in the private sector may begin to have a chilling effect on the U.S. economy,” said the report’s author, Jeff Cotrupe, Industry Director, Big Data & Analytics, Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan. “Also, by figuratively placing all relevant communications in the U.S. on a dashboard for at-a-glance monitoring, the NSA is creating a scenario where an outside entity that gained control of NSA systems could conceivably and swiftly do a great deal of damage.”

Stratecast’s research, however, finds that all is not lost, as pending legislation and research advancements from several places, including Harvard’s Center for Research on Computation & Society, provide definitional, political, and ethical answers for a growing controversy that is no longer just technological.

“Initiatives in the private sector and academia may preserve personal privacy,” noted Cotrupe. “If successful, this could persuade data hunter-gatherers across law enforcement, public policy, and private commerce to use applied technology to support things like a healthier population–while ensuring things like the U.S. Constitution are still breathing, too.”

Stratecast Confidential: The Impact of the NSA on the Big Data Market – and Global Communications is available as part of Stratecast’s (http://stratecast.frost.com) Big Data and Analytics Growth Partnership Service program. All research included in subscriptions evaluates market opportunities and industry trends following extensive interviews with market participants.

* Want to Learn More? – Sign-up for the Live Webinar*

On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. ET, Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan will host a complimentary live webinar discussing the impact and issues arising from NSA involvement on the Big Data market.

The brief presentation will be followed by a live audience Q&A.

Click the following link for complimentary registration: http://bit.ly/1p5fnoh

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