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Blundell's
Sidney Sussex,
Cambridge
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Early Life
Peter Burgess grew up in post-war Britain. He was born in Lancashire, spent the war years in the suburbs of London, and after the war the family moved to rural Devonshire. Both his parents were college graduates who went into teaching.
Formal Education
At 13, in 1953, Peter went to Blundell's School, a boarding school founded in 1604 and subsequently he went up to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge to study engineering. After engineering he studied economics rather than specializing further in the engineering field.
Some Formative Experience
Peter was able to travel widely during his student days, making several trips to Europe and two visits to Canada and the United States.
At school, Peter played rugby and was picked to play for the English public schoolboys against Scotland.
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Accountancy
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Learning Accountancy ... the foundation of modern management systems
After graduating, Peter worked as a management trainee in the heavy engineering company Davy-United which was building equipment for the steel industry around the world. It became clear that more knowledge about management in industry was essential. Peter articled in accountancy with Cooper Brothers & Co and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1965.
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Corporate
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Corporate Management ... Date and analysis to improve profit performance
After moving to the USA, Peter had a series of corporate positions and became a very young CFO. In that role, he has worked in many sectors, from personal care with Aerosol Techniques, technology with Gulton Industries to food and fisheries with Continental Seafoods. He also did a stint as VP manufacturing for Southern States (some 1,300 employees) to improve profit performance.
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Consultancy
WB, UN and others
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Consultancy ... Working to make the world a better place
Since 1978, Peter has worked in more than 50 countries mainly as an independent consultant for the World Bank, the UN, corporate clients and others. Some of this work has been at the national level on government financial management (Kazakhstan) , policy and planning for development (Namibia), as well as work related to refugees (Malawi) and work connected with post crisis rebuilding (Afghanistan) and sector studies (Fisheries, Agriculture, Industry, etc). The common thread was numerical analysis and data!
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TrueValueMetrics
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Post Career ... Development of TrueValueMetrics
Peter's recent work has been related to the development of TrueValueMetrics (TVM). It has been apparent for a long time that the singular focus on the profit metric of performance has been good for owners, but not so much for everyone else, and that better metrics are essential. While there is growing agreement about the need, the way to do it remains an open question. TVM aims to 'number' progress and performance in ALL the dimensions of the complex socio-enviro-economic system, and at the same time facilitate meaningful accountability for all the activities and actors in the system.
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