Rich is the CEO of the Iswe Foundation and a democratic innovation specialist. He works with governments, philanthropy and movements globally to create new democratic institutions; including currently working with the UN to establish a permanent Global Citizens’ Assembly to give millions of people a powerful voice in decision-making.In 2004 he founded Involve, which under his leadership became a leading international centre for democratic innovation research, innovation and policy-making. He played a leading role in the Blair and Brown governments on democratic reform. Rich is a trustee of the Local Trust. He is a senior policy adviser to the UK government and has been an adviser to the UNDP, WHO, OECD, EU and many national and local governments as well as NGOs and social movements. In 2022 he received the Democracy Network Equality and Power award.He started his career as an environmental economist working for SPRU, the IPPC and the Environment Council. He has written many policy reports, blogs on the Guardian, DeSmog, Carnegie Europe, New Internationalist, Open Democracy, is author of the ‘Anti Hero’ book and a Clore Social Fellow.