Martin Powell
Global Head Urban Development Practice Head Center of Competence, Cities Americas
Biography
Martin has global responsibility for the Urban Development practice in the Siemens Centre of Competence for Cities. This involves working with Mayors in more than 100 cities to provide technology advice and support to the cities as they strive to meet tough economic, social and environmental targets and looking at technical models of delivering solutions at scale. He is currently leading the go-to-market approach for digitalization in cities and the concept of an operating model for cities that will allow cities to remain competitive in a time of game-changing trends.
Martin joined Siemens in 2012 after serving as the Deputy Mayor of London for Energy & Environment to the former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. He was responsible for policy in water, waste, air quality, energy, climate change mitigation and adaptation and biodiversity and also served as the Executive Director for the design and delivery of the City’s environmental programs.
Prior to his role with the City of London, Martin served as Managing Director with Cambridge Management & Research, Ltd. where he worked for the Energy Saving Trust and the Institute for Sustainability. Additionally, he served as Special Advisor to Michael R. Bloomberg in his role of Chair of the C40 Cities Group during his time as Mayor of New York.
A graduate of the University of Dundee in Civil Engineering, Martin built his career working with organizations as a consultant and in the rail industry to structure their projects, programs and approach to optimizing delivery of services.
Press and Publications
Martin is frequent speaker at urban development conferences and expos and contributes to publications, research reports and white papers. He has been published in two books on the topic of urban development: Better Cities, Better Life and Smart Cities, Cities in the Digital Age available on Amazon UK.
Recent articles and videos include: