Warren Smith
Insights, Innovation and Impact Director
Warren is widely considered a thought leader in modern commercial and procurement delivery, with over 30 years of public and private sector experience. During his time as a senior official at the UK Cabinet Office and Government Digital Service (GDS), among other things he:
- Introduced user-centred, design-led, data-driven and open approaches in public contracting
- Was instrumental in helping to set up what was the GDS Digital Marketplace and the GDS Global Digital Marketplace Programme, which created blueprints that other governments around the world continue to aspire to
- Led or contributed to a number of thematic groups for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), most notably the Working Party of Senior Digital Government Officials, the Working Party of Leading Practitioners on Public Procurement, and the Working Party of Senior Public Integrity Officials; and Championed the UK Government’s adoption of the Open Contracting Data Standard and the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard
Since October 2019 Warren has led several Working Groups within the United Nations (UN) International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ‘United for Smart Sustainable Cities’ (U4SSC) global initiative. Warren currently co-leads the U4SSC Working Group on ‘Intergenerational Procurement, for People-Centred Cities’.
He has been and continues to be cited in a range of thought-provoking publications, podcasts and articles, produced by globally-respected organisations such as:
- Open Data Institute and the Open Contracting Partnership
- Digital Impact Alliance
- Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) Institute 'Conversations With Leaders' podcast episode 'Accelerating Government Procurement Through Digital Transformation'
- AWS Institute ‘How to make public procurement smart and sustainable by design’ article
As Posterity Global’s Director of Insight, Innovation and Impact, Warren is responsible for helping a broad range of organisations who want to modernise and reimagine procurement - be that policies, procedures, processes, or working practices - as a lever to achieve inclusive, equitable and sustainable policy outcomes that have positive economic, social, cultural, and environmental impacts.