As Square Circle continues to grow, we are making a number of strategic appointments to better serve our partners and the communities in which we work.

Our first announcement is the appointment of Dr Tim Grice as Square Circle’s inaugural CEO. Dr Grice is well placed to lead Square Circle’s next stage of growth, having worked at the intersection of governance, social relations and social impact in the Pacific, Southeast Asia and Africa for more than two decades.

“At Square Circle, we’re building a unique contribution to the development sector”, said Dr Grice. “We’re focused on new opportunities for locally-led partnerships, new models for cross-sector collaboration, and new approaches for inclusive, just and sustainable futures.”

One of Square Circle’s Founding Directors, Tim previously led our Partnerships and Innovation portfolio. In his new role as CEO, Tim will lead Square Circle’s internal operations while supporting our international and domestic projects across our Governance and Social impact, Education and Capacity Development, and Research and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning service areas.

“Square Circle’s approach of insight–action-impact connects our academic and critical training with our practical experience as development practitioners,” said Dr Grice. “Drawing on both, we’re focused on ‘growing well’ with our development partners. For Square Circle, this means staying true to our founding values of People, Relationships and Knowledge, Just and Sustainable Futures and Diversity, Inclusion and Impact.”

Over the course of his career, Dr Grice has held a range of leadership roles in both the corporate sector and in academia. He has worked extensively with governments, industry, and civil society to facilitate multi-stakeholder collaboration, to support local agency and participation, and to undertake research that makes an impact for local peoples. From the social and ecological impacts of extractives and infrastructure projects, to climate change adaptation and peacebuilding, to leadership development and institutional strengthening—Tim’s work has spanned local, regional and global scales to foster inclusive practices that value diverse conceptions of development. For Square Circle, Tim’s focuses on governance and policy reform, investment design, adaptive programming, institutional strengthening, leadership development, social research, and monitoring, evaluation and learning across a wide range of fields and sectors.

Tim has also pioneered Square Circle’s digital storytelling capability, a small sample of which is featured in the pictures below.