Ed Robison contributed more to SRI’s accomplishments in the developing world than anyone except Hoot Gibson. As a Stanford Business School graduate, he was working for a sugar company in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded, getting out just in time. He was on General MacArthur’s staff in the restructuring of Japan’s government.
Ed joined SRI in early 1950s, led a number of regional economic development studies in the United States, including some of SRI’s earliest work on behalf of American Indian tribes. Then he took leadership of our development work in India, under Ford Foundation sponsorship, leading two programs that involved a variety of industry experts and business development specialists over ten years. First was a research and advisory program on small-scale industry development, led by Eugene Staley. The other was establishment of the National Council for Applied Economic Research. Both activities still continue in India.
Ed was an advisor to members of the India Planning Commission, especially pressing for a greater role for private enterprise over government domination. Meanwhile, he negotiated projects for the US Agency for International Development and World Bank in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He also helped establish new economic research institutes in several countries.
Ed served in the 1960s as Executive Director of the SRI Economics and Management Group. During all this time, he mentored many new staff members, showing them how to write proper proposals and how to get along in foreign cultures.