Our Company

Blackstone Corporation Resource Management & Tourism Consultants Inc. is a Canadian consulting company specializing in international development. The company was formed in 1991 by its two partners, Sally Davidson (B.A., M.A., M.C.P.) and Barbara Lamb (B.E.S., M.Sc.) to assist a variety of clients around the world to bring a people-centred approach when designing and implementing projects. Our partners and associates are specialists in the social sciences, responsible tourism and stakeholder consultation.

Most of our assignments over the past 15 years have involved strong components related to building civil society, including institutional assessment, legal/regulatory analysis and development of community initiatives programmes for community-based action. This type of work has become a mainstay of our firm’s activities, notably related to complex and sensitive post-conflict and post-Soviet contexts throughout the Balkans, Eastern Europe and former republics of the Soviet Union. Our work has resulted in demonstrable action related to ensuring that people's interests have been directly integrated into development projects across a wide spectrum of sectors, including: social infrastructure (i.e., water, sanitation, solid waste management; transportation; environment, parks and heritage resource management; tourism; energy and mining development; urban planning; land tenure and cadastre; agriculture; irrigation and drainage, etc.).

Our tourism practice is also very strong, focused on the development of sustainable and responsible tourism. We are specialists in the areas of alternative and nature-based tourism, cultural heritage and community-based development.

We have carried out projects in Canada and in over 35 countries around the world and are able to work in both English and Spanish. Our clients have included: municipalities; national and regional governments; private sector developers; and major international lenders and donors including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Canadian International Development Agency.

Our Partners

Sally Davidson (B.A., M.A., M.C.P.) has Master's degrees in both applied anthropology and urban planning. She is responsible for administration, business development, quality assurance and project management for the firm, and directs all social analysis projects. Prior to the co-founding of Blackstone Corporation in 1991, Ms. Davidson worked for 12 years for a large transportation engineering firm. In 1987, the senior planning, environmental, social sciences and economics staff of the firm formed a separate company within the parent organization, to focus on "people and environments" assignments in a global context. Sally was appointed as President and grew the company from two to 17 staff persons over four years with offices in Toronto and Vancouver. In 1991, Sally co-founded Blackstone Corporation to bring a people-centred approach to development projects in Canada and throughout the world.

Ms. Davidson has acted as Project Director for a number of major multi-sectoral Canadian and international development projects. Her project experience has encompassed a wide range of sectors including: urban and community-based development planning; land tenure and cadastre assessments; tourism planning and product development; social analysis and impact assessment; poverty analysis; needs assessment; participatory development, stakeholder consultation (qualitative and quantitative methodologies); awareness-building and constituency development; post-conflict analysis; cross-cultural, indigenous populations and minorities studies; and gender analysis and action plans. Sally has worked across a large number of sectors, including: social infrastructure; energy; resource management; transport; tourism, parks and recreation; cadastre/land tenure; urban planning; rural development and farm restructuring; etc.. She has traveled and/or worked in over 60 countries around the world.

Barbara Lamb (M.Sc), co-founder and Principal of Blackstone, is an urban planner, economic geographer, tourism analyst and institutional development specialist with over 25 years experience. She has undertaken a diverse range of assignments on behalf of government and private sector clients, the World Bank, IADB, ADB and CIDA in over 25 countries around the world. These assignments have involved assessment of economic, environmental and socio-cultural issues and sensitivities for a variety of sectors including tourism, environmental management, cultural heritage management, transportation, social infrastructure (water/sanitation/power), solid waste management, land tenure/cadastre, irrigation and drainage, rural development/farm restructuring, and hazardous waste management. In virtually every case, extensive consultation with local cultures was involved. Barbara has extensive expertise in tourism/ecotourism, having undertaken market and financial feasibility analyses for hotels, resorts, indoor and outdoor tourism attractions and amenities on behalf of private sector clients, and tourism and ecotourism development strategies, financing strategies, for governments and donor agencies. This tourism work has been undertaken in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, North and South America, thus enabling her to bring an in-depth knowledge of market trends and what is working and not working in various destinations. Able to work in Spanish, Barbara has extensive Latin American experience covering Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. In addition, she is an island/coastal zone specialist, having worked in fifteen Caribbean countries, beginning in 1980, in environment and tourism.