An accomplished marketer and manager with rich experience in financial services, civic leadership, the arts and diplomacy, Oliver began his career over three decades ago as a columnist for Afro-American Newspaper and deputy director of Public Affairs for the GovernorÕs Commission in Maryland. He then went on to work as deputy director in the Office of External Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania, transitioning to the Annenberg Center to direct special projects, produce and direct films and lecture in Film Studies. In 1980, he became an award-winning independent producer of documentary films focusing on West Africa.
Oliver's record of public service is highlighted by his position as Deputy City Representative for the City of Philadelphia, during which time he established the Office of Arts and Culture and doubled municipal arts funding. He also served as the City's first Chief of Protocol to provide a municipal focus on international business, Sister Cities and international relations, and was Deputy Director of the Transition Team for the Goode for Mayor Campaign.
Mr. Franklin then moved into the private financial sector, working in the areas of investment analysis and advising, development and marketing and senior management of such companies as Pilgrim Baxter & Associates in Wayne, Dreyfus Trust Company in New York City and Fidelity Management Trust Company in Boston. As senior vice president at Fidelity, he developed the firmÕs strategy for entry into the large public pension fund market and was its primary intermediary with large public retirement funds, endowments and foundations. As founding partner of RISA Investment Advisers in Philadelphia and Capetown, South Africa, he developed the first U.S. based mutual fund to invest in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange; his socially responsible RISA (Reinvest In South Africa) fund was designed to speed economic transformation and end economic apartheid in South Africa. Last September, Oliver brought HRH Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, to Philadelphia to help launch The Jubilee International Education Fund, a program founded by Mr. Franklin that will send several Simon Gratz High School students to Britain for an extended academic and cultural tour in July 2003.
Since 1989, Oliver has represented the British Government in Philadelphia as Honorary British Consul, focusing on trade, investment and consular and public diplomacy. A former member of the International House Board of Trustees, he serves as a trustee for the Philadelphia Foundation, the Rosenbach Museum and Library, the Global Interdependence Center, the South African Environmental Trust and the Sir Hans Koopler Trust in New York and London. Oliver is also a director of Right Management Consultants, Inc. (NYSE:RIGHTMG) and serves as president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Oxford and Cambridge Society. He was educated at Lincoln University and at the Balliol College of Oxford University, where he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow.