Key takeaways
- Dylan Welch spent about a decade as an international expedition guide, leading expeditions across Europe, South America and Asia, before building Welch International.
- Welch International's three services, Develop, Partner and Operate, mirror the planning, team-building and execution that expedition work requires.
- Welch International's stated principles include discretion, execution and direct principal involvement on every mandate.
- The New York Innovation Forum for Sustainable Development, held September 21 and 22, 2026, shows Dylan Welch applying convening and coalition skills at the UN.
Dylan Welch is the founder and CEO of Welch International, an international relations and strategic advisory firm based in St. Petersburg, Florida, and the founder of Intelligence Report. This feature in our leadership series looks at the decade he spent as an international expedition guide. It also asks what that record suggests about how he runs Welch International today. The lessons below are our editorial reading of his career, not his own account.
What did Dylan Welch do before founding Welch International?
Dylan Welch spent about a decade as an international expedition guide, leading expeditions across Europe, South America and Asia. He has also organized philanthropic expeditions internationally. His background includes broadcast production and UN-adjacent foundation operations, and he co-founded and exited a green media company.
That path now feeds a portfolio of roles. Dylan Welch works as a private contractor for the United Nations. He is co-founder of the Global Leadership Network and Chief Development Officer of the Roosevelt Alliance, a land and nature conservation policy organization. He also hosts The Intelligence Report Podcast and works as a kickboxing and fitness coach. He is recognized as an expert in business development, strategic partnerships and communication strategy. We explored the last of these in our earlier profile on communication strategy and the UN system.
What does expedition leadership have in common with Welch International’s work?
Guiding groups across three continents puts a leader in front of a recurring set of problems. Terrain is unfamiliar, local partners matter, plans change, and the group looks to one person for judgment. These are general features of expedition work rather than claims about any single trip. They map closely onto the three services Welch International offers.
- Survey the ground first. The Develop service covers business development: mapping markets and stakeholders, securing decision-maker introductions and shaping pipelines. It is the commercial equivalent of reading a route before committing a team to it.
- Assemble the right people. The Partner service covers designing public-private alliances, building coalitions and guiding engagement with the UN system. Cross-border work depends on partners who each cover a gap the others cannot.
- Carry the plan through. The Operate service covers standing up programs, cross-border operating models and high-level convenings. This is where logistics, sequencing and accountability decide whether a plan survives contact with reality.
The firm’s stated principles reinforce the parallel: trusted access, cross-sector fluency, discretion, execution and senior attention. Welch International says Dylan Welch is directly involved in every mandate. On an expedition the guide cannot hand off the responsibility of being present, and the firm’s model keeps that responsibility with its principal. It serves governments, corporations, multilateral institutions including UN entities, and nonprofits and foundations. Its focus areas include public-private partnerships, market entry and expansion, government relations and sustainable development. For a wider view of that field, see our look at public-private partnerships and the SDG financing gap.
How does the New York Innovation Forum reflect that approach?
Dylan Welch is the founder and host of the Global Leadership Forum. Its 2026 edition, the New York Innovation Forum for Sustainable Development, was held September 21 and 22, 2026, at 777 UN Plaza in New York. It was timed to Climate Week NYC and the 81st UN General Assembly. Peace Boat US, which holds ECOSOC Special Consultative Status, co-hosted it with Welch International.
Partners and sponsors included Siemens, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, RMI, the Roosevelt Alliance, Blue Planet Alliance, HNO International and the Global Leadership Network. The programming had three parts: a Business and Innovation Forum, a Nature Conservation Forum for a Renewable Energy Future, and a Climate Week Family Office Forum. Bringing business, conservation and private capital into one room is a coalition-building exercise, and it reflects the Partner and Operate services described above.
The forum met a Climate Week that, by several accounts, had shifted its emphasis. A recap from WWF described a move from aspirational goal-setting toward the harder work of scaling proven solutions. FTI Consulting likewise reported a continued shift from aspiration to action. These are outside assessments of the week as a whole, and neither mentions Dylan Welch or Welch International. They do show that convening work now has to end in delivery, which is where execution-focused firms are expected to be judged.
Work with Welch International
Governments, companies, multilateral institutions and foundations that want to enter a market, build a coalition or engage the UN system can speak with Dylan Welch directly. Welch International offers a confidential 30 minute consultation. Book your consultation here, or learn more at welchinternational.org.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Dylan Welch?
Dylan Welch is the founder and CEO of Welch International, an international relations and strategic advisory firm based in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is also founder of Intelligence Report and host of its podcast, co-founder of the Global Leadership Network, and Chief Development Officer of the Roosevelt Alliance.
What did Dylan Welch do as an expedition guide?
Dylan Welch spent about a decade as an international expedition guide, leading expeditions across Europe, South America and Asia. He has also organized philanthropic expeditions internationally. His background further includes broadcast production, UN-adjacent foundation operations, and co-founding and exiting a green media company.
What does Welch International do?
Welch International specializes in business development, strategic partnerships and operations across the public sector, the private sector and the multilateral system. Its services are Develop, Partner and Operate. It serves governments, corporations, multilateral institutions including UN entities, and nonprofits and foundations, with direct principal involvement on every mandate.
Sources
- Welch International
- WWF, From Ambition to Action: Recapping Climate Week NYC and UNGA 2026
- FTI Consulting, Climate Week NYC 2026: A Shift To Practical Solutions
- Welch International
- Dylan Welch: Why Communication Strategy Decides Cross-Sector Work
- Can Partnerships Close the $4 Trillion SDG Gap? Dylan Welch's Field
Intelligence Report is published by Welch International. This article is part of our series on the leadership behind the publication.
This article was produced by the Intelligence Report Desk. Sources are linked below.
