In a more than 30-year career with the UN, John Burley worked for UNDP and the UN Secretariat in New York and for UNCTAD in Geneva. He was a Conseiller Municipal in Divonne-les-Bains from 2008-2020 and in 2019-2020 as Maire adjoint. He is a member of Greycells, association of former international civil servants for development.