Josef Konvitz joined  the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development  in 1992  after nearly twenty years on the  history faculty of Michigan State University. He led the OECD's work on urban policy from 1992 to 2003. As Head of Division, Regulatory Policy, from 2003 until his retirement in 2011, Konvitz designed and implemented a strategic, multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral programme to strengthen regulatory quality and regulatory reform.

Konvitz holds degrees from  Cornell University (BA with Honours in History, 1967), and Princeton University (PhD in History, 1973).  He is Honorary Professor of Education, Glasgow University (2010-15),  Visiting Professor, Cities Programme, King's College London (2012-15), and a Global Advisor for the UN Global Compact Cities Programme based at RMIT, Melbourne, Australia.  As an historian, he is the author of three books, 30 articles and many reviews on urban economic and cultural development, infrastructures, public policy decision-making and regulation, ports, and the history of cartography, and is the recipient of several fellowships and prizes ( including Woodrow Wilson Center Fellow '87; National Endowment for the Humanities, '79 and '84; Nebenzahl Prize, the Newberry Library '87; Best Article Prize, Urban History Association, '92).