Washington D.C. – June 25, 2018 – Souktel today announced that R. David Harden, the Managing Director of the Georgetown Strategy Group and a former USAID Assistant Administrator, has joined its Board of Directors.
“We’re pleased to welcome Mr. Harden to Souktel’s Board,” said Jacob Korenblum, Souktel’s CEO. “As a visionary leader with vast experience at USAID, he brings key expertise which will help drive Souktel’s continued growth.”
Harden added: “Souktel is a dynamic company that melds innovative business principles with development and social impact. Its model, reach, and technical capabilities will help prepare the assistance community for the challenges of the mid-21st century while improving the lives for the world’s most vulnerable. It’s an exciting time in Souktel’s history as the company is poised for accelerated growth in the tech space.”
Mr. Harden is the Founder of the Georgetown Strategy Group, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm that leverages talent, technology, and capital to help solve some of the world’s most complex problems. Working with the private sector, communities, and governments, the Georgetown Strategy Group seeks to promote trade and investment, advance security and stability, develop economic opportunity, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance in the Middle East and Africa.
Before founding the firm, Mr. Harden was a Minister Counselor in the US Senior Foreign Service. He recently served as the Assistant Administrator for the USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance—leading a bureau focused on global crisis response and political transition with an annual budget of $4.8 billion and close to 1,200 staff. Mr. Harden spearheaded all USAID efforts to respond to crises and stabilization efforts – including responses in Haiti, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, the West Bank/Gaza and Yemen.
Prior to his Presidential nomination and Senate confirmation, Mr. Harden served 17 years overseas in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. He was the USAID Mission Director to the West Bank and Gaza and also spent nearly two years as the Deputy Mission Director at the USAID Mission to Iraq. Additionally, Mr. Harden served for three years as Senior Advisor to President Obama’s Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. In September 2011, Mr. Harden helped reopen the U.S. embassy in Tripoli and established the first USAID presence in Libya.
Mr. Harden earned his Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University, a Master of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Franklin and Marshall College.
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