How & Why of Promoting entrepreneurship abroad - Richard Boly,National security affairs fellow for 2008-2009 at the Hoover Institution June 24, 2009

The idea of US diplomats promoting the growth of entrepreneurial ecosystems through US embassies may sound odd, but Richard Boly did just that at US Embassy, Rome. Now he is proposing that a dozen embassies do the same.

Many US diplomats today have had prior careers as entrepreneurs or VCs before joining the Foreign Service. Historically, half the US Ambassadors to the countries with the 50 biggest economies have been political appointees, people like Tom Stephenson from Sequoia Capital and Rock Schnabel of Trident Capital. Richard Boly will outline the success of the program in Italy and the strategy to scale that model.

Richard Boly is a career U.S. diplomat and Hoover Institution National Security Affairs Fellow. He recently served in U.S. Embassy, Rome, where he launched and ran a program to promote entrepreneurship in Italy. Other embassy assignments include the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Paraguay. In a prior life, he founded and ran a shrimp hatchery in coastal Ecuador. He is a graduate of Stanford University and the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at UCSD.

Join us for an interesting evening of discussion and networking with our speaker, other members, sponsors and charter members.

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