Former USAID Assistant Administrator R. David Harden Joins Souktel’s Board of Directors
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.
What is Souktel? The Digital Advantage
Souktel designs, develops and delivers digital solutions that help international development implementers boost their outreach and impact. From hubs in Washington, DC and Ramallah, the company changes lives across the globe, providing advisory services and software to major donors and UN agencies — including USAID, DFID, UNDP and UNICEF — as well as leading implementers Save the Children, Mercy Corps, Chemonics and DAI, among others.
Souktel’s unique work has been profiled by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and its technology has been cited as a disruptive innovation by the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, and Accenture. Souktel has received venture financing from Sadara Ventures — whose investors include Google, Cisco, the Skoll Foundation, and the European Investment Bank — and from the Sharakat SMEs Investment Company, a subsidiary of the Palestine Investment Fund.
