THE PEMBROKIAN 7THE PEMBROKIAN 6

The bomb attacks on September 11th occurred two weeks before I arrived at Oxford. � e US-led military

coalition invaded Afghanistan during my � rst term: 2001 shaped the arc of my life.

Shortly after my year at Pembroke and graduation from the University of

Pennsylvania, I commissioned as an Infantry O� cer in the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division. For 16 months in 2006-2007, I led a platoon of 40 soldiers on a combat tour in eastern Afghanistan. My experience was trying: I lost three of my men in a mountainside ambush and my commander to a roadside bomb. My unit struggled to bring security and stability to a volatile insurgent sanctuary on a major transit route between the tribal areas of Pakistan and central Afghanistan. Our failures and the broader failures of the international community to achieve lasting peace left me disillusioned, but also committed to improving life in war-torn countries.

Along the way, I witnessed that economic development was a critical, but often neglected and mismanaged part of the con� ict resolution equation. In my

experience, it also had the most immediate and meaningful impact for local people a� ected by war. I departed the Army and won a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study and work in post-con� ict development in East Africa. Subsequently, I earned a dual degree at Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School, continuing to pursue my passion for post-con� ict development. I worked in Egypt and Haiti, as well as returning to Afghanistan three times as a civilian, on several research and consulting projects, focused on private sector development and entrepreneurship.

With two classmates, I started a frontier market investment advisory � rm called CrossBoundary LLC with the mission of spurring investment and transactions in the most di� cult business environments in the world. Currently, we are working

with public and private investors on an investment fund focused on high growth-potential local businesses in Afghanistan. We are also working to facilitate investment and build the capacity of the investment authority in the newest country in the world, South Sudan. Both countries have great potential but face tremendous challenges. � ey have been important testing grounds for CrossBoundary’s unique investment facilitation model, in

REBUILDING ECONOMIES by Erik Malmstrom (2001)

which we act as a neutral non-government facilitator to identify attractive investment opportunities, link them to capital, and facilitate transactions. We have quickly gained traction and are pursuing promising opportunities in other transitional and fragile states in Africa and Asia.

My time at Pembroke was formative in twomain respects: the tutorial system stretchedme to my intellectual limits, teaching me

how to think and argue, and the people made a deeply lasting impression on me. � ey opened up my mind to new ways of looking at the world, and imagining the future, all of which inspired me in the years ahead.

For more information, visit: www.crossboundary.com

Above: This picture is at a memorial for fallen soldiers from my unit at a forward operating base in Jalalabad. I am lost in my thoughts staring at the photos of my fallen commander and two of my soldiers. You can also see the photo of the planes going into the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Left: Here, I was interviewing the owner of a marble mining operation (he’s on the left). The guy in the middle was my interpreter, who worked for me when I was in the Army. He was wounded on an ambush after I departed. When I was doing research in 2010 I hired him to work for me again. Incredible guy who has become a close friend.

Below left: I was introducing my replace-ment to the village elders and discussing the status of some development projects in the village of Aranas. He was killed in an ambush fi ve months later. In that ambush, all 27 US Army and Afghan National Army soldiers were either killed or wounded.