Ricardo Michel is the Executive Vice President of AMEX International an international development consulting firm that has provided high impact solutions to government agencies, NGOs, and corporations around the globe for over 30 years. Mr. Michel oversees the strategic business development, personnel, marketing, and operations of the company. With a strong background in finance and accounting, Mr. Michel brings over 20 years of private sector, public sector, international development, and leadership experience to the organization.
Prior to joining AMEX, Michel, a Presidential Appointee under President Obama, served as senior official at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Mr. Michel drove the Agency’s strategic utilization of high-impact local and global public-private partnerships for accelerated sustainable development and led the U.S. Global Development Lab as Director of the Center for Transformational Partnerships. Additionally, while at USAID, Mr. Michel served as Acting Director for the Office of Innovation and Development Alliances and as Senior Advisor for Economic Growth and Trade in the Africa Bureau, where he led a critical White House development policy initiative known as the Partnership for Growth in Ghana and Tanzania.
Mr. Michel’s prolific public service experience is unique and diverse. He has served as Senior Project Officer in Bank’s Project & Structured Finance Division of the Export –Import Bank of the U.S. and also as the International Business Development Officer for Africa. Mr. Michel came to Ex-Im Bank after having worked as an independent consultant offering strategic and business advisory services to clients in both the domestic and international arenas. Most notably, he served as an advisor to a newly established private equity fund in Botswana. He was also the Senior Trade and Investment Advisor for the African Development Foundation (USADF), where he was instrumental in establishing the Foundation’s Trade & Investment initiative which focused on investing in small and medium enterprises throughout Africa.
Prior to USADF, Mr. Michel worked for several years as an investment banker for JPMorgan Securities Inc., focusing on mergers and acquisitions within the Financial Institutions Group. His career as a Certified Public Accountant included working abroad for Centre Reinsurance Ltd., a finite risk reinsurance company in Bermuda, and as an auditor for Arthur Andersen, LLP in their Philadelphia and Bermuda offices.
Mr. Michel received his MBA in Finance and International Strategic Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Cum Laude graduate of Temple University’s Scholastic Honors Program and holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting.