Innovation Summit - Meridian International Center

Speaker Biographies
Sean Greene is the Associate Administrator for Investment and Special
Advisor for Innovation at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). He is
responsible for both the all Business Investment Company (SBIC) program
and the Small Business Investment Research (SBIR) program. He also leads
SBA’s efforts focused on stimulating high-growth entrepreneurship and has
been one of the leaders in the Administration’s Startup America initiative.
Mr. Greene has 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, investor, and
business strategist to the SBA. He was the founder and CEO of Away.com,
an online travel company that he sold to Orbitz. He was also a co-founder of
Rock Creek Ventures and LaunchBox Digital. Previously Mr. Greene was a
management consultant with McKinsey and Co.
Anne-Marie Gulde is Deputy Director of the IMF’s African Department.
She directly oversees the Department’s work on a number of Southern and
Central African countries, including South Africa. Before re-joining the African
Department in 2012 she held positions in the European and Monetary and
Capital Markets Departments. In her earlier tenure in the African Department
(2004-2007) Ms. Gulde was mission chief for the two monetary unions
(WAEMU and CEMAC) and coordinated the department’s financial sector
work. She has published widely on different topics in international economics,
with a focus on exchange rate regimes, currency boards, and financial
stability and development issues. Her publications on Africa include among
others The CFA Franc Zone: Common Currency, Uncommon Challenges (with H. Tsangarides, eds,
2008) and Sub Saharan Africa: Financial Sector Challenges (with C. Pattillo and J, Christensen).
Grant T. Harris currently serves as Special Assistant to the President
and Senior Director for African Affairs on the National Security Staff of the
White House. Prior to this position, Mr. Harris was Deputy Chief of Staff and
Counselor to Susan E. Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and
a member of President Obama’s Cabinet. Mr. Harris also served as Senior
Policy Advisor to Ambassador Rice and was a member of the Obama/Biden
Transition Team. Previously, Mr. Harris was an associate at the law firm of
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where he focused on international
financings and business transactions. Prior to that, Mr. Harris served in the
African Affairs Directorate at the National Security Council at the White House
and at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations during the Clinton Administration. His writings have
appeared in such publications as Yale Journal of Law & Policy, Berkeley Journal of International
Law, Israel Law Review (peer-reviewed), and The San Francisco Chronicle. He received the Francis
Lieber Prize from the American Society of International Law for outstanding scholarship in the field
of the law of armed conflict.
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