serving the next pennsylvania

We promote service to our communities, our commonwealth and our country as the key to developing effective leadership, responsible government and global awareness and we aim to encourage informed and informative discussion about the responsibilities of our democracy at the local level and on the world stage.

This is The Bisbee Project.

STEVE BISBEE, President
DAN BISBEE, Managing Director

20080507

Profile in Service: MICHAEL J. BAUMGARTNER

MICHAEL J. BAUMGARTNER

Michael J. Baumgartner is currently serving as a foreign advisor to an Afghan counternarcotics team, developing economic and security policy with the Governor of Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Michael served as Deputy Director, Economics in the Office of Joint Strategic Planning & Assessment (JSPA) at the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq from May 2007 - June 2008. During the course of the “Surge” he coordinated US support of the Baghdad Security Plan (BSP) counterinsurgency effort with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Iraqi cabinet officials.

Other notable activities while in Iraq include co-authoring a paper on the “Consequences of US Withdrawal from Iraq” in preparation for Ambassador Crocker’s September 2007 Congressional Testimony; serving as lead coordinator and author of the Embassy’s 2010 Mission Strategic Plan; and regularly lecturing at Counterinsurgency Leader’s Course for deploying officers at Camp Taji, Iraq.

Previous to Iraq, Michael worked in a number of international business activities. These included working in the Executive Office of the Crown Prince of Dubai, serving as Vice President of a consortium attempting to build a new telecom network in Saudi Arabia and advising a US gold mining company in Venezuela.

In total, Michael has travelled to or worked in more than 60 countries. Notable trips include a year as a volunteer assisting the Jesuits of Mozambique, a summer with Transparency International in Kathmandu, Nepal and participation on a Joint US/Russian Forest Service project at Lake Baikal, Siberia.

Michael enjoys lecturing and his experiences in academia include working on the faculty of the Catholic University of Mozambique, serving as Teaching Fellow at Harvard College in economics for Dr. Jeff Sachs, and lecturing at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates and at the Brigade Combat Team Commanders Development Program at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

Michael holds a BA in Economics with minors in Math and French from Washington State University (’99) and a MPA in International Development from Harvard University (’02). He also completed one year of study at the ESC Graduate School of Business in Chambery, France.