Leadership and Board

Leadership Team

Michael Levett
CEO and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors

Michael Levett is CEO and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of CDC Development Solutions, where he has led the company’s expansion into over seventy countries on five continents with diversified funding. Prior to joining CDC Development Solutions in 1994, Mr. Levett developed and managed trade, cultural, and commercial ventures in the countries of the former Soviet Union and Central Europe. He then returned to Washington, D.C. to serve as the founding president of Business for Social Responsibility, today’s leading business organization that develops and disseminates socially responsible corporate strategies to businesses of all sizes and industries and that links socially responsible practices and competitive companies. Mr. Levett was also Vice President at two international film production companies, Lucasfilm, Ltd. and Dino DeLaurentiis Corp. He was a reporter for The Los Angeles Times, a White House Fellow, and a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University with a focus on environmental and regional planning issues. He holds B.A. and J.D. degrees from UCLA. Mr. Levett is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Small Enterprise Assistance Funds and is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee.

Deirdre White
President and COO

Deirdre White is President and Chief Operating Officer at CDC Development Solutions. With over 20 years’ experience in international development, Ms. White is responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of CDC Development Solutions. She also oversees the creation of new “Development Solutions”, based on industry needs and trends, and for the adaptation of these innovative models to local realities. Prior to joining the organization in 2002 as Vice President for Business and Program Development, Ms. White was a Senior Manager at Arthur D. Little, Inc. (ADL). At ADL, Ms. White oversaw international development and educational initiatives funded by USAID, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Union’s Technical Assistance to the CIS office, and others. As Deputy Director and then Director of Russian Operations for the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), Ms. White oversaw more than one dozen exchange and professional training programs. Ms. White has consulted with numerous organizations involved in professional or educational development, including: the Eurasia Foundation, the Fulbright Program, the US Agency for International Development, United States Information Agency, the ARD/Checchi Rule of Law Consortium, the Business for Russia Program, the Russian-American Bankers Forum, and IREX. An alumna of the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. White is a fluent speaker of Russian, and is conversant in French and Spanish.

Robert Webster
Vice President

Robert Webster is the Vice President for Programs at CDC Development Solutions, covering the four practice areas of Tourism Development, Supply Chain Development, Stability and Economic Recovery, and Global Citizenship and Volunteerism. After eight years of commercial lending to small businesses in the United States, Mr. Webster managed varied economic development projects in Romania, Macedonia, Vietnam, Egypt, and Bangladesh, including a private equity fund in Skopje, Macedonia. These projects were financed by USAID, IFC, EBRD, and other bilateral donors. He has technical expertise in SME debt and equity financing, value chain development and competitiveness, agribusiness, microfinance, and economic policy reform. Bob has both an MBA and a BA in mathematics from Indiana University. He has also completed the executive program Financial Institutions for Private Sector Development at Harvard’s Kennedy School and is working toward a Master’s degree in agricultural economics with the University of London.

Moussa Diouf
Chief Financial Officer

Moussa Diouf is Chief Financial Officer at CDC Development Solutions. As CFO, Mr. Diouf has responsibility for upholding strong financial management and accountability; providing timely, accurate and reliable financial information; and enhancing internal control. Before joining CDC Development Solutions, Mr. Diouf worked for Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, an international nonprofit organization and winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. There, Diouf held the position of Senior Accountant for four years before being promoted to Controller in 2004. Mr. Diouf holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting with a minor in Finance from The University of the District of Columbia. He is currently completing a master’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management at the Johns Hopkins University.

Board of Directors

Chairman of the Board

Lew W. Cramer
President and CEO, World Trade Center Utah 

Vice Chair of the Board

Michael A. Levett
CEO, CDC Development Solutions

Samuel Berger
Chair, Albright Stonebridge Group

William Delphos
Managing Director, Delphos International

James L. Hickman
Managing Partner, Mosaic Networks, LLC

James A. Jaffe
President and CEO, National Association of Seed and Venture Funds

Michael Kernan
Division Director and General Counsel, Macquarie Real Estate

Philip H Mirvis
Senior Research Fellow, Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship

Member, Trujillo Rodriquez & Richards, LLC

Tom Schneider
President & CEO, Restructuring Associates Inc.

Chairmen Emeritus

Drew Lewis
Chairman and CEO, Union Pacific

Dana G. Mead
Chairman of the Corporation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

John Murphy
Dresser Industries

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