David Cowles
Mr. Cowles is an accomplished executive with more than 30 years of broad-based international development experience with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Booz Allen Hamilton. Mr. Cowles has held senior management positions providing leadership and guidance on a wide range of economic development issues.
From 2010-2022, he was the Senior Private Enterprise Advisor to USAID’s Europe and Eurasia (E&E) Bureau. In this role he provided management oversight for a number of large, high visibility economic growth programs, ensured the integration of cutting-edge research and best practices into the Bureau’s regional programs, and supported missions in strategy development and project design as well as filling in to cover the absence of key personnel.
Before his tenure as Senior Advisor in the E&E Bureau, Mr. Cowles spent seven years as a Senior Associate with Booz Allen, responsible for growth, management, and execution of economic growth programs for U.S. and international government clients.
From 1980-2003, Mr. Cowles served as a USAID Foreign Service Officer with postings in Kenya, Egypt, and Hungary. From 1999-2002 he served as the Deputy Director for the Center for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade, a hub for economic development expertise within USAID. Prior to that he was the Director of the Office of European Country Affairs (1995-1998), supporting 15 overseas missions from the Baltics to the Balkans. Mr. Cowles also opened and led one of the first USAID missions in Central and Eastern Europe, serving as Mission Director in Hungary from 1991-1995.
Prior to joining USAID, Mr. Cowles worked with Maryland National Bank in Baltimore, Maryland as a foreign exchange dealer responsible for inter-bank trading and advising corporate customers on hedging strategies. Mr. Cowles holds a M.A in Economics from American University and a B.S. in Economics from Coe College. He is also a graduate of the State Department’s Senior Seminar, a long term executive training program.
