Ambassador Alice M. Dear, banker, businesswoman, diplomat and Africanist, is President of A.M. Dear & Associates, a business consulting and investment advisory boutique specializing in promoting private sector investment in Africa and strategies to support small and medium scale enterprises, including women-owned businesses. As an international business consultant, she draws on her expertise in banking and operational experience in Africa that spans 30 years. Through her association with business organizations, trade groups, and Non-Governmental Organizations, she also actively works to address gender issues in economic development. She is a frequent speaker on private sector development, entrepreneurship, and effective negotiations.
A former Vice President of the Africa Millennium Fund LLC, Ambassador Dear was a member of the management team selected in August 2001 by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to structure and manage a $350 million private equity infrastructure fund for sub-Saharan Africa. To maximize AMF’s development impact, Amb. Dear designed the Women and Small Business Initiative as an integral feature of the Fund to address the needs of women and other economically disadvantaged groups. Due to market conditions, however, the fund did not launch.
In 1994, President Clinton appointed Ms. Dear, with unanimous Senate confirmation, as U.S. Executive Director of the African Development Bank (AfDB), a position holding ambassadorial rank. For six years (1994-2000) she represented the U.S. Government on the Board of Directors of AfDB, headquartered in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. AfDB is Africa’s premier financial institution and contributes to the economic development and social progress of its 53 regional member countries.
Ms. Dear’s familiarity with the nuances of African business, political and cultural affairs complements her skills in international banking, finance and marketing garnered during her 11-year tenure on Wall Street. While in the Middle East and Africa Division at Irving Trust Company (now Bank of New York), she held positions as an international lending officer, trade finance specialist, and marketing officer for operational services. Her success in banking was acknowledged in The American Banker, the industry’s daily newspaper, when she was profiled among “Top Executive Women to Watch.” The Urban Bankers Coalition, Inc. honored her as “Banker of the Year.”
A frequent panelist and moderator at conferences on international trade and finance, Ambassador Dear currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, Africare, and Plan USA. She serves on the International Planning Committee of Global Summit of Women and is a member of the American & African Business Women’s Alliance (AABWA) and the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a former representative to the United Nations Association of NGOs for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., an international service organization with which she has affiliated since college. Ambassador Dear has received numerous honors for her professional achievements and community service.
Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, she holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Pace University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Howard University. A certified Registered Representative (National Association of Securities Dealers, Series 7 & 63), Ambassador Dear speaks French fluently and over the past 35 years has traveled extensively throughout Africa. She resides in New York City.