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Former USAID Assistant Administrator joins Creative Associates International as Senior Vice President

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earl Gast, a global development expert with more than two decades of experience managing results-driven programming, will join Creative Associates International as a Senior Vice President.

In this new role, Gast will oversee the Education Division—which is Creative’s oldest unit—and the Economic Growth Division, the organization’s newest division. Together, these two divisions have projects in eight countries.

Creative Chief Operating Officer Pablo Maldonado said the Education and Economic Growth Divisions have grown their project portfolios, including new programs in Nigeria and Nicaragua, during the past year and are expected to continue that upward movement.

“Earl’s deep experience will greatly benefit our clients, host governments, implementing partners and beneficiaries,” says Maldonado. “It is this type of high-caliber talent that allows Creative to develop innovative, locally focused programs that result in positive changes for beneficiaries.”

Former USAID Assistant Administrator

Most recently, Gast was a Senior International Advisor at Covington & Burling, LLP, in Washington, D.C., where he co-led the firm’s Africa Practice since December 2014.

Previously, he was a senior U.S. government executive with 24 years of experience in international development and foreign policy.

Appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate, in April 2012 he was sworn in as the Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Africa Bureau, USAID’s largest bureau, which at that time had program resources of more than $8 billion covering more than 40 countries on that continent.

During his tenure as Assistant Administrator, Gast initiated new partnerships and Presidential initiatives, including Power Africa and Trade Africa, and leveraged funds from multiple global organizations to achieve greater scale and results. He also worked across U.S. government agencies and with the White House to draft the President’s Strategy for Africa.

Gast earned awarded a master’s degree in political science and Middle East studies in 1987 from The George Washington University. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in history and criminal law. In addition to his native English, Gast speaks Russian and Arabic.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]