Thomas Debass serves as the Deputy Special Representative for Global Partnerships at the U.S. Department of State. He is responsible for managing the Secretary’s Office of Global Partnerships and provides leadership on partnerships related to economic growth, global finance, entrepreneurship, and technology programming. His recent partnership accomplishments include: the International Diaspora Engagement Alliance (IdEA), Caribbean Idea Marketplace (CIM), Latin American Idea (La Idea), Diasporta, Accelerating Market-Driven Partnerships (AMP), Liberalizing Innovation Opportunity Nations (LIONS@FRICA), and Unreasonable@State.

Prior to joining the State Department, he was Lead Economist/Deputy Director in the Office of Investment Policy with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in Washington, DC. Mr. Debass also served as a senior technical advisor in USAID’s Global Development Alliance and Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade teams, where he developed USAID’s Diaspora Networks Alliance (DNA) framework and the associated African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM) competition. He also developed access to private capital partnerships, including the microRISK Alliance (MRA) and numerous credit guarantee and technical assistance facilities in African and Latin America.

Prior to his development finance career, Mr. Debass worked on agricultural research projects in Bangladesh and East Africa. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a master’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics and a bachelor’s in Economics. Mr. Debass also has an Executive Certificate in International Business Management from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.