Board of Directors

Alan Fleischmann

Managing Director

Alan H. Fleischmann has held leadership positions in domestic and global arenas across the private, public and civil society sectors at the local, state, federal and international levels. He has in-depth experience in strategy, communications, negotiation, diplomacy, reputation management, finance, and public policy development.

Fleischmann is co-founder, board member, and managing director of ImagineNations Group, a partnership-based global network that provides young entrepreneurs with financial capital, technologies, business/leadership coaching and an on-line portal (www.imagine-network.org) in emerging and frontier markets. These initiatives support the employment and entrepreneurship of young women and men, contribute to building thriving communities, and catalyze the creation of micro- and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Fleischmann represents ImagineNations as a founding member of Partners for a New Beginning (PNB), launched by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, as a collection of global and local private-public partnerships committed to broadening and deepening engagement between the United States and select countries to promote economic opportunity and education. He was chairman of the Executive Committee of the World Bank-ImagineNations Global Partnership for Youth Investment (GPYI). Fleischmann received the 2008 Goodwin Award from the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz in Siena, Italy, on behalf of ImagineNations for its global work promoting entrepreneurship throughout the developing world.

For several years, Fleischmann has advised corporate, individual and political leaders on strategic communications, messaging, image and crisis management, and positioning. He has worked with a wide range of Fortune 500 corporations and foundations, their chief executives and top leadership, domestically and globally, as a managing board member of the international strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG). He has been senior vice president of the global strategic communications firm Penn Schoen & Berland Associates (PSB).

In September 2011, Fleischmann was appointed by the White House, the Secretary of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative to serve on the Industry Trade Advisory Committee (ITAC). With this appointment as Trade Advisor, Fleischmann's role is to reflect the perspectives of the private sector. In May 2011, President Obama announced his appointment of Fleischmann to serve as a Member of the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. The Presidential Commission is charged with recognizing future leaders of the United States, and honoring them for their outstanding achievements. In 2010, Fleischmann was appointed by the Obama Administration to serve as a Delegate to the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. He was also a Lead on the Obama Presidential Transition from 2008-2009, overseeing the agency review team for international financial institutions and regional development banks, and serving on the executive committee of the Green Bank Coalition.

Previously, Fleischmann served two terms as the chief of staff to Maryland Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, having been responsible for directing and overseeing policy development, management, legislative relations, and the staff of their State House operations. He coordinated the work of six cabinet departments and agencies with a $31 billion state budget, including business & economic development, international commerce, transportation, the state police and criminal & juvenile justice systems. Fleischmann was a member of the Governor's cabinet. He served on the board of the Maryland Student Service Alliance (MSSA) as Maryland became the first and only state in the country to require that all students perform community service as a condition to get a high school diploma. During their tenure, they also created the first statewide Character Education office in the country and launched the acclaimed "HotSpots" community-driven crime prevention initiative.

Fleischmann served as a staff director of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. Congress and its Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. In addition, Fleischmann served in an advisory capacity to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. During his tenure, he was instrumental in the development and negotiations of free trade agreements within the western hemisphere and focused on U.S. policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean, including NAFTA, and U.S. environmental policy and the protection of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, the consolidation of the Central American peace processes, U.S.-Cuba policy and the debt crises.

Prior to serving in Congress, he was the vice president of the trade investment company LATCORP, Inc., where he advised multi-national companies on strategic challenges and opportunities in Latin America and designed joint ventures, franchises, and export-import agreements. Previously, Fleischmann served as senior associate of the Chase Manhattan Private Bank (JP Morgan Chase) in New York and Argentina, where he was a graduate of the Chase management training program and part of the team that launched the Chase Vista Latin America Opportunity Fund.

During the historic period of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Fleischmann served as a policy aide in the German parliament, while working for former German Chancellor, SPD Party Chairman, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Willy Brandt and his foundation for development and peace, after being awarded a Bundestag Fellowship at the Friedrich Wilhelms Universität. Fleischmann was elected and served as the Sprecher/Leader of the fellowship during his time in Germany.

Fleischmann is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has been a featured speaker at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and at the 2009 Global Philanthropic Forum. Fleischmann has served on the boards of several prominent institutions and organizations, including the World Security Institute (WSI) and OFFITBANK, the wealth management private bank, which merged with Wachovia Bank (Wells Fargo Bank). Fleischmann also serves on other boards, including the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Medical Center, School of Public Policy of the University of Maryland, and the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University (AICGS).

In 2008, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley appointed Fleischmann to serve on the board of directors of the University of Maryland Medical System, where he serves on its executive committee. He is a member of the Robert F. Kennedy Center Leadership Council and is an original member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Fleischmann also serves on the Board of Directors of the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, the Board of Advisors of the James R. Jordan Foundation, and ASSET, the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking. He has been a technical consultant to Paramount Pictures on an upcoming film.

Fleischmann was awarded a M.A. with honors from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he serves on its board of advisors and leadership committee. He received a B.A. and B.S. with honors from American University, where he was the valedictorian and student body president. He was the 2008 Alumnus of the Year, awarded by the School of International Service (SIS) of American University, where he serves as the chairman of the board of the Dean's Council. Fleischmann received the 2011 Cyrus A. Ansary Medal from American University, given to a member of the university community who has demonstrated leadership and commitment to professional & public service and philanthropy. He is also a graduate of the Gilman School.

Fleischmann is married to Dafna Tapiero, the head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Strategic Community Investment at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group. She is also the founder of the CommDev and FIRST Funds. Fleischmann and Tapiero are parents to two young daughters. They are members of the Global Philanthropists Circle (GPC).

He speaks Spanish and German.