IESC Remembers One of Its Founders
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Behrman, pictured on the far right, attending IESC’s opening ceremony in the White House Rose Garden in June 1968. |
August 30, 2016 – Earlier this month, IESC lost one of its founding partners, Jack N. Behrman, who died on August 19, 2016, at the age of 94.
Behrman had a long and varied career in government and academia with a focus on domestic and international business and trade and on mobilizing volunteer expertise to support private sector development around the world.
From 1961 to 1964, Behrman served as assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Commerce. It was during this time that he served an instrumental role in establishing IESC. Behrman was present in the White House Rose Garden in June 1964 when President Johnson announced the establishment of an ‘Executive Service Corps,’ through which American business people would provide technical and managerial advice to businesses in developing countries and emerging markets. IESC was founded in collaboration between leaders of American business, among them David Rockefeller, Frank Pace, and Sol Linowitz, and government entities, most particularly the newly established United States Agency for International Development. Behrman was a champion for the creation of IESC on the government side.
Berhman was also instrumental in the founding of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and helping U.S. businesses enter emerging markets. IESC has been an OPIC loan originator since 2007.
After working in government, Behrman spent 27 years at the Kenan-Flagler Business School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Staff members at IESC remember Behrman as a lovely and kind man.
