Michael A. Levett is senior director & vice chair of the Board of Directors of CDC Development Solutions, an innovative public-private partnership that promotes economic opportunity and economic growth, jobs creation and prosperity, and responsive, stable and democratic institutions by strengthening the building blocks of private sector development. CDS has worked with many Fortune 1000 private sector partners, including BP, Chevron, Dow Corning, FedEx, IBM, Marathon, Pfizer and others mobilizing the best of what the private sector has to offer in conjunction with the deep local expertise of the public sector to support economic development. The organization has placed a special emphasis on the development of supply chains in oil & gas, agriculture/agribusiness and tourism.
Formerly the president & CEO of CDS, Mr. Levett led the organization’s expansion into more than 80 countries on five continents and the creation of CDS’ practice area in supply chain quality management/Local Content Development. Mr. Levett has more than 30 years of experience working in and with the private and public sectors around the world. He served on five civilian tours in Iraq from 2003-2007.
His professional background includes development and management of international trade ventures, founding the organization Business for Social Responsibility, and vice presidencies at two international film production companies, Lucasfilm, Ltd. and Dino DeLaurentiis Corp. At Lucasfilm, Mr. Levett served as senior corporate executive for international licensing/marketing, publishing and recording for Star Wars series and Raiders of the Lost Ark. He has been a reporter for The Los Angeles Times, a White House Fellow in Washington, D.C. and a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University. He holds B.A. and J.D. degrees from UCLA.