Dr. Robert Voetsch, PhD, PMP, is a Senior Advisor to the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Voetsch has more than 30 years of experience working in over 20 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East working in the areas of economic development, private sector development, public sector reform and institutional capacity-building. Dr. Voetsch specializes in the coordination between the public and private sectors in national economic governance. Dr. Voetsch has been very involved in Afghanistan development issues with the recent publication of an article on Afghanistan post-World Trade Organization (WTO) accession. He also served as a panelist on an Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce seminar to discuss post-WTO membership obligations and opportunities for Afghanistan and the international business community.

Previously as a Senior Manager with Deloitte, Dr. Voetsch served as Project Manager for the USAID-funded Afghanistan Civil Service Support (earlier Capacity Development Project) valued at $238 million. This project also worked with the Afghan private sector to develop the national economy through vocational training centers in Kabul and Kunnar provinces. Earlier with BearingPoint, Dr. Voetsch served as Chief of Party of the USAID-funded India State Fiscal Management Reform Project (REFORM) on which he led a team of fiscal management experts in a diverse fiscal management reform program working in the Karnataka, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand. This project worked closely with the private sector to introduce a value added tax regime in Uttarakhand. Lastly, Dr. Voetsch was the Project Management Officer responsible for deliverables under a commercial project with the Abu Dhabi Higher Corporation for Specialized Economic Zones (HCSEZ). In this project a diverse program to develop HCSEZ capability and business options was developed under an accelerated 100-Day program.

Dr. Voetsch received his Doctorate in Management and Technology from George Washington University. He also holds a Masters of Project Management from George Washington University along with a Masters of Public Administration and a Bachelor‘s degree in Political Science from American University. Lastly, he is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute and an IC Agile Professional (ICP).