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Donald Gips

Before being asked to be President Obama’s personal representative to South Africa, Ambassador Donald Gips served as Assistant to the President. He was a leader on the Presidential Transition Team and then served in the White House, where he ran the office of Presidential Personnel, overseeing the selection of several thousand political appointments for the Obama Administration. Ambassador Gips previously served in the White House during the Clinton administration, working as Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Al Gore among other key strategic roles. From 1998-2008, Gips was Group Vice President of Global Corporate Development for Level 3 Communications, where he led merger and acquisition efforts and was the Chief Strategy Officer. Gips also served as Chief of the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission where he was responsible for WTO negotiations and spectrum policy. Additionally, Gips is dedicated to promoting a culture of service and helped launch America’s national service program, Americorps. Before entering government, he was a management consultant to Fortune 500 companies at McKinsey & Company. Gips received an MBA from the Yale School of Management and received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University.

• Rebooting innovation in South Africa

  Since I became the United States Ambassador to South Africa last October, I have met truly inspiring South Africans with great ideas almost every day.  I have been very impressed with South Africans’ ability to link abstract knowledge and real-world application. With such talent, it seems natural that this beautiful, vibrant country should become a global innovation hub for the 21st century. Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan emphasised in his 2010 Budget Speech that “successful developmental states are built not just through public policy and state action, but ...