An international investment banker by profession, Mitch retired from Merrill Lynch in 2002 as Managing Director and Head of Global Public Credit Origination. During his Wall Street career, Mitch held senior management posts in New York, Chicago, Singapore, Tokyo, London(twice) and Jakarta with Merrill Lynch as well as two British merchant banks, Samuel Montagu and Kleinwort Benson, where he also served on the Board at each bank).Mitch is a former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian & Pacific (now, Indo-Pacific) Security Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy) and, concurrently, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for the same region (2008-2009). He previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Central Asia (2007-2008). He has twice been awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal forOutstanding Public Service. Mitch, while resident at US Embassy, Kabul, 2004-2005, served as the Department of State’s senior advisor for economics and finance to two US ambassadors (Z. Khalilzad and R. Neumann) as well as the Afghanistan ministers of Finance, Economy, and Commerce. For his service in Afghanistan, Mitch received a Presidential Award of Excellence from President Hamid Karzai.He is a Distinguished Graduate of Monmouth University, served on its Board of Trustees, and attended New York University’s Graduate School of Business Administration. Mitch was an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a combat veteran of Vietnam. He has served as a gubernatorial appointee for three New Jersey governors, his last office being a NJ Senate confirmed member of the New Jersey State Investment Council overseeing the investment of US$75 Billion in public funds.Mitch is currently on the Advisory Council of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Washington, DC, and is a Trustee of the Marine