Paul Vollmer Applegarth (born April 21, 1946) is an American business executive, financial consultant, banker, and lawyer.[1][2] He was the first chief executive officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, President George W. Bush's flagship project to provide development aid to poor countries.[3][4]
Early life
Applegarth was born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Alice (née Vollmer) and William "Bill" Francis Applegarth, an engineer, college professor, and manufacturer of air conditioners.[5][6] The family moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1947 where Applegarth was raised.[7][8][9]
He attended the Christ the King School, before going to the Marist School where he was manager of the football team and graduated in 1964.[5] Applegarth attended Yale University, receiving a B.A. cum laude in economics, with a minor in corporate finance and development, in 1968.[2][5][7] While there, he was a member of the fraternity of St. Anthony Hall.
From 1968 to 1970, he served as a lieutenant, then captain, in the United States Army during the Vietnam War.[3] He describes his role in Vietnam as "part Peace Corps and part Special Forces."[3] In addition to combat, he built schools and trained village chiefs.[3]
Applegarth was managing director and chief operating officer of the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund from 2001 to 2002.[2] Sponsored by European governments, this fund combined private sector money with public funding to build power plants, roads, and other infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa.[3] Applegarth then became chief executive officer of the consulting firm, Value Enhancement International.[4]
In 2004, President George W. Bush appointed Applegarth as the first chief executive officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).[3] A new approach to foreign aid, MCC was established as an independent government organization.[3] It awarded grants to partners, some of the poorest countries in the world, who are committed to economic and political freedom.[3][10] Applegarth said the job “represents a culmination of an awful lot I’ve done in my life. The job and the whole mission seemed to be made for me.”[3] In June 2005, he announced that he would be stepping down from his CEO position after just eleven months.[10]