Erik Bethel

General Partner at American Frontier Fund

Speaker

The Hon. Erik Bethel is an accomplished global finance professional with over twenty-five years of experience in the private and public sectors.

He currently serves on the leadership team at Americas Frontier Fund, a non-profit enterprise committed to reinvigorating American innovation in sectors such as critical minerals, battery technologies, and semiconductors. Mr. Bethel is also a Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Senior Advisor at White Oak, a $10Bn private credit firm. He serves on other Boards including Oxford Analytica, Largo Physical Vanadium, and Republic.

In 2020, Mr. Bethel was the U.S. Ambassador Designate to the Republic of Panama. Prior to this, he was nominated by the President and confirmed unanimously by the Senate to represent the United States at the World Bank. At the World Bank, Mr. Bethel played a pivotal role in the analysis and deployment of over $100 billion of capital through grants, loans, equity investments, and other financial products. While at the World Bank, Mr. Bethel also spearheaded a number of technology initiatives, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the tokenization of World Bank loans.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Bethel worked as an investment banker and private equity professional with a focus on making investments in in natural resources globally. He held the position of Managing Director at Franklin Templeton Investments, where he executed resource-related private equity transactions in Latin America. Before this, he was based in Shanghai, China, as the Managing Partner of SinoLatin Capital, and Managing Director of ChinaVest. Mr. Bethel also held a variety of emerging markets-focused private equity and investment banking positions at J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley in both New York and Mexico City.

Mr. Bethel is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and The Wharton School of Business. He speaks Mandarin, Spanish and Portuguese.