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Verso University: 'A Daring Enterprise' Author Talk with James Harmon and Cornelius Queen
Event Details
Join authors James Harmon and Cornelius Queen for an evening exploring A Daring Enterprise: A US-Egyptian Partnership and the Case for Soft Power, in conversation with moderator and financial journalist Daniel Gross.
Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
Why You Should Come
Whether you follow foreign policy, emerging markets, or simply want to understand how American influence is actually built — or lost — this conversation will challenge the way you think about U.S. engagement abroad. You'll hear firsthand from the people who navigated revolutions, political chaos, and Washington dysfunction to deliver one of the most quietly consequential foreign policy successes of recent decades. Come ready to ask the questions that Washington hasn't answered: what happens when soft power works, and what is at risk if we were to walk away from it?
About A Daring Enterprise
In the aftermath of Egypt's 2011 revolution, the U.S. Congress created an unlikely instrument of foreign policy: a private investment fund charged with jumpstarting the Egyptian private sector. The Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund — backed by $300 million in U.S. government capital — operated against a relentless backdrop of political instability, currency devaluations, anti-Americanism, and Washington dysfunction. Over fifteen years, the Fund invested in more than 150 companies, helped create over 75,000 jobs, and grew to an estimated value of more than $500 million, doubling the original U.S. taxpayer investment. A Daring Enterprise tells this story in full, drawing on the firsthand experience of the Fund's leadership to make a broader argument: that investment-driven soft power offers a proven, bipartisan model for advancing American interests in the Middle East and beyond. Endorsed by Hillary Clinton, H.R. McMaster, and Robert Zoellick — and praised by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius as an "amazing story" — the book arrives at a moment of acute relevance, as the U.S. government actively considers scaling the enterprise fund model as a pillar of its commercial diplomacy. For readers of international affairs, emerging markets, and U.S. foreign policy, it is a rare thing: a success story with lessons that are urgently transferable.
About The Authors: James Harmon and Cornelius Queen
James A. Harmon is chairman of the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund and a veteran of both Wall Street and Washington. He served as chairman, president, and CEO of the Export-Import Bank of the United States under President Clinton from 1997 to 2001, and before that led the investment bank Schroder Wertheim & Co. as chairman and CEO. He is chair emeritus of the World Resources Institute, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and holds a BA from Brown University and an MBA from the Wharton School. He is also the author of Up and Doing. Cornelius Queen serves as senior vice president of the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund, bringing more than a decade of on-the-ground experience in the Middle East. He previously managed a humanitarian aid program in Lebanon during the Syrian refugee crisis, served as a legislative aide in the U.S. Congress, and participated in the Carter Center's election observation mission during Egypt's 2011–2012 elections. He holds an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, a BA from Johns Hopkins University, and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. The discussion will be moderated by Daniel Gross, one of the most widely read financial and economic journalists in America, whose work has appeared across more than 60 publications including The New York Times, Newsweek, Slate, and the Washington Post, and who is the bestselling author of eight books on finance, economics, and business history.
About The Moderator: Daniel Gross
Moderator Daniel Gross is one of the most widely read financial and economic journalists working today. A bestselling author of eight books, he has written for The New York Times, Newsweek, Slate, The Washington Post, and dozens of other publications, and has served as editor-in-chief of Strategy+Business magazine. He holds degrees in government and history from Cornell University and an AM in American history from Harvard University.
About Verso University
Verso University is the Library’s lifelong learning and education initiative, serving up year-round offerings of classes, workshops, and lectures designed to further education and learning. Offerings run the gamut of educational opportunities, ranging from one-time lectures to ongoing courses to classes that meet weekly or perhaps monthly.
Verso University programs are made possible by the generous support of the Nancy J. Beard Lifelong Learning and Education Fund.
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