Rosenfield Symposium: Africa's Role in the International Arena
Mr. Coles is the former president of Africare, the oldest and largest African-American led organization providing aid to Africa. Previously, he served as the director of the Andrew Young Center for International Development at his alma mater, Morehouse College, and the director of the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center at Howard University.
In 1966, Mr. Coles joined the United States Agency for International Development where he worked over a 28-year career in a broad range of countries including Vietnam, Morocco, Nepal, Liberia, Swaziland, and Senegal. He retired with the rank of Career Minister in 1994.
He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bretton Woods Committee. He has served on the boards of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, the African Development Foundation, InterAction, Global Impact, Alliance Francaise of Washington, and the Society for International Development.
Mr. Coles was given the James Madison Medal from Princeton University in 2007, the Amistad Achievement Award in 2003, and was named a Commander in the Order of the Lion by the Government of Senegal in 1994. He was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, and received his bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College and his master’s degree from Princeton University.
