Recently, 24 of Mary Reed's World Geography students attended an event at the Junior League sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Houston where they met William C. Eacho, III, who served as the United States Ambassador to Austria from September 2009 until July 2013.
In this role, he focused on helping the United States attract foreign direct investment, including securing an investment in Texas of close to $1 Billion by an Austrian steel producer.
He also represented the U.S. in working with international energy companies on the Southern Corridor gas pipeline to bring Caspian Sea gas to Europe in 2017.
Previously, Mr. Eacho served as CEO of Carlton Capital Group, LLC, Executive Vice President of Alliant Foodservice Inc., and founding co-Chairman of UniPro Foodservice, Inc. Students heard Ambassador Eacho discuss the essential role of economics in foreign policy and offer insights on how to strengthen international economic policymaking.
They enjoyed hearing anecdotes about the lifestyle he and his wife led representing the U.S. aboard, and what it might be like should they decide to go into foreign service. He addressed the European Union countries’ struggle for economic recovery.
Students learned about the success of countries like Austria, whose GDP is relatively healthy and unemployment rate is the lowest in Europe and how the tools of economic statecraft can be used to support the health and growth of Europe and the United States?
Students attending were:
Johnny Kaldis, Elizabeth Bik, Maya Prakash, Vincent Huang, Zachary Hattig, Alec Norman, Andrew Su, Merrill Pecci, Carson DeLaRosa, Ryan Caesar, Vincent Huang, Ben Froehlich, Saahil Bhakta, Stephanie Thomas, Davis Palmie, Paige Shiring, Alex Hwang, Bradley Lostak, Yuan gao, Benjamin Highes, Josh Glass, Max Hardy, Frank Yang, Mark Oldham.
