Key People - biodata

Richard Goughnour - Mission Director

Mr. Goughnour has over 28 years of experience with the Agency. He began his USAID career in 1978 as a Financial Management Officer in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, and later served as the Controller for USAID/Ecuador (1987-1992) and as the Regional Controller for USAID/Bolivia (1992-1997). He subsequently served as USAID Deputy Mission Director in both Ukraine (1997-2000) and El Salvador (2000-2002). Prior to his assignment to the Dominican Republic, Mr. Goughnour served as the USAID Mission Director to Brazil (2002-2006), where he was responsible for the full range of administrative and program management activities related to the USAID/Brazil development program. There, he oversaw an assistance program that contributes to the protection of Brazil's unique biodiversity, the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency, HIV/AIDS prevention and tuberculosis control and treatment, employability skills for disadvantaged youth, and the promotion of free trade.
Mr. Goughnour holds the rank of Minister Counselor in the Foreign Service of the United States and is the recipient of several awards. He graduated from the American University/USAID Development Studies Program with highest honors.
Born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1951, Mr. Goughnour graduated from the University of Minnesota where he majored in accounting and business administration. From 1974 to 1976, he served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer and Volunteer Leader in northeast Brazil, working with the Ministry of Agriculture as a financial management consultant assisting a network of cotton cooperatives. He is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish, and has a working knowledge of Russian.

James Watson, Deputy Director

Mr. James Watson began his USAID career in 1989 in Washington, D.C., after graduating from the University of Virginia.  From 1992-1996, he served in Budapest as USAID/Hungary’s Project Development Officer and Local Government Team Leader.  He subsequently spent three years in Washington working in the Europe and Eurasia Bureau where he was the Romania and Turkey Desk Officer and later the Deputy Chief of the Civil Society Division.  From Washington, Mr. Watson spent two years in Georgia at USAID/Caucasus as Chief of the Economic Restructuring Office, fives years as the Program Officer at USAID/Mozambique, and two years as the Program Officer for USAID Southern Africa. 

Jeffery P. Cohen, Program Development Officer

Jeffery P. Cohen, USAID/Dominican Republic’s Program Officer, arrived at post in March of 2006.  A graduate of Michigan State University with a BA in Political Economy, Mr. Cohen served in two staff positions with Peace Corps Honduras, first as the Associate Peace Corps Director for the Municipal Development Project (from 2000 to 2002) and subsequently as the Deputy Peace Corps Director (from 2002 to 2005).  Before his tenure as Peace Corps Staff, Mr. Cohen served as a Municipal Development Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia, from 1997 to 1999.

Jason Fraser, Regional Legal Advisor

Jason Fraser arrived at Post in October 2007. From August 2003 to August 2007, Mr. Fraser was the Regional Legal Advisor for USAID/Southern Africa covering Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Mr. Fraser was also the legal officer for the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau (2001-2003). Prior to joining USAID, Mr. Fraser also practiced law, privately, for law firms in New York and in Boston.  Mr. Fraser is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law (JD), the Columbia University School for International and Public Affairs (MIA) and Bates College (BA, Political Science).

 Stephen Brager, General Development Officer

Before joining USAID/Santo Domingo in August 2006 as General Development Officer, Mr. Brager served four years in Lima, Peru as the Deputy Chief of the Office of Democratic Initiatives. In the middle of his first tour, he volunteered to go to Baghdad for four months to help strengthen the democracy programs. Mr. Brager joined the Agency in 2001 and worked in a variety of offices in Washington, including the Central Asia Task Force (to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and develop a program there) before leaving for Peru. Mr. Brager has a Masters in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego, and received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

Angela Franklin Lord

Ms. Lord began her career with USAID in 1989 as a PSC in the health office at USAID/East and Southern Africa, in Nairobi, Kenya.  During her five years there, she traveled extensively throughout sub-Saharan Africa, including francophone Africa, working on USAID programs related to reproductive health, family planning, maternal and child health, and HIV/AIDS.  She entered USAID as a mid-level Foreign Service officer in 1995 and since then has completed tours in Egypt, Uganda, the Central Asia Republics (Kazakhstan) and most recently, Afghanistan.  Ms. Lord has Masters Degrees in International Studies (American University) and Health Services Administration (George Washington University), and a received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont.   

Duty Greene, Senior Economic Advisor

Dr. Duty Greene has served as USAID/Dominican Republic’s Economic Policy Advisor since February of 2006. With a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics, Dr. Greene was also the Economic Policy Advisor for USAID/Honduras (1997-2006) and USAID/Ecuador (1987-1993), as well as for IDB-UNDP in Nicaragua from 1993 to 1997.  After receiving his BA degree in Political Science from Brown University in 1966, Dr. Greene served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chile until 1969.

David Noble

Before being assigned to USAID/Dominican Republic as its Controller in June of 2005, David Noble served as the Deputy CFO for Overseas Operations from July 2003 to July 2005.  He also served as the Financial Systems Program Manager (Phoenix) in Washington, from July 2003 to June 2003.  A former Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia, Mr. Noble served overseas from 1987 to 2001, as the Regional Controller in USAID/Georgia and USAID/Botswana, and as the Deputy Controller in USAID/Pakistan and USAID/Honduras.