Known for his innovative and strategic leadership with extensive background in the private and public sector, Paul Getty Altidor was named Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Haiti to the United States on January 2012 and presented his credentials to President Barack Obama on May 2.
Ambassador Altidor spent his early years where he was born in Jérémie, Haiti. He attended primary school in Jérémie then studied at the Centre d’Etudes Secondaire in Port au Prince. His family later moved to Boston where he completed his secondary education. Ambassador Altidor received his undergraduate degree from Boston College. He earned an advanced degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also pursued graduate studies in law and economics at the University of Paris X, in France. Before taking office, Ambassador Altidor was Vice President at the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund in Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Altidor has an extensive private sector background. As a management consultant, he counseled firms in many countries on corporate governance and responsibility. In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, Ambassador Altidor led a team of professors and researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Community Innovators Lab down to Haiti. At the request of Haitian authorities, the team provided guidance to reconstruction officials on housing policy and financing.
Prior to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Ambassador Altidor worked at the International Finance Corporation where he advised governments on infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships. He has also worked for the World Bank. Ambassador Altidor has taught at Ecole Supérieure Catholique de Droit de Jérémie, a law school in his native town of Jérémie, and he is a frequent speaker at universities in Haiti and the U.S.