This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Two and a half years in the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa, convinced Peter Sullivan ’82 that he had found the key to a sustainable economy.
“I went into the Peace Corps right after graduating from Lafayette,” he says. “I went over as a quasi-socialist and came back convinced that the success of an imbedded economy hinges on access to capital.”
Sullivan felt so strongly that he obtained a master’s in finance/international business from Columbia Business School.
“My goal was to get into NGO [non-governmental organization] work or to be employed by an international bank,” he says.
In 2004, Sullivan became director of Citigroup’s new Public Sector Group.
“This job is a culmination of all I ever wanted to do. In essence, I came back to where I started in Peace Corps,” he says. “We are helping countries meet their social, economic, and political goals. The group is less motivated by profit and more by greater good.”
Sullivan sees it as an opportunity to help build economies in ways never available before, on a scale never seen before.
“Efforts were not global previously, but rather were reactive on local basis,” he says. “This new endeavor is no longer just about micro-credit. For a people with no access to savings or any kind of banking product or services, credit is not the solution. It can’t just be about lending. It has to be about economic development. Our objective now is to relate best practices around the globe – to relate one country to another to enable teaching and learning.”
Sullivan joined Citibank in 1989, working in New York with the team that covered Israel and credit issues. He later moved to London to work for the company in European and global trade.
A multi-faceted, global approach has been of interest to Sullivan since his college days. The ability to major in international affairs was the primary reason he chose Lafayette.
“The curriculum afforded me the choice to have a focus on a balanced approach that I could use,” he says. “To do what I am doing today, I had to have studied history, economics, language, and government relations.”
Ian Peleg, then head of the international affairs program, helped Sullivan develop the analytical skills he needs in his position.
“His classes taught me to analyze the forces at work to see what is really going on – to peel back the onion, so to speak. It is what drives international affairs, which is always a complex issue. You have to gain insights to be effective,” he explains.
Sullivan also values the community spirit he found at Lafayette.
“From formalized to informal events, from frats to sports, I was always amazed at the team spirit. There were no selfish people and everyone was keen to work with each other and see the power of a joint effort,” he says.
It is not coincidence that this same ideal is the driving force behind the Public Sector Group Sullivan now leads.
Lafayette continued to touch Sullivan’s life beyond his undergraduate experience. He met his wife, Andrea Josephson Sullivan ’84, after graduation, and when he arrived at CitiGroup, he met up with Ana Duarte McCarthy ’81, who is chief diversity officer for the company.