Dan Preston is a clinical professor, director of the Master of International Affairs degree program, and an affiliate faculty member at the Russian and East European Institute and Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Indiana University. Professor Preston's academic and professional work focuses on mobilizing finance for international development.
He teaches courses covering topics ranging from public affairs and international comparative policy to finance and economic development. The study abroad courses he created enable students to study security and development in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, comparative policy and governance in Cuba, and sustainable development in Portugal. He collaborates with and advises various leading international organizations and think tanks such as the OECD, World Economic Forum, Center for Global Development, United Nations, and African Center for Economic Transformation. He serves the university in many capacities involving degree program management, international internships, curriculum, strategic planning, personnel review, overseas education, course internationalization, and peer assessment of teaching. Outside of the university, he leads Watershed Finance LLC, a global advisory firm focused on mobilizing investment for sustainable development and climate solutions.
Professor Preston's professional interests include financing for development, institutional investment, banking, sustainable development, and country competitiveness. His professional and personal experiences have spanned 70 countries and territories. Prior to O'Neill, he held investment banking positions with Citigroup in the U.S. and France specializing in economic advisory, debt management, and capital raising for sovereign governments in Europe, Africa, and Asia and securitization programs for corporations primarily in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Japan. He also worked as a management consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Information Resources on a range of strategic issues for Fortune 500 companies, technology start-ups, and the U.S. government.
