Rye Barcott is a social entrepreneur, investor, and author who co-founded Carolina for Kibera, With Honor, and Double Time Capital.
| Rye Barcott | |
| Allegiance: |  United States |
| Serviceyears: | 2001 - 2006 |
| Rank: | Captain |
| Nationality: | US |
| Cofounder and CEO of With Honor | |
| Spouse: | Tracy Barcott |
| Mother: | Donna Schwartz-Barcott |
| Website: | It Happened on the Way to War |
| Residence: | North Carolina, US |
Barcott's mother, Donna Schwartz-Barcott, is a nurse and anthropologist who teaches at the University of Rhode Island.[1] His father, Timothy Schwartz-Barcott, is a former Marine Corps captain who served in the Vietnam War. They met while attending graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill.[2]
Barcott attended East Greenwich High School. He graduated in 2001 Phi Beta Kappa from UNC.[3] He attended UNC on a four-year Marine Corps NROTC scholarship.[4] Barcott graduated in 2009 with an MPA and MBA from Harvard University, where he was a Center for Public Leadership Social Entrepreneurship Fellow and George Leadership Fellow.[5] Harvard University President Drew Faust appointed him to a two-year term on Harvard Endowment's Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, and he served as a founding member of the movement to create an MBA Oath.[6] He was elected as a member of Harvard's Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2016.[7]
Barcott served five years on active duty in the Marine Corps, where he attained the rank of captain and deployed to Bosnia, the Horn of Africa, and Iraq.[8] In 2006, he provided written testimony to the Iraq Study Group and authored an article about the Iraqi Military Intelligence Academy in Proceedings, the professional journal of the US Navy.[9] ABC World News with Charles Gibson covered his work in Kibera and his military service in Iraq and named him a Person of the Week and a 2006 Person of the Year.[10] The ABC News story quoted him encouraging young Americans to expose themselves "to how the majority of the world lives ... and I think it'll make you a lot more appreciative of what you've got ... [and] make you a better American and a better global citizen."[11]
While an undergraduate at UNC in 2001, Barcott founded Carolina for Kibera (CFK) in Kenya with Salim Mohamed and Tabitha Atieno Festo. CFK started as a small inter-ethnic soccer program and medical clinic run out of Festo's ten-by-ten foot shack. Today it is an affiliated entity of UNC.[12] Barcott is the chair of the board of CFK,[13] whose Advisory Council included former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and includes former CDC Director Dr. William Roper and the former CEO of the Kenya Medical Association Stellah Bosire.[13]
Barcott co-founded With Honor in 2017 with David Gergen and other veterans. With Honor is a veteran-led NGO focused on promoting and advancing principled veteran leadership in order to reduce polarization. Its advisory board includes post-9/11 veterans, Gold Star family members, and others.[14]
Barcott and Dan McCready co-founded Double Time Capital in 2013 as an impact investment firm focused on clean energy and sustainability. As of February 2017, "Double Time has financed 36 solar energy projects, which collectively produce roughly 10% of North Carolina's solar power and power around 30,000 homes in the state."[15] At that time, North Carolina was ranked second among US states based on cumulative solar installed capacity.[16] The firm also invested in companies offering sustainable products and services.[17]
Prior to forming Double Time Capital, Barcott worked as a special advisor to the CEO and chairman of Duke Energy, Jim Rogers. Barcott formed and led an investment team for the CEO that focused on renewable energy and disruptive growth opportunities.[18]
Barcott delivered the 2007 commencement address to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.[19] He was also the university's 2018 commencement speaker.[20] As an inaugural TED fellow, he gave a speech on "The Power of Participatory Development".[21] He is an annual speaker at the US Marine Corps' Battles Won Academy for Semper Fidelis high school student all-Americans.[22] He is represented by the American Program Bureau and frequently speaks at colleges and high schools.[23]
Barcott serves on the boards of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum,[24] National Democratic Institute,[25] Veterans Bridge Home,[26] the US Institute for Peace,[27] and the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation.[28] He previously served on the board of the international development organization World Learning and its accredited institution the School for International Training, and returned to its board in October 2020.[29]
President Barack Obama appointed Barcott to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board as a representative of the veteran community.[30]
Barcott is the author of the memoir It Happened on the Way to War[31] (Bloomsbury Publishing). The book's dedication to CFK cofounders Salim Mohamed and Tabitha Atieno Festo includes a phrase that captures the central theme of the book: "Talent is universal; opportunity is not."[32]
In 2001, Barcott co-edited with Dr. Carolyn Pumphrey Armed Conflict in Africa, a book that analyzed the sources of violence in Africa.[33] His post-9/11 letters with Salim Mohamed were published in Andrew Carroll's War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars (Scribner, 2001). He contributed to Passion and Purpose, 27 Views of Charlotte, and 65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post,[34] The New York Times,[35] and TIME.[36]
It Happened on the Way to War was one of four books selected for the TED 2011 Book Club, and was named best nonfiction title in 2011 by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association. In 2011, Reader's Digest named the book one of four top nonfiction titles of the year.[37]
The US Department of Defense awarded Barcott with the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.
ABC News named him a Person of the Year.[38]
The World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader.[39]
Harvard Business School presented Barcott and his classmates Alex Ellis, Neil Wagle, and Kate Wattson with the Dean's Award for Service to the School and Society.[40]
Dartmouth College awarded him a Doctorate of Humane Letters in 2016.[41]
Voices for National Service awarded him with the 2022 National Service Advocate of the Year award for "exemplary determination, creativity, and results in building support for national service among our nation's leaders."[42]
He is the husband of Dr. Tracy Barcott,[43] a child psychologist. They live in North Carolina and have three children.