Principal Biographies

James L. Bullion

Director

Mr. Bullion was sworn in as the Director of the Task Force for Business Stability Operations (TFBSO) on March 20th, 2012. In this role, he is responsible for helping to stimulate the private sector of the Afghan economy through direct foreign investment, support of business creation and growth, and training of entrepreneurs and business managers.

Prior to joining TFBSO, Mr. Bullion was President of Phoenix Global Services, LLC, a strategy and management consulting firm which helps companies design and implement new strategies, restructure operations and develop new products and market opportunities. His clients have ranged from private equity companies to technology companies and service providers.

Mr. Bullion is a colonel in the United States Army Reserve, and received his commission through ROTC at Dartmouth College in 1982. Prior to founding Phoenix Global Services, Mr. Bullion served two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Army, as executive officer and commander of a Civil Affairs battalion in Northern Iraq, and then as Plans and Operations officer (J3) for the Multinational Security Transition Command – Iraq.

Prior to being mobilized for service in Iraq, Mr. Bullion was Vice President at Genuity Corporation, a $1 billion Internet services company, where he launched a series of new products and managed strategic partnerships. Prior to Genuity, he managed international operations at UNIFI Communications, an early-stage data communications company where he established and oversaw new ventures throughout Asia. Mr. Bullion began his career in commercial banking and in investment management. He is a member of the advisory boards of KWantera, an early-stage energy management services company, and of Zero Point Risk Management, a risk mitigation advisory firm. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Mr. Bullion earned a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration.

Alisa Stack

Principal Deputy Director

Ms. Alisa Stack is the Principal Deputy Director for the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO). She is a member of the Senior Executive Service.

Prior to joining TFBSO, Ms. Stack has held several positions in the office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), including Acting Director, Policy Planning; Deputy Director, Detainee Policy; and Assistant for Sensitive Special Operations.

Most recently, Ms. Stack was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Stability Operations at the ISAF Joint Command in Kabul, Afghanistan. She served as the only civilian in the Commander’s group from IJC’s establishment in 2009 to 2011. In 2006, she established the office of Support to Public Diplomacy, where she served as Principal Director until 2008. Ms. Stack represented Policy on the faculty of the National War College from 2005 to 2006, where she conducted research on how and why terrorist groups employ women. Her findings have been published in several journals, including Joint Force Quarterly and Terrorism and Political Violence. From 1997 to 1999, Ms. Stack was an OSD Presidential Management Fellow, working in the then-Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence), the Joint Staff, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), and Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

Prior to joining the OSD, Ms. Stack was a Legislative Assistant to Senator Slade Gorton, covering defense, foreign affairs, veterans, and trade issues. She also has extensive experience in the non-profit, “think tank” community, including serving as the Director, AccessAsia at the National Bureau of Asian Research and working for the Soros Foundation in Albania.

Ms. Stack holds a Master of Science from the National War College, a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of Washington.

Mr. Louis Buck, PE

Director, Agriculture, Indigenous and Industrial Programs

Mr. Buck is the Director for the TFBSO Agricultural Development, Indigenous Industries and Industrial programs in Afghanistan. In this role, he leads Task Force efforts to revitalize the Afghan rural economy by improving farmer outputs, addressing gaps in the agribusiness processing chain, reintroducing historical Afghan products to international markets and enhancing the light industry and construction sectors. Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Mr. Buck was with Genera Energy focused on biomass logistics and commercialization of various alternative energy technologies. He has served as State Executive Director of the USDA Farm Service Agency and Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture for Tennessee. In addition, he was with the Tennessee Valley Authority for 12 years where he held a number of water resource engineering and managerial positions. Mr. Buck holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University, MS Environmental Engineering and BS Agricultural Engineering from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville.

Mr. Kristopher Haag

Deputy Director & Director, Finance & Energy

Mr Kristopher Haag, Deputy Director TFBSO and Director of Financial and Energy Sector Development. In this role he leads efforts focused on attracting foreign direct investment and transforming the financial and energy sectors in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mr. Haag has been with TFBSO since its inception in 2006. Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Mr. Haag was with Nortel Networks for 11 years where he held a number of international executive positions. He was the Director of Supply Chain & New Product Introduction for Nortel's 3G wireless networking product line based in Paris, France and Director of Information Systems for Nortel's optical networking product line based in Montreal, Canada. Mr Haag holds a masters degree in industrial engineering from the University of Buffalo and a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Binghamton. Additionally, he is a Six Sigma Black Belt, proficient in French and has lived and traveled extensively throughout the world. Mr Haag lives in Bethesda, Maryland and is married with two young children.

Ms. Lee Sanderson

Director, Women's Economic Advancement Initiatives

After joining the Task Force in May 2009, Lee worked in investment management in Iraq, planning and executing investor trips. She then joined the indigenous industries team focusing on business development in Afghanistan. Before joining the Task Force, Lee worked as the US based producer for a Dutch television and radio organization. She then transferred her television production skills to more cause related projects and spent the next 5 years working on fundraising event management and organizational and repositioning planning for a broad range of nonprofits in New York. Pursuing a long held desire to work in Africa, Lee then moved to rural Kenya to work as a counselor at The Baraka School. Lee remained in Kenya to work with the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program in Nairobi, traveling throughout the East Africa region. She holds a BA in Political Science and in International Affairs from James Madison University and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town.

Ms. Emily Scott

Director, Natural Resource Development

Ms. Scott is the Program Director for the TFBSO Natural Resources program in Afghanistan. In this role, she leads the TFBSO's efforts to assess mineral development opportunities throughout Afghanistan and provides direct support to ISAF in identifying job creation opportunities in the mineral sector to further economic stabilization objectives. She previously worked for TFBSO as program manager of deployment of retail banking products and services in Iraq for the Task Force's Banking and Finance team while a managing consultant for IBM Global Business Services. Prior to working for TFBSO, Ms. Scott served as a consultant for a variety of federal clients, including FEMA and the Department of Defense. Ms. Scott holds a bachelor's degree in geology, government, and legal studies from Bowdoin College in Maine.