Paul Boesen

Paul serves selected clients with a particular focus on those in the education and financial services sectors. He engages with stakeholders across those sectors in both the U.S. and in the region on behalf of clients’ interests.

Paul’s responsibilities include leadership of certain client teams as well as support of the practice across the Beijing and Washington, DC offices. In addition, he leads practice-wide strategic planning, financial management, and compliance.

Previously, Paul worked in investment banking and private equity for the Goldman Sachs Group in New York, Frankfurt, and Singapore; for 10 years in private higher education, with general management and China business development responsibilities for U.S. education companies; and with the World Economic Forum in Geneva and as Representative in China in Beijing, China.

In addition, Paul served as the Executive Director of the U.S.-China Education Trust (USCET), a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization that promotes U.S.-China relations through education and exchange for next-generation leaders. At USCET, Paul oversaw program development and implementation for programs supported by the Ford Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Starr Foundation, and the U.S. Department of State, as well as general administration of the organization. He also oversaw USCET’s formal institutional relationships with over 60 Chinese universities as well as its day-to-day relationships with the Ministry of Education and the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC. Paul also directed USCET’s implementation of a scholarship program that was the first to be publicly recognized as part of the Obama Administration’s 100,000 Strong Initiative to promote U.S. study abroad in China. He later served as Senior Advisor to the U.S.-China Strong Foundation and on the Steering Committee of the U.S.-China Strong Foundation’s One Million Strong Initiative to promote Chinese language education in the U.S. K-12 schools.

Paul is also an entrepreneur. He owns an English language school located in Bethesda, Maryland and has co-founded and serves on the boards of two non-profit organizations that are active with immigrants and refugees.

Paul’s background in Asian and Chinese studies commenced when he was awarded a Henry Luce Foundation Fellowship to support graduate-level studies in Asian Studies at the University of Michigan. He started Chinese language studies in the Princeton in Beijing program and continued his studies at Beijing Normal University. Later, he conducted research on China rule of law issues and continued language studies while a student at Harvard Law School.

Paul is proficient in Mandarin Chinese and speaks some Bahasa Indonesia.