"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau
Jessica calls St Augustine, Florida, home but, by way of growing up in a military family, has spent much of her life on the move. Her official count is up to seven states and three countries.
This appetite for exploration has shaped her career. A chance conversation with a stranger in high school made her pack her bags and move to Oklahoma to study chemical engineering. Engineering took Jessica to Chevron and the offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. There, she designed systems to prevent spills, led coastal cleanup efforts, and contributed to Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan. The experience taught that problems worth solving are rarely black and white; progress happens in the gray space.
Eager to move from solving problems to shaping the decisions behind them (and itching for another move), she flew across the Atlantic to London Business School. There, she put this instinct to work across several industries: commodity trading, consulting, a culture project with the United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police, and a strategy engagement focused on helping Saudi Arabia win more Olympic medals.
Jessica had never visited the Middle East before that project, but the day she arrived, she knew she had found a place worth sticking to. She emailed Bain and asked to transfer her full-time offer from Seattle to Dubai, and was quickly thrown into giga-projects supporting Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. She later joined a Saudi family office that aimed to build the country’s leading education operator.
This is what led her to us. At Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative, Jessica was seated beside our regional advisor, who asked whether she would consider moving to Doha. She (naturally) said yes. After meeting Mike and Ken, she joined Founders Circle and now leads our first international office in Qatar.
Outside of work, Jessica is somehow not sick of airplanes and loves to travel whenever she can, happiest when that destination is near the water.
By Caroline Fairbank
