# Rye Barcott

Rye Barcott is a social entrepreneur, investor, author and former U.S. Marine Corps. He is known for his work in youth development and public health.
He co-founded CFK Africa (formerly Carolina for Kibera), With Honor and Double Time Capital.

## Biography
### Early life and education

He was born to Donna Schwartz-Barcott, a nursing professor at the University of Rhode Island, and Timothy Schwartz-Barcott, a director of Social Research Services His father was a former Marine Corps captain who served in the Vietnam War. His parents met while attending graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill.
Barcott attended East Greenwich High School. He graduated in 2001 Phi Beta Kappa from UNC. He attended UNC on a four-year Marine Corps NROTC scholarship. 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. 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. He was elected as a member of Harvard's Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2016.

## Career
### Military service

He 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. 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. 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.

### Social enterprises

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. It is a major affiliated entity of UNC.
Barcott co-founded With Honor in 2017 with David Gergen and Peter Dixon. 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.
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." At that time, North Carolina was ranked second among US states based on cumulative solar installed capacity.
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.
Barcott delivered the 2007 commencement address to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health. He was also the university's 2018 commencement speaker. As an inaugural TED fellow, he gave a speech on "The Power of Participatory Development". He is an annual speaker at the US Marine Corps' Battles Won Academy for Semper Fidelis high school student all-Americans. He is represented by the American Program Bureau and frequently speaks at colleges and high schools.
Barcott serves on the boards of the National Democratic Institute, Veterans Bridge Home, and the US Institute for Peace, He previously served on the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation, and the international development organization World Learning and its accredited institution the School for International Training
President Barack Obama appointed Barcott to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board as a representative of the veteran community.

## Published work

Barcott is the author of the memoir It Happened on the Way to War (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."
In 2001, Barcott co-edited with Dr. Carolyn Pumphrey Armed Conflict in Africa, a book that analyzed the sources of violence in Africa. 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, The New York Times, and TIME.
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.

## Honors

* 2024 Recipient of "The Corporal Allen J. Striffler USMC Marine for Life Award''.
* 2022 National Service Advocate of the Year award.
* The US Department of Defense awarded Barcott with the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.
* ABC Person of the Year.
* The World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader.
* 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.
* Dartmouth College awarded him a Doctorate of Humane Letters in 2016.

### Foreign award during fight against military aggression

* Ukraine
** Honorary Diploma of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2024) – Awarded by Ukrainian Parliament; presented by Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada.

## Personal life

He is the husband of Dr. Tracy Barcott, a child psychologist. They live in North Carolina and have three children.