James A. Harmon (born October 12, 1935) is chairman of the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund, and an American fund manager; founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Caravel Management LLC;[1] longtime investment banker; and co-chairman of the World Resources Institute.

He was the 18th chairman and president of the Export–Import Bank of the United States, and has served on numerous public and private boards of directors.

[9] At the time, there was an emerging markets crisis, fueled by the collapse of Thailand’s currency, which affected other countries in the region,[3] and large credit defaults in Russia and Latin America.

[3] Due to these market conditions during Harmon’s tenure, the focus of the bank’s loan guarantees went from government-related to private ventures.

In 2004, Harmon was elected chairman of the World Resources Institute (WRI),[4] an independent nonprofit organization founded in 1982, focused on global environmental policy research and analysis.

In July 2012, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Egypt to meet newly elected President Mohamed Morsi.

In an effort to boost Egypt’s ailing economy, the fund was to invest in small- and medium-sized Egyptian businesses.

[14] In 2015, the EAEF made its first two major investments in Fawry, an electronic payments platform and Sarwa Capital, a consumer finance company, which help to promote financial inclusion in Egypt.

[[14] He reiterated these comments in an op-ed later that summer when members of Congress and the Trump administration considered cutting foreign aid to Egypt over human rights concerns.

In April 2019, David Ignatius of the Washington Post, published an opinion piece on the EAEF, "The story of a private-equity fund shows how a U.S.-Egypt reset could begin.

"[18] Harmon served as finance chairman for incumbent New York Mayor David Dinkins’ unsuccessful 1993 campaign for reelection.

[3] In 1976, Harmon was appointed a director of Questar Corporation, an energy company focused on natural gas production and distribution.

[23] In 1995, he became chairman of a newly formed company, Latin Communications Group Inc., which invested in the Spanish language daily El Diario, with an aim at purchasing additional Spanish-language media outlets.