Kawar, in his embassy office. Photograph: Gary Wayne Gilbert

For four years, Karim Kawar’s office—modest, white-walled, decorated with family photographs, a flat-screen TV, and a painting of the late King Hussein I—was in Jordan’s sand-colored brick embassy in Northwest Washington, D.C., a utilitarian building with a hilltop location amid private homes and embassies. “The view from here is beautiful,” he said, but he often saw the city “from the backseat of a car.”

By day, Kawar met with government officials, media, lobbyists, and business leaders; evenings found him giving talks and attending two or three dinners and functions a night. Weekends he remained on call but tried to reserve for family—his wife Luma (Halazon) ’89, a Jordanian who majored in economics at BC, and their three children. Home was the ambassadorial residence in McLean, Virginia.

Kawar came to government from the private sector. After graduating at age 20 from the Carroll School of Management with majors in finance and computer science, the Amman native returned to Jordan to start a company marketing the Macintosh platform to businesses. Realizing there was little software available in Arabic, he started a second company to develop more, and within two decades had built 10 information technology companies. Kawar led Jordan’s REACH initiative aimed at developing the country’s information technology industry, and in 1999 was appointed to the national Economic Consultative Council, created to advise the ascendant king, Abdullah II, on economic issues.

A member of Jordan’s tiny Greek Orthodox community (Christians make up 6 percent of the Jordanian population), Kawar holds up his personal success as testament to his country’s tolerant, open society. Unlike its oil-rich neighbors, he says, Jordan has few natural resources—“our investment is in our human resources.” His message as ambassador: “We are an oasis of peace in a desert of turmoil,” coupled with a recitation of reforms at home involving free trade, freedom of the press, advanced telecommunications networks, privatization of public institutions, and increased political and social power for women. “Having been posted in Washington after September 11 [made the job] all the more . . . challenging,” he said, “in trying to address some of the stereotypes regarding Arabs and Muslims.” Kawar returned to Amman and his businesses, replaced by a new envoy in late January.

Read more by Cara Feinberg