Derek Leebaert's latest book is To Dare and to Conquer: Special Operations and the Destiny of Nations (Little Brown/Time Warner, 2006), which builds on his consulting for the U.S. government concerning the leadership of elite military units. He is also co-author of the MIT Press trilogy on the business and policy impacts of the information technology revolution, including The Future of the Electronic Marketplace (1999). In 1995, Derek was a founder of Linquateq, the premier company in telecommunications data interoperability, where he guided strategy, selling his business to SONUS Networks in 2001. Before that he was a co-founder of Traverse Technologies, an early middleware enterprise in healthcare documentation, and, in the 1980s, was a principal in the Chicago-based LBO firm of R. H. Missner & Co. For fifteen years, he has additionally taught courses at Georgetown University in business strategy, technology management, and, most recently, international competitiveness.

Derek holds a D.Phil. in economics from Oxford University, and was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, where he was a founding editor of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. He is also a founding editor of The International Economy, a specialized quarterly magazine covering global financial policy, economic trends, and international trade. He had received a BA in economics from Vanderbilt and an MPP from Columbia University, and was appointed a research fellow at Harvard’s Center for Science and International Affairs. Derek has led MAP engagements in manufacturing, IT, medical devices, and defense.