August 24, 2023
Washington, D.C. – WestExec Advisors announced today that Kevin Higgins and Paul Farley have joined the firm as Senior Advisors.
Kevin Higgins retired as a senior executive from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) after 30 years of distinguished service. At CIA headquarters, he held various senior leadership roles, including Chief of Operations of the Counterterrorism Center; Assistant Director of CIA for Africa; and in his last assignment served as Chief of Staff to CIA Director William J. Burns. In the foreign field, he was Chief of Station in several countries critical to U.S. policy objectives and led an expeditionary base in Afghanistan. Kevin has received several honors, including the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, the CIA Director’s Award for Distinguished Service, CIA’s Excellence in Leadership Award, and the George W. Bush Award for Excellence in Counterterrorism. He is also a three-time recipient of the most prestigious honor in federal civilian service, the Presidential Rank Award.
Kevin is a board member of the Third Option Foundation, a non-profit that provides support to active-duty paramilitary officers of CIA’s Special Activities Center (SAC) and their families. He also serves on numerous advisory boards and is drawn to advisory roles that help bring private industry and U.S. national security interests closer together for whole-of-nation solutions. Prior to expanding his board and advisory work, Kevin served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for U.S. Operations and Global Opportunities at Zipline International Incorporated.
Paul Farley is a former senior CIA officer with over 32 years of service at the Agency. Paul most recently served as Assistant Director of the CIA for South and Central Asia (AD/SCAMC), in charge of CIA’s multi-directorate operations focused on that region. In addition to managing a budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Paul was responsible for over a thousand officers serving in high-risk, complex, and ambiguous overseas environments, and his position required working closely with U.S. government policymakers, as well as senior civilian and defense leaders on some of the most complex issues facing U.S. national security. Prior to his position as AD/SCAMC, Paul was Assistant Director of CIA for the Western Hemisphere.
Paul served in various other senior leadership positions in the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center and Special Activities Center, in addition to his numerous senior leadership roles in foreign field stations in Latin America, South Asia, and the Middle East. He received several awards during his CIA career, including the Presidential Rank Award (twice), the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, the National Intelligence Award, the CIA Director’s Award for Distinguished Service, and the Exceptional Service Medal.
“Kevin and Paul’s distinguished careers in the Intelligence Community and demonstrated ability to drive transformative strategies will contribute substantially to WestExec’s ability to deliver tangible results for our clients. In addition to their remarkable regional expertise, Kevin and Paul possess a unique knowledge of the needs of the global operational community which has proven critical in enabling our clients to access and navigate new business opportunities in the U.S. and internationally,” said Nitin Chadda, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec.
WestExec Advisors, LLC, helps business leaders make the best decisions by advising on geopolitical risk and emerging opportunities. To learn more, visit www.westexec.com or email info@westexec.com.