Charles R. Stith is an American businessman, diplomat, former educator, author and politician. He is currently the Chairman of The Pula Group, LLC., which invests in high value opportunities in Africa. He is the non-executive chairman of the African Presidential Leadership Center, a Johannesburg-based NGO focused on leadership development and tracking economic and political trends in Africa. He established and formerly directed Boston University's African Presidential Center. Prior to this, Stith presented his letter of credence as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to the United Republic of Tanzania in September 1998. He served as the Ambassador in the traumatic period after the August 1998 bombing of the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam. Because of his leadership, the Embassy emerged from the bombing stable, and set a new standard for U.S. embassies promoting U.S. trade and investment in Africa. Stith worked with the Tanzanian government to enable them to become one of the first Sub-Saharan African countries to reach the decision point for debt relief under the enhanced Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC).