Erik D. Prince (born June 6 1969, Holland, Michigan) is the founder and sole owner of the private military company Xe, formerly Blackwater Worldwide. Testifying before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on October 2, 2007, he gave his title as chairman and CEO of the Prince Group and Blackwater Worldwide, then named Blackwater USA.. On March 2, 2009, Prince announced that he was stepping down as CEO of Xe.

Erik Prince was born into a wealthy family, the youngest child of Edgar D. Prince, founder of the Prince Corporation (an automobile-parts company that introduced lighted vanity mirrors for cars), and Elsa Broekhuizen. He has three older sisters. Prince's mother is of Dutch heritage.

Prince earned an airplane pilot's license at age 17 and graduated from Holland Christian High School. He attended the United States Naval Academy after high school, but left the academy after three semesters, and ultimately graduated from Hillsdale College in 1992. During his time at Hillsdale, Prince served as a volunteer firefighter and as a diver for the Hillsdale County Sheriff's Department.