Topic: Erik Prince

Erik Dean Prince (born June 6, 1969) is the American founder and was the sole owner of the private military company Xe Services LLC, 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. He is currently living abroad in the United Arab Emirates, where he has been contracted to create a private military contractor force and writing his memoirs. In June 2010, he put Xe up for sale. The company was purchased on December 17, 2010 by USTC Holdings, an investment group. Prince will no longer have an equity stake in or involvement in the management or operation of Xe.

Erik Prince was born in Holland, Michigan to Edgar D. Prince and Elsa Broekhuizen. The youngest of four children, Prince has three older sisters. Prince's mother is of Dutch heritage, as was his late father (the family name, Prins, was at some point anglicized to Prince).

As a boy, Prince had a passion for the outdoors. He taught himself to trap and, in his own words, "spent a lot of time with a BB gun and a hatchet."