Category: Patrons

Coordinator for German-American CooperationFederal Foreign Office, Werderscher Markt 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Postal Address: 11013 Berlin, Germany

Tel.: 0049-1888-17-2870

Fax: 0049-1888-175-2870

E-mail: ko-usa-vz@auswaertiges-amt.de

 

Career

1969-1976

Member of the Board of Directors and Deputy Director of Frankfurt Community College

since 1 February 1999

Coordinator for German-American Cooperation at the Federal Foreign Office

Politics

1969-1972

Chair of the German Young Socialists Organisation

1976-1998

Member of the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)

1976-1998

Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag

1976-1998

Deputy member of the Defence Committee of the Bundestag

1983-1998

Foreign-policy spokesman of the parliamentary group of the SPD

1984-1995

Member of the executive Committee of the SPD – Chair of the Commission on International Relations

1992-1998

Chairman of the German-Russian Parliamentarians’ Group

1984-1995

Member of the national executive Board of the SPD

Since 2000

Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Berlin Allied Museum

International involvement

1977-1998

Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO

1989-1993

Chairman of the Defence and Security Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO

1992-1994

Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO

1994-1996

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO

1985-1994

Member of the Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Parties of the European Union (SPE)

Studies

1960-1969

Studied history, German and Scandinavian Studies at the Universities of Hamburg, Copenhagen and Frankfurt

Memberships

• Member of the Board of the German Society for Foreign Affairs, Berlin
• Member of the Board of Trustees of the Atlantik-Brücke
• Member of the Executive Board of the Aspen-Institute Berlin
• Director of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Alliierten Museum Berlin
• Member of the Board of the German-Russian Forum
• Member of the RAND Europe Advisory Board
• Honorary Board Member of the Magazine of the Federation of German-American Clubs (“Gazette”)

In 2003, the Right Honorable Lord Robertson of Port Ellen completed a stellar career in public service, culminating at the highest levels of the Government of the United Kingdom and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Lord Robertson began his career as an official of the General, Municipal and Boilermakers’ Union, responsible for the Scottish Whisky industry in 1968. After a decade of service, he was elected as a Labor Party representative to the House of Commons for Hamilton and Hamilton South at the age of 32 – to be reelected a total of five times. He quickly earned a solid reputation as a focused and committed public servant.

In Parliament, Lord Robertson advanced quickly to increasingly responsible positions. His record of significant accomplishments garnered him numerous recognitions. His service and leadership during the Maastricht Treaty ratification merited his selection as joint Parliamentarian of the Year in 1993.

In 1993, Scotland on Sunday newspaper editorialized that “Robertson is meant for higher things.” After the 1997 general election, Prime Minister Blair fulfilled that prophecy and named Lord Robertson as his Minister of Defense. During his service at in that position, he led the UK’s active and crucial military role in the Kosovo conflict. He also pushed through a widely heralded series of reforms and modernizations of British forces during his tenure, and managing the UK participation in East Timor and in the 1998 air strikes in Iraq. In 1999, he was invited to serve as the tenth Secretary General of NATO and Chairman of the North Atlantic Council, succeeding Dr. Javier Solana. In the four turbulent years that followed, he presided over the dramatic restructuring and enlargement of the alliance, becoming the first leader of NATO to invoke the Article V mutual defense provision after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, and prodded NATO to deal more effectively with new threats of terrorism. He oversaw the successful involvement of NATO in Afghanistan, deftly managed the crisis over whether to provide Turkey with defense assets as the war in Iraq approached, and helped broker an end to a prospective civil war within Macedonia in 2001 through the use of NATO peacekeepers.

In November 2003, President George W. Bush presented him with the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor and only rarely given to foreign nationals. In the 2004 Queens New Years Honors he received one of Britain’s highest awards, the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George. He has the highest national honors from Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands and many other countries. Since 1997, he has served as a member of Her Majesty’s Privy Council.

In addition to his role with The Cohen Group, Lord Robertson will serve as the Executive Deputy Chairman of London-based Cable and Wireless. He will also serve as a Strategic Advisor to The Royal Bank of Canada as well as on other boards of directors.

Lord Robertson was born in the village police station in Port Ellen, Isle of Islay, Scotland on April 12, 1946. His father and grandfather were village policemen (as are his brother, son and nephew), and his mother was a French teacher – a family tradition of self-discipline and service that he has continued. Lord Robertson attended the University of Dundee and received a Masters Degree with honors in economics in 1968. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by the Universities of Dundee and Bradford, Cranfield University (Royal Military College of Science), Baku State University of Azerbaijan, and by the Romanian National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Elder Brother of Trinity House. He resides in Scotland and London.

John Major was appointed Prime Minister on 28 November 1990 and served in that position until May 1997. In April, he led the Conservative Party to an unprecedented fourth term in Office at the General Election.

Mr. Major was born in 1943 and educated at Rutlish Grammar School. He left school at the age of 16 and held a number of casual jobs before entering Banking in 1963. He became a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers.

Mr. Major became involved in politics at the age of 16 and, in 1968, won his first Election to a local authority in Lambeth. He stood for Parliament twice in the 1970s, before securing election to Huntingdon in 1979.

In parliament Mr. Major served in the Government for 16 years and in the Cabinet for 10 years. He became Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1987; and in July 1989 was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, a position he held for 94 days before being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in October of that year. Earlier Mr. Major became a Junior Whip in 1983; Senior Whip in 1984; Parliamentary Secretary 1985; and Minister of State for Social Security and the Disabled 1986.

As Prime Minister, Mr. Major focused his efforts upon securing peace in Northern Ireland and upholding Britain’s position in the world community as a political, social and economic leader. He was Prime Minister throughout the Gulf War and, at home, instigated long-term reforms in education, health and public services. On May 1, 1997 he handed over the strongest economy and incoming Government had inherited. On New Year’s Day 1999, the Queen appointed him a Companion of Honour in recognition of his initiation of the Northern Ireland Peace Process.

Mr. Major decided to retire from the House of Commons at the last UK General Election in May 2001. His business interests are Chairman of the European Board of the Carlyle Group, Washington, DC; Senior Adviser to Credit Suisse First Boston; Chairman of the European Advisory Council of the Emerson Electric Company, St Louis; and a Board Director of the Mayflower Corporation. He is Chairman of the Council of the Ditchley Foundation and on the International Advisory Boards of the Peres Centre for Peace in Israel, the Interaction Council in Tokyo, the Baker Institute in Houston; and Patron of the Atlantic Partnership. His charitable interests include the Presidency of the National Asthma Campaign; Patron of the Child of Achievement Awards; Mercy Ships and Support for Africa 2000. He also takes an active interest in the work of other charities.

Mr. Major became President of Surrey County Cricket Club at The Oval in April 2000, where his lifetime passion for cricket was born. His leisure interests also include football, opera and reading.

Mr. Major has been married to Dame Norma since 1970 (she was appointed a Dame of the British Empire in June 1999 in recognition of her charitable work for disabled people). They have two children, Elizabeth and James, both of whom are married; and one grandson, Harry, born in July 2000.

Henry Alfred Kissinger was sworn in on September 22, 1973, as the 56th Secretary of State, a position he held until January 20, 1977. He also served as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from January 20, 1969, until November 3, 1975. In July 1983 he was appointed by President Reagan to chair the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America until it ceased operation in January 1985, and from 1984-1990 he served as a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

At present, Dr. Kissinger is Chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm. He is also a Counselor to J.P. Morgan Chase Co. and a member of its International Council, Chairman of the International Advisory Board of American International Group, Inc., a Counselor to and Trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an Honorary Governor of the Foreign Policy Association and an Honorary Member of the International Olympic Committee. From 1986-1988 he was a member of the Commission on Integrated Long-Term Strategy of the National Security Council and Defense Department. Among his other activities, Dr. Kissinger is a member of the Boards of Directors of ContiGroup Companies, Inc., Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc., Hollinger International Inc. and most recently, the United States Olympic Committee. He is also an Advisor to the Board of Directors of American Express Company, a member of the Advisory Boards of Hollinger International and Forstmann Little and Co., a Trustee Emeritus of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Director of the International Rescue Committee and Chairman of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships. Dr. Kissinger is also Chancellor of The College of William & Mary.

Among the awards Dr. Kissinger has received have been the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973; the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the nation’s highest civilian award) in 1977; and the Medal of Liberty (given one time to ten foreign-born American leaders) in 1986.

Dr. Kissinger was born in Fuerth, Germany, came to the United States in 1938 and was naturalized a United States citizen in 1943. He served in the Army from 1943 to 1946. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1950 and received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University in 1952 and 1954.

From 1954 until 1969 he was a member of the faculty of Harvard University, in both the Department of Government and the Center for International Affairs. He was Director of the Harvard International Seminar from 1952 to 1969.

Dr. Kissinger is the author of:
* A World Restored: Castlereagh, Metternich and the Restoration of Peace, 1812-1822 (1957);
* Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy (1957);
* The Necessity for Choice: Prospects of American Foreign Policy (1961);
* The Troubled Partnership: A Reappraisal of the Atlantic Alliance (1965);
* Problems of National Strategy: A Book of Readings (ed.) (1965);
* American Foreign Policy, Three Essays (1969);
* White House Years (1979);
* For the Record: Selected Statements, 1977-1980 (1981);
* Years of Upheaval (1982);
* Observations: Selected Speeches and Essays, 1982-1984 (1985);
* Diplomacy (1994); and
* Years of Renewal (1999)

He has also published numerous articles on United States foreign policy, international affairs and diplomatic history. His column, syndicated by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, appears in leading U.S. newspapers and in over 40 foreign countries.

Dr. Kissinger is married to the former Nancy Maginnes and is the father of two children by a previous marriage.