|
Influence
Embassy Row: Ambassadors Hit K Street
Lobby shops are tapping talent from American embassies
February 20, 2002
By Kate Ackley
Charles Manatt might just as easily be found in the Dominican Republic as in Washington. James Jones travels to Mexico about once a week. Donald Planty estimates that he's "on the road about 50 percent of the time–Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Brazil."
But none of these three lobbyists is jet-setting just for fun. They are ambassadors–literally–for business.
All are senior members of Manatt Jones Global Strategies, a four-month-old shop that represents U.S. companies doing business abroad and foreign companies entering the U.S. market. And all are former U.S. ambassadors.
They and other one-time embassy chiefs are finding that corporate clients increasingly need consultants to navigate the political corridors of far-flung nations as well as those closer to home.
"Half a century ago", says Manatt, "I think 6 percent of our economy was based on international trade. Now it's a quarter."
ManattJones, a subsidiary of the lobbying and law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, isn't the only lobbying player to capitalize on the expanding global marketplace by bringing in ex-diplomats. In June 2001, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld spun off an international consulting and lobbying arm called AG Global Solutions, stocked with former ambassadors including Robert Strauss, who served in Moscow, and former House Speaker Thomas Foley (D-Wash.), who was ambassador to Japan.
Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell's D.C. office includes Mark Parris, the former U.S. ambassador to Turkey; George Montgomery, who represented the United States in Oman; and Lawrence Eagleburger, who served as secretary of state and ambassador to what was then Yugoslavia. The law firm also maintains a Beijing-based subsidiary headed by Eagleburger called BDBC International Inc., which since last year has provided "consulting services to U.S. companies seeking to expand their operations in China and to U.S. importers of Chinese products," according to the firm's Web site.
While other lobbying powerhouses may not have put "global" or "international" on their letterhead, they also are turning to the top rung of the diplomatic corps for talent.
Tom McDonald, former ambassador to Zimbabwe, set up shop last year at Arter & Hadden, and James Blanchard, former ambassador to Canada, is at Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand (although he is also running for his old job as governor of Michigan).
Top in-house lobbyists with embassy experience include Robert Kimmitt of AOL Time Warner, the former ambassador to Germany, and Amgen Inc.'s Peter Teeley, who was the U.S. envoy to Canada.
James Collins, a former ambassador to the Russian Federation now at AG Global Solutions, sums up the natural advantages of the embassy set.
"For four years, I was in the business of helping people get things done in Russia," he says. "That does translate. It's not just people and contacts; it's process, it's geography."
Collins says Russia presents ripe opportunities in such areas as mining, forestry, oil, and gas.
"For a Russian or Kazakhstani company, I understand what they are thinking and how they operate," he says. "I can sometimes be a bridge."
As a former U.S. ambassador to Singapore, Patton Boggs' partner Timothy Chorba says his background makes him "comfortable sitting down with foreign political figures and discussing issues-regional and bilateral issues.
"It gives an instant presumption when you meet with heads of state that because you've represented the United States you know what you're talking about," he adds. "You're worth talking with in terms of international policy and relationships among governments."
Not to mention the skills picked up in "ambassador school," the State Department's briefing for new ambassadors that covers everything from media relations to weapons training-one of the few diplomatic skills that does not translate to lobbying. "We fired everything," recalls Chorba. "Even Uzis."
Despite this background, not all ambassadors make good lobbyists. Many earned their posts by making generous donations to the party in the White House and have none of the Washington experience that lobby shops demand.
Gerald Cassidy, chief executive of the Cassidy Cos., says he's interviewed "about a half dozen former ambassadors over the years, [but] I've usually decided not to hire them because I thought the learning curve about the business would be too steep."
He's hired only one: Thomas Foglietta, a former ambassador to Italy and Democratic House member from Pennsylvania who now operates Cassidy's Rome office. "The position of U.S. ambassador is so prestigious. There's a certain amount of standing that allows Tom Foglietta to have the ability to reach out to a member of government and get information or explain a problem that no one else can."
Manatt Jones' name partner Jones, the top U.S. envoy to Mexico from 1993 to 1997 – during negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement – says the experience of being an ambassador is unlike any other.
"The ambassador embodies the entire United States government wherever he is," says Jones, who is also a former Democratic congressman from Oklahoma and a one-time chief executive of the American Stock Exchange. "That's policy and politics, intelligence, business – everything. That's why our firm has gravitated to so many."
In recent weeks, Manatt Jones brought on another former ambassador, Elizabeth Bagley, who represented the United States in Portugal. And, Jones says, more such hires are on the way, though he declines to give additional details.
While the firm intends to live up to its global moniker, for now its strength is tipped toward the Americas. Planty was ambassador to Guatemala, while Manatt served in the Dominican Republic.
"Mexico is the growth market in the hemisphere," says Jones, sitting in a seventh floor conference room located in a turret at the firm's Washington digs. "We've identified various sectors, and we will go after one client in each sector." Only one, he emphasizes.
Those areas include retail, energy, resorts and gaming.
"In one sector," says Jones, declining to name the sector, "we were able to interview four [potential] clients. We were able to choose one – which is a very unusual situation."
In the automotive industry, Manatt Jones represents the Toyota Motor Corp. While many car makers have already established plants in Mexico, Toyota is looking for a way in. "They're the only global auto company not in Mexico," Jones says. "We're doing everything from developing an on-the-ground team – finding executive talent to run the operations – to due diligence. It really is a market-access operation."
The firm's other clients include the resort and casino business Sun International; the Williams Cos., an energy concern; and Metropolitan Life Insurance, which is looking to buy a Mexican counterpart. Patton Boggs' Chorba has tapped contacts he made as ambassador to help clients like the Gucci Group. Though he was stationed in Singapore, he says, "very little of what I do involves Singapore." But, he notes, "I was fortunate to meet people from other countries who have returned to the private sector in their home countries."
Gucci faces a major problem with imitation products made in South America, and, says Chorba, "I was able to go in and deal with problems there because of the contacts I made in Singapore."
Daniel Spiegel, who served as President Bill Clinton's ambassador to the United Nations, is now with AG Global Solutions, where he provides advice and counsel to such international companies as Coca-Cola Co., Volkswagen, and AOL Time Warner.
"The international side of public policy and lobbying is becoming one of the major components of why major corporations hire firms in Washington," Spiegel says. "Much of what goes on today from a governmental and regulatory viewpoint is done on a multilateral basis."
Spiegel's colleague Collins points out that speaking the language and understanding the subtleties of the culture are just as important as making contacts and learning the process.
"You have to understand the psychology of doing business there," says Collins, who speaks fluent Russian. "There are differences in culture and the ways in which decisions get made."
For example, Collins says, a Russian might take silence as an assent, "and if you don't mean that, you can get into trouble."
Manatt Jones' Planty says there are more serious forms of trouble.
"In some cases, countries' judicial and governmental systems are inefficient, and in some cases corrupt," he says. "As a dispute arises, you can't take for granted that you'll get an impartial hearing or even get a hearing at all."
Other differences only mean that lobbyists accustomed to a quick lunch at the Palm or a drink at the Capital Grille might have to settle in for a longer evening.
In Chile, says Planty, who spent time in the foreign service there, people conduct business very formally, and they like to take their time. "They like to have a long dinner," he says.
© 2002 NLP IP Company. All rights reserved.
This article is reprinted with permission from Influence (www.influenceonline.net).
|
 |
