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Robert L. Dilenschneider, from the book, Power and Influence

Founder, Birinyi Associates

Laszlo Birinyi, Jr., a Wall Street veteran, is the Founder and President of Birinyi Associates Inc., a leading international money management and research firm with three main areas of focus: US equity research, global equity research and money management.

A longtime inductee into "The Wall Street Hall of Fame," Mr. Birinyi has been particularly renowned over the years for his stock-selection and timing abilities. The late market guru, Louis Ruykeyer, called him "the world’s best stock-picker" and "best security analyst of the decade" while "SmartMoney" magazine named Mr. Birinyi one of "the 30 most influential people" in the investment world.

Today, his firm’s in-depth studies of such key issues as corporate buybacks, market volatility and structure, and international trading are among the most detailed and comprehensive available in the industry. Mr. Birinyi uses non-traditional means to understand the psychology and history of the market, and, most importantly, the actions of investors. Much of their effort involves money flows, or what has traditionally been called ticker-tape analysis. Birinyi follows the ideology of Charles Down, who many years ago wrote:

"The market reflects all that the jobber knows about the condition of the textile trade; all that the banker knows about the money market; all that the best-informed president knows of his own business, together with his knowledge of all other businesses; it sees the general condition of transportation in a way that the president of no single railroad can ever see; it is better informed on crops that the farmer or even the Department of Agriculture. In fact, the market reduces to a bloodless verdict all knowledge bearing on finance, both domestic and foreign."

Birinyi Associates monitors global equity markets and provides real-time research to global investors. Its coverage now includes over 4,000 stocks in more than 40 markets.

Before founding Birinyi Associates in 1989, Lazlo Birinyi, Jr. spent 13 years at Salomon Brothers developing new market intelligence and analysis products and publishing weekly market commentary and topical studies. While at Salomon Brothers, he created the Salomon-Russell International Index and wrote The Equity Desk, a book used in training equity traders and featured in Michael Lewis’ Liar’s Poker. Mr. Birinyi is a regular contributor to Forbes and Bloomberg Personal Finance and for 14 years was a panelist on the long-running PBS program, "Wall $treet Week" with Louis Rukeyser.



Former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Hungary

Donald Blinken is the former United States Ambassador to the Republic of Hungary and was the co-founder of the well-known investment banking and venture capital firm, E.M. Warburg, Pincus, and Co.
Mr. Blinken also spent 12 years as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York and has served as Secretary General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations. Among many Board memberships he holds, Mr. Blinken is a Trustee Emeritus of the New York Philharmonic and Central Eastern University, Budapest, and serves on the boards of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. For his service, Mr. Blinken received the Department of Defense’s Public Service Award and Hungary’s Middle Cross, the highest honor bestowed by that country on foreign nationals.



Founding Partner and President, The Arkin Group LLC

Jack Devine is the former Deputy Director of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency, having served with the agency for 32 years. After departing the CIA, Mr. Devine is a founding partner and President of The Arkin Group LLC, a consulting firm specializing in crisis management, strategic intelligence, and investigative research. At the CIA, Mr. Devine was head of the Afghan Task Force, head of the Counternarcotics Center, Chief of the Latin American Division, Deputy Director of Operations outside the U.S., and the senior CIA representative in Great Britain. During his tenure with the Afghan Task Force, he was awarded the CIA’s Meritorious Officer Award for successfully countering Soviet aggression in the region. Mr. Devine has since received the agency’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal and several other meritorious awards. He currently sits on the Board of Advisors at Claremont Graduate University’s School of Politics and Economics and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.



President and Founder, Kinsey Consulting Services

Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D., is the Founder and President of Kinsey Consulting Services specializing in change-management for individuals and organizations. Having authored ten books and over 200 articles, Ms. Goman lectures internationally and advises clients that include Hewlett-Packard, Consolidated Edison, Royal Bank of Canada, and the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute in Malaysia. Ms. Goman has served as adjunct faculty at John F. Kennedy University in the International MBA program, at the University of California in the Executive Education Department, and for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States at their Institutes for Organization Management.



Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School

Stephen Greyser is a leading academic and professional in the field of marketing and communications. Currently the Richard P. Chapman Professor (Marketing/Communications) Emeritus at HBS, he created the HBS electives on Corporate Communications and the Business of Sports. He is responsible for 16 books, numerous journal articles, and over 300 published HBS case studies. He co-developed the concept of “heritage brands.” He also spent eight years as Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute, where he now serves on its Executive Directors Council. His professional credentials include service as a national Director of the American Marketing Association and Chairman of its Publications Board, member of the Advisory Council of the Association for Consumer Research, and Past President and Chairman of the American Academy of Advertising. Mr. Greyser was also the National Vice Chairman and a Director of PBS and has sat on the Boards of various corporations including Doyle Dane Bernbach, Tonka, and Restaurant Associates.



Senior Fellow, The Milken Institute Review

Joel Kurtzman is a noted international economist and business writer, affiliated with the United Nations, The New York Times, and The Milken Institute Review. Mr. Kurtzman is a Senior Fellow at the think tank, The Milken Institute, Publisher of The Milken Institute Review, and a member of the Editorial Board of MIT’s Sloan Management Review. He is also an advisor to the Wharton School’s SEI Center for Advanced Studies Management, advisor to the US Council on Competitiveness, and a member of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum. Previously he was Global Lead Partner for Thought Leadership and Innovation at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Prior to that, Mr. Kurtzman was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Business Review and a Business Editor at The New York Times. Mr. Kurtzman also served as an international economist at the United Nations as Deputy Director of the Project on the Future. At the UN, he won recognition as the first to warn of the 1980s Latin American debt crisis. His many awards include the Priyadarshini Academy's Indira Gandhi Prize for his work following the Bhopal disaster.



Former Assistant Director in Charge, New York, FBI

Mark Mershon is the former Assistant Director in charge of the FBI’s flasghsip New York Office which he commanded for more than 3 years. During his service within the FBI, Mr. Mershon specialized in white collar crime, violent crime, organized crime and drug investigations, before his elevation as a senior executive. In that capacity Mr. Mershon served, successively, as the FBI’s Chief Inspector, then as the Special Agent in charge of the Agency’s Denver office, San Francisco office and, finally, as Assistant Direct, commanding the New York operation. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Mr. Mershon originally came to the FBI from Touche Ross and Company where he served as a Senior Accountant.



President and CEO, Borghese Inc.

Georgette Mosbacher is President and CEO of the cosmetics company, Borghese Inc., and Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee’s Finance Committee. Ms. Mosbacher was previously Chair and CEO of Georgette Mosbacher Enterprises, a global entrepreneurial and consulting firm, as well as CEO of La Prairie, a high-end beauty company, which she purchased, revitalized, and eventually sold. She also served as the National Co-Chair of Senator John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign. Outside of business and politics, Ms. Mosbacher co-founded the New York Center for Children and has received multiple awards and honors for her community and entrepreneurial contributions.



CEO, Kalorama Partners, LLC

Harvey Pitt is the former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and current CEO of the global business consulting firm, Kalorama Partners, LLC. As Chairman of the SEC, Mr. Pitt oversaw the agency’s response to 9/11 and implementation of 2002’s Sarbanes-Oxley Act expanding oversight of public companies. Prior to his appointment by President Bush in 2001, he was a senior corporate partner at an international law firm, which he joined after a decade on the staff of the SEC, including three years as General Counsel. Mr. Pitt was the founding Trustee and first President of the SEC Historical Society and has also served as Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, George Washington University Law School, University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and The Yale Law School. Mr. Pitt is currently a Director of GWU Medical Faculty Associates, where he serves on the audit committee, and Vice-Chairman of the National Cathedral School Board of Trustees.



Chairman and CEO, Seigel & Associates

Stuart Seigel is a former Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, appointed by President Carter. He is currently Chairman and CEO of Seigel & Associates, LLC, a New York based specialized tax advisory and consulting firm. In addition to his earlier Government service as a trial lawyer for the IRS and as Associate Tax Legislative Counsel in the Treasury Department, Mr. Seigel practiced tax law with such prominent firms as Williams & Connolly and Arnold & Porter, providing tax planning advice, litigating tax cases, and handling appeals in the Federal courts. His law practice also included an array of business and corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions.