Richard Surrey
1989 Partners
(London, UK)
"NESsT plays a critical role in fostering self-sustainability in charitable/public interest organizations in Central and Eastern Europe and in Latin America. These regions have little or no history of private giving. Consequently, once foundation funding runs out in 2 or 3 years, these organizations must be self-supporting -- or die. NESsT's mission of teaching such charities to become self-sustaining is absolutely essential to the development and survival of the charitable and public interest sectors in Central and Eastern Europe and in Latin America.”
Richard Surrey is the founder of 1989 Partners, a firm newly-formed to advise governments with transitional economies on economic restructuring, privatization and related matters. Prior to founding 1989 Partners, Mr. Surrey was (a) a partner of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey (“SSD”) (1992-2005); (b) the General Counsel of the United States National Security Agency (1990-92); and (c) a partner (1987-90) and an associate (1978-87) at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.
Mr. Surrey is a mergers and acquisitions lawyer who specializes in privatizations, foreign direct investment transactions and project and infrastructure financings. Mr. Surrey represented private equity vehicles in their acquisition of approximately US $7 billion German cable television assets. He advised the International Finance Corporation in connection with its equity and subordinated debt investments in CEER companies in a wide range of industries (e.g., steel mills, automotive parts manufacturers, construction materials manufacturers). He also advised the Government of Lithuania in connection with its plans to privatize its power sector. Based in Prague from 1992 to 1997, Mr. Surrey was the managing partner of SSD’s Prague office. He has worked extensively on telecommunications transactions in Central and Eastern Europe.
Mr. Surrey was a founder and board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic. He was a Senior Councilor of the Atlantic Council of the United States, and was a member of the Global Economic Council of the National Planning Association.