WHO WE ARE

Goldwyn International Strategies, LLC (GIS) is a leading provider of political and business intelligence, energy sector analysis, and Washington strategy advice to Fortune 100 companies and investment advisers. Our team of advisors, analysts, and economists has decades of experience in Executive branch and Congressional relations in the United States, and political and economic analysis and diplomacy in Eurasia, East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

GIS has provided advice on political risk, economic sanctions, and corporate social responsibility issues. GIS has advised the World Bank on power sector reform and assisted the US Department of State and the warring parties in the Sudanese civil war on wealth sharing options.

GIS is one of the world’s leading consultancies on energy sector transparency.  We have a professional and personal commitment to the success of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (hereinafter, EITI), and have established the leading qualifications amongst international advisors in establishing successful implementation programs for the EITI.

DAVID L. GOLDWYN

David L. Goldwyn is President of Goldwyn International Strategies LLC, an international energy consulting firm.  Through GIS, Goldwyn has advised the World Bank on power sector reform, assisted the US Department of State and the warring parties in the Sudanese civil war on wealth sharing options, advised the Federal Government of Nigeria on its EITI implementation program and advised a host of Fortune 100 companies on political risk, economic sanctions, and corporate social responsibility issues.  He is a Senior Fellow in the Energy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and serves on the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) Task Force on Energy Security and CFR Center for Preventive Action Task Forces on Angola, Venezuela and Bolivia.

Goldwyn served as Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Affairs, Counselor to the Secretary of Energy, and national security deputy to Ambassador Bill Richardson, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations under President Bill Clinton. Goldwyn served in the Office of the Under Secretary for Political Affairs at the State Department under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Clinton, acting as Chief of Staff from 1993-1997. Goldwyn first served in the government as an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the State Department from 1991 to 1992.

Goldwyn has taught a graduate seminar on the Geopolitics of Energy at Columbia and Georgetown Universities, been a frequent commentator on NPR, CNN, the BBC, and in energy trade newspapers. He has addressed the Conference Board, the Georgetown Leadership Seminar, the University of California (Berkeley) School of Journalism and executive meetings of Statoil, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil on US energy policy.

Mr. Goldwyn acquired extensive international business experience as an attorney with the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison from 1986 to 1991. He has been affiliated with the Ford Foundation and the Brookings Institution. He is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the District of Columbia Bar, and the New York State Bar Association.

Goldwyn is the author of numerous publications on transparency in the oil sector and on US Strategic Reserve policy .

Goldwyn is the Chairman of the Board of Global Giving, a foundation dubbed “the e-bay of international development”, dedicated to using the internet to match donors with projects in the developing world.

Mr. Goldwyn received a Bachelors of Arts degree from Georgetown University. He received a Masters in Public Affairs degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a law degree from New York University School of Law.

SENIOR ADVISORS

Sefton Darby is Senior Advisor for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) Validation, and country strategy. Mr. Darby previously worked as a Consultant in the World Bank's Oil, Gas, Mining Policy and Operations Division where he provided technical assistance on implementation of EITI to governments in Africa, Europe, and Asia; developed EITI guidance and training programs; and recruited and managed consultants and consultant companies to manage EITI worldwide. Mr. Darby has also worked at the Department for International Development, where he helped to develop overall EITI policy; supported EITI in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and the Kyrgyz Republic; and project managed the 2005 international EITI conference in London.

Shirley Neff is Senior Adviser for domestic energy practice and international oil, gas, and power. Ms. Neff is a nationally recognized expert in energy markets and energy policy. She is an adjunct professor at Columbia’s School of Public and International Affairs. Ms. Neff served as staff economist for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for seven years until 2003; she was the lead staff author of the OCS Deepwater Royalty Relief Act. She has served as an economist for the Kansas Corporation Commission, Shell Oil Company, and UNITIL Corp. She is on the Advisory Board of the Institute for Energy, Law & Enterprise at the University of Houston, and she is a Vice President of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics.

Dr. Witney Schneidman is Senior Advisor for African Affairs. Dr. Schneidman served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Clinton Administration, and prior to that as Senior Vice President at Samuels International Associates and Director of the Working Group on Southern Africa at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Dr. John Yates is Senior Advisor for African Affairs. Dr. Yates was Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Benin and Cape Verde, and Deputy Chief of Mission in Zaire (DRC), Nigeria, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, and other countries in North and West Africa.

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Sheila M. Moynihan has studied at the London School of Economics and recently graduated magna cum laude from Villanova University with a Political Science Major, Economics Minor and Russian Area Studies Concentration.  Prior to joining the GIS team, Sheila worked at the United States Energy Association and interned at the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia.