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 a host of Fortune 500 companies on political risk, economic sanctions, extractive industry transparency and corporate social responsibility issues. He advised the Federal Government of Nigeria on its Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative implementation program and is an EITI “validator”, certified to rate countries on the compliance with the EITI rules.

Goldwyn served the US government as Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Affairs (1999-2001), Counselor to the Secretary of Energy (1998-1999); national security deputy to US Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson (1997- 1998); Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1993-1997) and an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the State Department (1991-1992).

Goldwyn has authored a series of works on energy issues, including a co-edited book on international energy security, Energy and Security: Towards A New Foreign Policy Strategy, (Johns Hopkins University Press, August 2005). He is the editor of “Drilling Down: The Civil Society Guide to Extractive Industry Revenues and the EITI” (Revenue Watch Institute May 2008); “Building Long Term Energy Security: Seize the Moment" (Global Energy and Environment Initiative Green Paper Series: No. 1, Spring 2009); "Pursuing U.S. Energy Security Interests in Africa" in U.S. Africa Policy Beyond the Bush Years: Critical Challenges for the Obama Administration (CSIS April 2009); “New Threats to Energy Security”, Current History (December 2006); “The Petrol Factor” (with Edward Morse), Aspenia (April 2006); “A Strategic Approach to Governance and Security in the Gulf of Guinea: A Report of the CSIS Task Force on Gulf of Guinea Security” (CSIS: July 2005); “Crafting a US Energy Policy for Africa” in Rising US Stakes in Africa: a Report of the Africa Policy Advisory Panel (CSIS: May 2004); “Promoting Transparency in the African Oil Sector: A Report of the CSIS Task Force on Rising US Energy Stakes in Africa” (CSIS: March 2004); and “Extracting Transparency,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (Winter 2004).

Goldwyn is the chairman of the Global Energy and Environment Initiative at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a Senior Associate in the Energy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Goldwyn was a member of Council on Foreign Relations 2007 Independent Task Force on National Security Consequences of US Oil Dependency, and Council of Foreign Relations Center for Preventive Action task forces on Angola, Nigeria, Bolivia and Venezuela and Russia. Goldwyn has also testified before the United States Senate and House Representatives on energy security in Africa and Latin America and on oil sector transparency.

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.

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 was the first 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.

He holds a B.A. in Government from Georgetown University, a Masters in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a J.D. 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. Mr Darby is now the director of S.E.B. Strategy Ltd - an international development and public policy consulting firm.

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.

Associate

Sheila M. Moynihan is a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies earning a Masters in International Relations and Economics. Prior to joining the GIS team, Sheila worked at the United States Energy Association and interned at the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia. Sheila graduated magna cum laude from Villanova University and has studied at the London School of Economics