 | This article may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia's layout guidelines .(February 2017) |
Martin J. Silverstein (born 1954) is an American attorney and diplomat. [1] He served as the United States Ambassador to Uruguay under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005.
Martin J. Silverstein [1] served as a senior member of the presidential transition of Donald Trump. [2] He has practiced law for nearly four decades beginning his legal career in Philadelphia. Since leaving his post as United States Ambassador to Uruguay in 2005, [3] he has been working as an attorney in New York, Texas and Washington, D.C. [4] as senior counsel with an international law firm, practicing Global and Corporate & Securities law. [5] President George W. Bush nominated Silverstein as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Oriental Republic of Uruguay just prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001. A Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, Silverstein also sits as a Judge Pro Tempore in the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. [1]
While serving as United States Ambassador to Uruguay from 2001 to 2005, he fostered positive bilateral relations [6] allowing Uruguayan President Batlle to "use his good relation with U.S. President George W. Bush to help obtain $1.5 billion in credit to stave off default," pending receipt of an IMF loan. He also engineered the reopening of U.S. markets to banned Uruguayan commodities and fostered the signing of an Open Skies Agreement and the first Bilateral Investment Treaty of the Bush Administration. [7]
Silverstein served as a Delegation Member to the MERCOSUR 4 plus 1 Council on Trade and Investment negotiations, a Delegation Member of the U.S.-Uruguay Joint Commission on Trade and Investment, [8] and a member of the U.S. Presidential Delegation to the Uruguayan presidential inauguration. [9]
Silverstein joined the President of the United States in Jerusalem, Israel as a member of the United States Honorary Delegation celebrating the founding of the State of Israel [10] and participated as a delegate on the Ukraine Presidential Election IRI Observation Mission. [11]
Silverstein was born in New York City in 1954 [1] [3] and grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey and Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. [12] He received a B.A. in political science from Rutgers University-New Brunswick in 1976, a J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law (senior member of Law Review) in 1979, and an LL.M. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2008 . [1] [3] [13]
He is a member of the bars of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, U.S. Court of International Trade, U.S. Tax Court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He is also a member of the Texas Bar College, a recognition society of the best trained attorneys in Texas. [14] [15]
Silverstein is the current appointee of United States Senator Pat Toomey to the Federal Judicial Nomination Advisory Panel (E.D. Pa.). He previously served United States Senators Rick Santorum and Arlen Specter in the same role on the then titled ‘Federal Judicial Nominating Commission’. [16]
Reflecting the confidential opinion of members of the Bar and Judiciary, Silverstein maintains the highest possible AV Preeminent rating for legal skills, integrity and professional excellence under the Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating System and Client Review Rating System. [17] Martindale.com
The United States government and Secretary of State Colin Powell decorated Ambassador Silverstein with the Superior Honor Award Medal, [18] an uncommon recognition for a non-career ambassador. The U.S. government also awarded Silverstein the Foreign Affairs Award for Public Service, presented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, for "performance with exceptional dedication and distinction." [19]
The President and Legislature of Uruguay decorated Silverstein with the Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, rank of Gran Oficial. Silverstein remains the only American citizen in history to receive Uruguay's highest honor. [19]
Silverstein was awarded the Citizens Commendation for Bravery by the Philadelphia Police Commissioner for his courageous assistance to the Philadelphia Police Department in the apprehension and detention of two criminals. [12] [20]
He has received the Legion of Honor from the Chapel of Four Chaplains, the Certificate of Merit for Service to Veterans from the United States Congress and twice received the Maimonides Award from Magen David Adom. [12] [21]
In 2016, the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas and the president of the Texas State Bar recognized Silverstein for his outstanding delivery of legal services to low-income Texans and admitted him to the Pro Bono College of the State Bar of Texas. [22]
Silverstein served as a senior member of the Transition Team for President Donald Trump. Within President-elect Appointments he played a crucial role in the final screening and vetting of candidates as Chair of the ‘Tiger Team’ interview and evaluation process of the top-ranking officials for nearly every federal department, agency and service branch, personally interviewing nearly 250 candidates. Silverstein is known to have a close relationship with the Trump and Kushner families having attended the 2009 wedding reception of Ivanka (née Trump) and Jared Kushner. [23] [24]
Silverstein's bipartisan appeal resulted in successive Governors of two different political parties (Tom Corbett-R and Tom Wolf-D) commissioning him to serve sequential terms as a Trustee of the (Pennsylvania) Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS). [25] [26] Twice confirmed by the Pennsylvania State Senate, he is currently in his second full term at PSERS where he chairs the Elections Committee and serves on the Investment Committee and Corporate Governance Committee. [27] The fifteen Trustees are an independent administrative board of the Commonwealth with exclusive investment power and management control of the $54 billion public pension fund.
At the University of Pennsylvania, in addition to being a University Trustee, Silverstein also serves on the board of overseers at the School of Nursing Science, [28] the Board of Governors of the University Club at Penn [29] and as a Penn Alumni Interviewer. [30] He also sits on the Board of Visitors [31] at Temple University Beasley School of Law. In Uruguay, Silverstein served as chairman emeritus of the Fulbright Scholar Program. [32]
Silverstein volunteered as an AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer with the Corporation for National & Community Service serving Habitat for Humanity in North Philadelphia.
He served as a (Class II, weapons certified) Reserve Police Officer in Elizabeth, New Jersey for 12 years and also served as a Constable and Special Deputy Sheriff. [3]
He is a member of the Council of American Ambassadors [33] and a long-time supporter of the Northwest Women's Shelter in Washington, D.C. [34]
He speaks Spanish and Hebrew. [13] He is married and has six children. [3]
The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and oldest law schools in the United States, and it is currently ranked sixth overall by U.S. News & World Report. It offers the degrees of Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.), Master of Comparative Laws (LL.C.M.), Master in Law (M.L.), and Doctor of the Science of Law (S.J.D.).
The New York Observer was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper Observer. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment and publishing industries.
Amy Gutmann is an American academic and diplomat who is the United States Ambassador to Germany. She was the eighth president of the University of Pennsylvania. In November 2016, the school announced that her contract had been extended to 2022, which made her the longest-serving president in the history of the University of Pennsylvania. Gutmann resigned from her role as president on February 8, 2022, following her confirmation by the Senate as ambassador, after 18 years at the University.
Robert C. Jubelirer is a Republican political leader in Pennsylvania. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1975 to 2006. He served as President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania State Senate for all but two years from 1984 to 2006, and served as the 29th lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania between 2001 and 2003.
Jared Corey Kushner is an American businessman and investor. He served as a senior advisor to 45th U.S. president Donald Trump, his father-in-law. Since leaving the White House, Kushner founded Affinity Partners, a private equity firm that derives investment from, among other sources, the Saudi government's sovereign wealth fund.
Arthur Boggess Culvahouse Jr. is an American attorney who served as the United States Ambassador to Australia from 2019 to 2021.
Charles Edgar Haldeman, Jr. was the chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, known as Freddie Mac, a publicly traded company that is the second largest source of mortgage financing in the United States. On October 26, 2011, it was announced that Haldeman would retire, but he agreed to stay until a successor was found. Haldeman left Freddie Mac in May 2012. He is the former President, CEO, and chairman of the board of directors, of Putnam Investments, a mutual fund company based in Boston, Massachusetts. He served on the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College from 2004 to 2012.
Joseph M. Torsella is an American politician and former diplomat, who served as the Pennsylvania Treasurer from 2017 to 2021. He served as the U.S. Representative to the United Nations for Management and Reform from 2011 to 2014. He previously served as President and CEO of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia from 1997 though 2003 and again from 2006 through 2008 and as the Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education from 2008 through 2011.
David Isaac Adelman is an American lawyer, businessman and diplomat. He was the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore from April 2010 to September 2013. Adelman is Managing Director and General Counsel of asset manager Krane Funds Advisors in New York. He was a Managing Director of Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong. He was an Independent Non-Executive Director of Noble Group Holdings for approximately three years after the company's 2018 restructuring. He was a senior advisor to Israel-focused indexing firm BlueStar Indexes prior to its sale to Van Eck in 2020. He is an Advisor to private equity firms Olympus Capital and Ion Pacific. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Climate Finance Partners. Adelman is a Trustee of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is an adjunct professor at New York University.
Michael F. "Mike" Gerber is a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the 148th Legislative District from 2005 to 2012. Gerber is currently a partner and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at FS Investments. President Joe Biden has designated Michael F. Gerber chairman of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, Washington.
Arlin Marvin Adams was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. As late as 2013 he served as counsel to Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, and was listed as a NAFTA adjudicator.
The Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) is a pension fund for public school employees in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Eligible members include all full-time public school employees, part-time hourly public school employees who render at least 500 hours of service in the school year, and part-time per diem public school employees who render at least 80 days of service in the school year in any of the 775 reporting entities in Pennsylvania.
Gilbert F. Casellas is an American lawyer and businessman. He is a private investor and business consultant in the Washington, D.C. area, a director of Prudential Financial, trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, and advisor to Toyota Motor North America, The Procter & Gamble Company, and Comcast Corporation. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Law Institute, trustee of the Pan American Development Foundation and Co-Editor-in-Chief of Workplace Harassment Second Edition 2018 published by Bloomberg Law.
Thomas Joseph Barrack Jr. is an American private equity real estate investor and the founder and executive chairman of Colony Capital, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT). Barrack has for decades been a close friend of and fundraiser for former U.S. President Donald Trump, representing him in television news appearances. He was senior advisor to Trump's presidential campaign and served as the chairman of his Inaugural Committee.
Steven Roth is an American real estate investor, the founder and chairman of Vornado Realty Trust, the largest commercial landlord in New York City. He is also co-founder and managing general partner of Interstate Properties, and chairman and chief executive officer of Alexander's.
David Melech Friedman is an American bankruptcy lawyer and the former United States Ambassador to Israel. He joined the law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman in 1994, where he met and represented Donald Trump, then chairman and president of The Trump Organization.
Reed S. Cordish is a fourth-generation American real estate developer, former professional tennis player, and former senior aide to President Donald Trump.
David Urban is an American lobbyist, political operative and political commentator for CNN, and Executive Vice President for North American corporate affairs at ByteDance. He served as a senior advisor to the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign and helped orchestrate the 2016 Republican National Convention in a successful effort to win Pennsylvania. In May 2018, he was appointed by President Trump to the board of American Battle Monuments Commission, and in July 2018 he was elevated by Trump to be Chairman of ABMC. In August 2019, President Trump appointed Urban to the Board of Visitors of the United States Military Academy, but Urban was removed by President Biden in September of 2021 as part of the removal of Trump-appointed members of the Service Academy Visitors Boards who Biden considered unqualified for such positions. Urban advised Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign.
Wendell Eric Pritchett is an American lawyer, legal scholar, professor, and university administrator. He is currently the James S. Riepe Presidential Professor of Law and Education at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. From February to June 2022, Pritchett served as interim president of the University of Pennsylvania; he is the first Black individual to serve as the university's president.
| Minister Resident | |
|---|---|
| Chargé d'Affaires | |
| Minister Resident | |
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | |
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | |
