Remembering Gretchen Osgood

Denise Fate
Director of Business Development for The Solution Group

As an executive with Volkswagen of America and Audi of America, Mrs. Fate distinguished herself over a span of 32 years with a variety of international experience.  In addition to assignments at VW world headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, 1987-88, and Volkswagen Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong 1994-97, Mrs. Fate also worked on or led global, cross-functional project teams in Puebla, Mexico, and Curitiba, Brazil.  This work gave her a unique perspective on the global operations of a major world automotive company.  In addition to finance and controlling responsibilities, a key area of focus was supply chain management. 

As General Manager of the Audi Academy in the US for many years, her team was regarded for providing progressive training and innovative HR tools to the Audi dealer network in the US and Canada.  These had the impact of elevating the professionalism of the dealer staffs.

Mrs. Fate is currently Director of Business Development for The Solution Group, a supplier of best-in-class human resource technology solutions based in Michigan.

She also serves on the Board of the Charlevoix Historical Society in Charlevoix, Michigan, Mrs. Fate is a 1976 graduate of Austin College, having earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts.  She also holds a MBA in International Business from the University of Dallas.  

Bart S. Fisher is the Managing Partner of the Law Office of Bart S. Fisher in Washington, D.C., and a member of the District of Columbia bar. From 1972 through April, 1994, he practiced law with Patton Boggs LLP in Washington, D.C., where he was a partner as of January 1, 1978. He has also been a partner at Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn (1994-1995), and Of Counsel with Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur (1996-2001), Bryan Cave (2002) and Dorsey & Whitney (2003-2004).

He attended Harvard Law School (J.D. 1972), The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. and Bologna, Italy (M.A. 1967 and Ph.D. 1970), and Washington University (B.A. 1963). He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Washington University and awarded The Brookings Institution Fellowship in 1968.

Dr. Fisher is Professorial Lecture in American Foreign Policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He has also taught international trade and investment at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, George Mason University, and the Elliott School of International Affairs of George Washington University.

He is ex-officio member of the Board of Governors, International Practice Section, Virginia State Bar. He was a participating member of the International Trade Working Group of the President’s Council on Year 2000 Conversion.

He is Chairman of the Give Life Foundation, on the Board of Directors of The Marrow Foundation, and Vice-Chairman of The Institute at Biltmore. He has served as President of the Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation, which he founded in 1983.

Dr. Freeman is a small business, economic development, and trade specialist who has worked in over 100 countries in nation building and business development specializing in helping small, minority, women and immigrant–owned businesses grow and thrive. She lived and worked in Hong Kong for 12 years, 5 years of which were in the U.S. Diplomatic Corps representing the U.S. Trade Development Agency.

 Dr. Freeman founded and serves as the President of Americans, Chinese, and Africans Connecting (www.AchinaAC.com); Lark-Horton Global Consulting, founded in Hong Kong in 1985; the All American Small Business Exporters Association (www.aasbea.com) , founded in Washington, DC in 1996; and the International Foundation for Trade & Investment Skills Development, Inc. (IFTISD), founded in Virginia in 1990.

 Dr. Freeman also currently serves as an Advisor the U.S. Trade Representative’s Committee on Africa, where she has been since 2007 and as Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative on Industry Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC 11) on Trade Policy Matters Concerning Small and Minority Business. She previously served on the Advisory Board to the U.S. Export Import Bank; and on the Advisory Board of the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, U.S. Small Business Administration’s Advisory Council.

 She has been awarded the Minority Entrepreneur of the Year by the Washington, Business Journal (2011); U.S. Small Business Administration Washington DC Metropolitan Region’s Small Business Journalist of the Year in 2007; Walden University Alumna of the Year in 2006; U.S. Small Business Administration Washington DC Metropolitan Region’s Minority Business Advocate of the Year in 2004 for Region III, SBA; DC Chamber of Commerce (June, 2002) Crystal Leadership Award; and the Carnegie-Mellon University, Black Alumni Entrepreneurial Excellence, in 2001.

Dr. Freeman received her Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Science from Walden University in 1998, her M.S. in Public Management and Policy from the Heinz School at Carnegie Mellon University in 1977; her B.A. in Cognitive Psychology and B.A. in History in 1974 from Carnegie Mellon University. She is author of 18 books and publisher of 16.

Mr. Gonier brings his leadership skills to TARP and their clients with a stellar resume of experience and accomplishments as a pioneer and innovator in customer service, consumer research, product strategy and database marketing. Since the start of Internet Revolution, Mr. Gonier has been on the inside of America Online, most recently as Executive Vice President where he helped lead the dramatic turnaround of AOL. Mr. Gonier is credited with helping AOL change its business practices and delivered over $1BB in profit over three years after the Time Warner merger and during the transition to broadband. Prior to AOL, Mr. Gonier was the founder and CEO of Digital Marketing Services (DMS), a successful online marketing services company that pioneered new loyalty strategies and launched online research as an alternative to phone surveys; AOL bought DMS in 1999. Time Warner still relies on DMS, and Mr. Gonier’s innovative thinking now dominates the marketing research industry. Mr. Gonier has been named one of the ten “21^st Century Stars” changing the face of consumer intelligence and marketing by American Demographics, and he has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Brandweek, and others. In addition, he has been published in several academic journals and is a frequent speaker at conferences and universities worldwide.

Mr. Gonier is Valedictorian Graduate of Austin College (1983) with BS in Political Science, graduate work in Social Science at Institute of Urban Studies, University of Texas. He is a member of Board of Trustees, Austin College.

Sally Shelton-Colby
Ambassador

Ambassador Sally Shelton-Colby has held a number of senior positions in the public, corporate and non-profit sectors as well as in international organizations.  She has been Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France; Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Global Programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development; U.S. Ambassador to Grenada, Barbados and several other Eastern Caribbean nations; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America and the Caribbean; and Legislative Assistant for Foreign Policy to then-Senator (later Secretary of the Treasury) Lloyd Bentsen.  Most recently she developed and ran a transparency and accountability project for USAID and the Government of Mexico in Mexico City.  She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy.

She was a Vice President of Bankers Trust Co. in New York City where she was responsible for managing the bank’s political risk in developing countries during the third world debt crisis of the 1980s.  She also served on the Boards of Directors of Valero Energy Corporation, a Fortune 500 company and the world’s largest oil and gas pipeline company, and the Baring Puma Fund, a closed-ended fund traded on the London Stock exchange and engaged in acquiring emerging market equities.

Ms. Shelton-Colby has served on a number of non-profit Boards of Directors, including Helen Keller International, Helen Keller International Europe (where she was also president), the National Endowment for Democracy, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the Atlantic Council of the U.S., the Center for International Environmental Law,  the American Committee for Aid to Poland, the American Hospital of Paris, and the Pan American Health and Education Foundation, among others.

She was one of the founders and first Chairman of the Board of Directors of UNAIDS, a U.N. entity which coordinates the HIV-AIDS prevention programs of the World Bank, the WHO, UNICEF, UNDP, and UNFPA.  She served on two White House Commissions:  the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission (Russia), where she was Vice Chair of the Committee on Health and the Committee on Agriculture, and the Gore-Mubarak (Egypt) Commission where she was Co-Chair of the Committee on Education.

Gregory M. Williams
Partner, Hughes, Hubbard and Reed

Gregory M. Williams has an area of concentration in Complex Civil Litigation, with experience in lightening a variety of contract, tort, constitutional, intellectual property and administrative claims, as well as international commercial arbitration. During his career experience Mr. Williams has also focused on Securities and White Collar Criminal Litigation, Enforcement, Regulation and Counseling with an emphasis on the representation of corporations, individuals and other entities in foreign corrupt practices act matters (investigations, due diligence and counseling).

Currently Mr. Williams represents pharmaceutical company in ICC Arbitration involving dispute under Supply Agreement and related patent issues in Latin American country, NYSE-traded company in connection with FCPA inquiry related to business in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa, including in connection with an SEC and DOJ inquiry, and Fortune 500 Company in connection with FCPA advice regarding business in China, several Middle Eastern countries, Central Asia, Nigeria and India.

He has successfully represented European satellite operating company against a major European aerospace company in an ICC arbitration involving claims and counterclaims exceeding $150 million. Case was reported as one of the 20 largest recent international arbitrations in the summer 2003 American Lawyer report on arbitrations. Other selected matters include successful representation of VIACOM in toxic tort litigation, Ernst & Young LLP in securities and professional liability litigation, and Coltec Industries v. Zurich Insurance Company (N.D. Illinois) by representing policyholder in “lost insurance” policy case, including obtaining summary judgment regarding the existence and content of forty-year old, missing policies (the first such holding by the court). He has successfully represented several oil companies in breach of contract suit against the United States, resulting in $1.8 billion award (believed to be the largest to date for Court of Federal Claims). Representation of oil companies in related dispute involving same oil leases in administrative suit in 9^th Circuit.

Mr. Williams received his J.D. from University of Virginia School of Law in 1997 (Editor, Virginia Law Review), M.A. with distinction from Johns Hopkins School of advanced International Studies in 1993, and B.A. with Honors in International Studies, Alpha Chi National Honors Society from Austin College in 1991.  

Mr. Williams has been admitted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. District for the Northern District of Illinois.