Experience

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  MWI Corporation

  • United States
  • Industrial Machinery Manufacturing
  • 100 - 200 Employee

  • Vice President & General Counsel

    • Sep 1981 - Present

    Provide general legal services, supervision of, and coordination with, outside corporate and foreign counsel regarding commercial and patent litigation, business planning and international joint ventures. Significant emphasis on legal affairs, government affairs, international trade finance, public relations and marketing in Sub-Saharan Africa and specializes in structuring, documenting and finalizing complex financial transactions using U.S. Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank) financing. Provide advice directly to the President regarding any commercial, legal and public relations issues affecting the corporation. Manage a team of outside lawyers on complex litigation.Complex Litigation▬▬▬▬▬▬▬✓ Oversaw one of the longest-running False Claims Act cases in history that ended on January 9, 2017 after 18 years and 136 days. See http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-supreme-court-ends-18-year-long-false-claims-act-case-in-favor-of-mwi-300387739.html. Supervised case and liaised with outside counsel at Grand Jury stage (where no indictments resulted) and also at trial in November 2013. USDOJ sought treble damages of $222.9M plus penalties. Verdict of zero damages and $580,000 in statutory penalties was later overturned by the D.C. Circuit. See See United States ex rel. Purcell v. MWI Corp., 807 F.3d 281 (D.C. Cir. 2015), reh’g en banc denied, cert. denied, 580 U.S. (2017).Governmental/Political Affairs▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬✓ Identify commercial representatives in developing countries. Maintain liaison with Congressional offices and committees; U.S. Departments of State, Treasury and Commerce; National Security Council; Agency for International Development; Overseas Private Investment Corporation, U.S. Embassies worldwide and the Corporate Council on Africa.✓ Perform due diligence for projects the company has an interest in including financing potential, impact analysis, strategy and market planning and ensuring complete engineering feasibility studies.

  • Vice President for Corporate Affairs/General Counsel

    • Sep 1981 - Present

    Sub-Saharan African Affairs ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬✓ Advanced several highly visible, multi-million dollar projects for the company in Sub-Saharan Africa. ✓ Founded the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Coalition, Inc. in 1997 and served as its Co-Chair throughout the debate and successful passage of the AGOA legislation by Congress in 2000. ✓ Frequent speaker and lecturer on the subject of delivering safe water to remote villages in Sub-Saharan Africa with no electricity and an industry expert on making such projects sustainable. ✓ Conceived the concept for www.safewater2030.com and oversaw the development. ✓ Extensive travel to Latin America, the Caribbean, Mexico, China including 64 trips to over 26 African countries.✓ Worked on four major water resources and safe water projects in Nigeria, Ghana and Zimbabwe and a key person on missions to advance safe water projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.✓ Frequent lecturer and key note speaker at the U.S. State Department and Corporate Council on Africa seminars and biennial summits on doing business in Africa.✓ Presented several papers, made numerous presentations and served as a witness providing testimony on issues related to trade and investment in Africa. ✓ Participated in two Presidential Trade Mission to Sub-Saharan Africa in November 1997 and November 1998.Business Development Initiatives ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬✓ Expanded sales domestically and globally into Africa, South America and the Middle East. Worked with various political and business affiliates for the advancement and acceptance of new technology and project advancements. ✓ Sell projects, prepare presentations and assisted in coordination of engineering and support staff for projects.

  • Vice President for Corporate Affairs/General Counsel

    • Sep 1981 - Present

    International Trade Finance▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬✓ Since 1985, finalized $292M in Exim Bank financed transactions with $212M in Sub-Saharan Africa and $80M in South America. ✓ From zero Exim Bank transactions in 1983, by FY 1992 MWI Corporation was the #13 overall user of Exim financing nationwide, as well as the #1 Small Business user nationwide. ✓ MWI Corporation was named Exim Bank’s “Small Business Exporter of the Year” in 1997. ✓ Initiate trade finance activities including the identification and development of export credit sources for sovereign and private buyers. ✓ Maintain liaison with the U.S. Export Import Bank, all multilateral development banks and commercial banks. ✓ Secured financing commitments for Direct Credits for projects from Exim Bank and participated in the sale of the project to the government entity/ end-user. Negotiated the finance agreement and secured the signature of the Minister of Finance on each credit agreement and each promissory note. ✓ Finalized other conditions precedent required by Exim Bank to make each Direct Credit operative.Corporate Image and Public Relations▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬✓ Field all incoming media inquiries, conduct proactive media outreach to obtain favorable coverage of MWI, and serve as company spokesperson. Developed working relationships with key members of the press and national media. ✓ Develop strategic communication concepts and creative platforms to increase effectiveness/impact of media and overall communications campaigns.✓ Effectively boosted positive Google search results by constantly producing professional positive news releases over the Internet.

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  David Sassoon and Associates/Seifman & Lechner, P.C

  • Washington, D.C.

  • Vice President and General Counsel

    • Mar 1980 - Sep 1981
    • Washington, D.C.

    Performed general legal services and represented major international contractors, manufacturers and consulting engineering companies for the purpose of pursuing contracts in Third World development projects financed by multilateral development banks. including the World Bank and Inter American Development Bank. Resolved problems related to international procurement, tendering and contracting. Developed and managed project information system for international business.

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  United States Attorney's Office

  • Washington, D.C.

  • Assistant United States Attorney

    • Sep 1976 - Mar 1980
    • Washington, D.C.

    Represented the United States Government in Grand Jury proceedings, criminal trials and civil and criminal appeals before Federal and District of Columbia trial and appellate courts.