Workshop Presenters

Ambassador John W. McDonald is a lawyer, diplomat, former international civil servant, development expert and peacebuilder, concerned about world social, economic and ethnic problems. He spent twenty years of his career in Western Europe and the Middle East and worked for sixteen years on United Nations economic and social affairs. He is currently Chairman and co-founder of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, in Washington D.C., which focuses on national and inter-national ethnic conflicts. In February, 1992, he was named Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, in Fairfax, Virginia. McDonald retired from the Foreign Service in 1987, after 40 years as a diplomat. In 1987-88, he became a Professor of Law at The George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. He was Senior Advisor to George Mason University's Center for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and taught and lectured at the Foreign Service Institute and the Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs. From December, 1988, to January, 1992, McDonald was President of the Iowa Peace Institute in Grinnell, Iowa and was a Professor of Political Science at Grinnell College. In 1983, Ambassador McDonald joined the State Department's newly formed Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs as its Coordinator for Multilateral Affairs, and lectured and organized symposia on the art of negotiation, multilateral diplomacy and international organizations. He has written or edited eight books on negotiation and conflict resolution. His recent book, written in cooperation with Noa Zanolli, is called The Shifting Grounds of Conflict and Peacebuilding: Stories and Lessons. From 1978-83, he carried out a wide variety of assignments for the State Department in the area of multilateral diplomacy. He was President of the INTELSAT World Conference called to draft a treaty on privileges and immunities; leader of the U.S. Delegation to the UN World Conference on Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries, in Buenos Aires in 1978; Secretary General of the 27th Colombo Plan Ministerial Meeting; head of the U.S. Delegation which negotiated a UN Treaty Against the Taking of Hostages; U.S. Coordinator for the UN Decade on Drinking Water and Sanitation; head of the U.S. Delegation to UNIDO III in New Delhi in 1980; Chairman of the Federal Inter-Agency Committee for the UN's International Year of Disabled Persons, 1981; U.S. Coordinator and head of the U.S. Delegation for the UN's World Assembly on Aging, in Vienna, in 1982. From 1974-78, he was Deputy Director General of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland, a UN Agency, with responsibility for managing that agency's 3,200 person Secretariat, coming from 102 countries, with programs in 120 member nations, and an annual budget of $135 million. From 1947-1974, Ambassador McDonald held various State Department assignments in Berlin, Frankfurt, Bonn, Paris, Washington D.C., Ankara, Tehran, Karachi, and Cairo. Ambassador McDonald holds both a B.A. and a J.D. degree from the University of Illinois, and graduated from the National War College in 1967. He was appointed Ambassador twice by President Carter and twice by President Reagan to represent the United States at various UN World Conferences.

Catherine O'Farrell works for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) designing and implementing public private partnership projects to expand access for high quality, affordable public services, particularly in health and education. Recent projects include the new 425 bed national referral hospital in Maseru, Lesotho and a new university of science and technology in Botswana. She has worked primarily in South Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa for the IFC, and has worked in the private sector on strategy and marketing as well as in a start up biotech firm. Catherine received her MBA in International Business from George Washington University.

Bonnie J. Pierce is an Adjunct Professor in the International Business Department at George Washington University where she teaches International Business Negotiations,International Business Strategy and International Management. In addition, Ms. Pierce is a Vice President at State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), Boston, MA, where she is responsible for new business development efforts amongst corporate pension plans, foundation, endowments and supranational organizations, as well as new product development particularly in emerging markets. SSgA is the asset management arm of State Street Corporation and a pioneering leader within the institutional investment industry with over $2 trillion under management across all asset classes. Prior to joining SSgA in 2000, Ms. Pierce was Director of Marketing for Schooner Asset Management, a boutique investment firm specializing in emerging market debt, Latin American private equity and global macro hedge fund strategies. Before that she was an Associate at Schooner Capital where she conducted research on emerging markets private equity opportunities and was part of the client relations team. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School (Finance), an MBA from London Business School (Strategy), an MA from Boston University (International Relations) and a BA from Boston University (European History). Ms. Pierce resides in Washington, DC with her husband and 2 daughters.

Barbara Weisel was appointed to the position of Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific at the Office of the United States Trade Representative in 2004. In this position, she is responsible for developing and implementing U.S. trade policy relating to countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. She is the lead negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership initiative and the U.S. Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Thailand and Malaysia. Prior to this, Ms. Weisel served as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative in the same office, where she was the deputy lead negotiator on the U.S.-Australia FTA and worked on the Singapore FTA. She also managed other Southeast Asian, Pacific and Korean issues. Ms. Weisel joined the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in 1994. She previously served as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Bilateral Asian Affairs and Director for Japan Affairs in the Office of Japan. Before joining USTR, Ms. Weisel worked at the State Department from 1984-1994. During this time, she served in a variety of positions, including as international economist on Japan, the Persian Gulf, and North Africa. Ms. Weisel received Masters Degrees in economic development and in Islamic civilization from Harvard University and her Bachelor's Degree from Connecticut College.

S. Tien Wong is currently Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Opus8, Inc., a Chevy Chase, Maryland-based private investment firm specializing in middle market buyouts, private equity and venture capital investment. The firm seeks to acquire North American call center, CRM (customer relationship management), and outsourced marketing services and technology companies. Opus8 also makes venture capital investments in emerging outsourcing companies in China with a special focus on tech and services companies in the following sectors: ITO (IT outsourcing), CRM, BPO (business process outsourcing), and outsourced marketing and information management. In 1991, Mr. Wong co-founded and served as CEO of CyberRep, Inc. until its acquisition in 2003 by Affiliated Computer Services (NYSE: ACS). At the time of its acquisition, CyberRep was one of the largest privately held CRM outsourcing companies in the world, operating 6 customer interaction centers throughout the USA with over 2,300 employees and $80 million in revenue. Today, the CyberRep/ACS business unit is one of the largest call center operations in the world, with over $850 million in revenue. In addition to garnering such prestigious awards as Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine's MVP Quality Award and Customer Interface magazine's ACCE (Award for Call Center Excellence), CyberRep was ranked in INC. magazine's 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000's "Inc. 500" as the 51st, 53rd, 72nd and 408th fastest growing private company in the USA, respectively. CyberRep was profitable for eleven consecutive years and was backed by Allied Capital Corporation, a $5 billion investment company (NYSE: ALD). Mr. Wong is a recognized international expert in CRM, direct marketing, and BPO. He has presented at dozens of industry events around the world, and has written numerous articles on the CRM and BPO spaces. He has also provided industry commentary on the ABC, Fox, NBC, CNBC, Maryland Public Television, and China's CCTV networks. Prior to co-founding CyberRep, he worked for ten years in commercial real estate finance and investments. Mr. Wong was the recipient of the 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Greater Washington. An "Entrepreneur in Residence" at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, he frequently guest lectures on entrepreneurship, leadership and finance at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, and the University of Virginia. Mr. Wong serves on the Boards of Directors of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (bsomusic.org), Technology Council of Maryland (techcouncilmd.com), HarVest Bancorp (harvestbankmd.com), Association for Corporate Growth - National Capital (acg.org), the Potomac Officer's Club (potomacofficersclub.com), and Monte Jade Science and Technology Association (mj-dc.org). He serves on the Investment Advisory Board of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology GAP Fund (cit.org). He is former Treasurer and National Board Member of the American Teleservices Association (ataconnect.org). Mr. Wong is Chairman of the Executive Leadership Committee for the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship's Greater Washington region. He is CEO of The Tien and Beverly Wong Foundation, which supports youth, education, and social services charities. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he majored in Government.