Matthew Nimetz

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Matthew Nimetz (born June 17, 1939 in New York City)[1] is the United Nations Special Representative for the naming dispute between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia.[2][3]

Nimetz was educated at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, from which he received a B.A. in 1960. He subsequently received a B.A. and M.A. from Balliol College, Oxford in 1962 and 1966 respectively, and an LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1965.[1]

He served as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan II from 1965 to 1967, before serving as a staff assistant to US President Lyndon B. Johnson until 1969. He worked with the New York City law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett from 1969 to 1971 and 1972 to 1977. He also served as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and as a member of the New York Health Advisory Council from 1975 to 1977.[1]

In January 1977 Nimetz was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as Counselor of the United States Department of State.[4] In December 1979, he was promoted to the post of Under Secretary for Security Assistance, Science and Technology.[1] He was responsible for the supervision of United States security assistance programs and the implementation of the State Department's international scientific and technological programs. These included areas such as scientific and technical cooperation, nuclear nonproliferation issues, environmental matters, and the US Government's international communications activities. He was also responsible for supervising US policy on the eastern Mediterranean and eastern European countries.[5]

After the end of the Carter Administration in January 1981, Nimetz returned to the private sector. He became a partner in the New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he concentrated in corporate and international law. He moved to the investment firm General Atlantic in January 2000, where he was a managing director. In May 2007 he was again appointed as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York.[6]

From March 1994 to September 1995, he served as President Bill Clinton's Special Envoy to mediate the resolution of the Greek-Macedonian dispute.[5] He became a deputy to Cyrus Vance, a former United States Secretary of State who served as Personal Envoy to the United Nations Secretary General for talks on the dispute. Nimetz chaired the talks from November 1997 onwards and when Vance resigned in December 1999, Nimetz was appointed in his stead as the new Personal Envoy.[2]

Currently Nimetz is a director of The Nature Conservancy of New York, chair of the Advisory Committee of Central European University, trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, and member of the Centre for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeastern Europe.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d "Department of State Nomination of Matthew Nimetz To Be Under Secretary for Security Assistance, Science and Technology. " John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters,The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=31855.
  2. ^ a b United Nations, Press Release SG/A/717, December 23, 1999, Retrieved on 2008-03-19.
  3. ^ United Nations, Special and Personal Representatives and Envoys of the Secretary-General for Europe, Retrieved on 2008-03-19.
  4. ^ "Pres-elect Carter names 1 woman and 5 men to top State Dept posts". United Press International, 8 January 1977
  5. ^ a b c Executive Profile - Matthew Nimetz, Business Week
  6. ^ "Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority", Governor of New York State, May 24, 2007