Accountability Project - Center for Business Ethics and Corporate Governance

Ivy Lindstrom Fredericks is President & CEO of Transnational Capital Corp., an investment bank specializing in emerging growth companies worldwide.

Ms. Fredericks advises domestic and international companies on public and private debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and financial restructuring. Ms. Fredericks focuses primarily on emerging growth companies in the Europe, Asia and the US. Ms. Fredericks has over 22 years of investment banking experience. Previously, she was a Managing Director of Corporate Finance with Westminster Securities and KPMG Peat Marwick. Prior to that she was in the Mergers and Acquisitions departments of Kidder, Peabody & Co. and Drexel Burnham Lambert.Ms. Fredericks received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and English from Smith College, and a Masters of International Affairs in International Business from Columbia University. She recently taught a course at New York University entitled “Privatization and Economic Reform: Focus on Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union”. She speaks frequently at international conferences on a variety of Corporate Finance topics. Until recently, Ms. Fredericks was on the Board of Directors of VI Group plc, a software company based in Stroud, England which trades on the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market (VIG) and the American Stock Exchange (GVI).Recent Speaking Engagements include:January 25, 2005, “Investment and Corporate Governance”, Center for Business Ethics and U.S. Russia Business Forum Conference, St. Petersburg, Russia.October 27, 2004, “Securing Financing for Growth and Expansion”, The Russian Investment Project, Industrial Development Agency, London.January 27, 2004, “Investment Themes for 2004”, and “Venturing Asia” Panel, Sachs/Bloomberg Fourth Annual European Venture Capital and Private Equity Forum, Munich, Germany.March 12, 2003, “Financing the Publicly-Traded Company”, Los Angeles Venture Association Investment Capital Conference 2003, Los Angeles, California.January 28, 2003, “Investment Themes for 2003 Panel: PIPEs and Other Structured Placements”, Sachs/Bloomberg Third Annual European Venture Capital and Private Equity Forum, Munich, Germany.July 16, 2002, “Examining Today’s PIPEs Marketplace”, Institute for International Research PIPEs and Other Structured Placements Seminar, New York, New York.March 19, 2002, “PIPEs: Private Investment in Public Equities”, Strategic Research Institute Mid-Market Conference, Palm Springs, California.January 30, 2002, “Small Cap and Pre-IPO Session: Securing Financing for Growth and Expansion”, Sachs/Bloomberg Second Annual European Venture Capital Forum, Munich, Germany.November 14, 2001, “Corporate Finance in Today’s Changing Environment”, Club Empresarial, Lima, Peru.June 19, 2001, “Securing Financing for Growth and Expansion”, MBA School of Modern Management Seminar, Budapest, Hungary.May 23, 2001, “Securing Financing for Growing Companies”, Private Equity and Venture Capital Investment in Poland Conference, Warsaw, Poland.

Gary R. Johnson, Senior Advisor for Global Initiatives for World Trade Center Cleveland.

Mr. Johnson is President and CEO of Thin Battery Technologies www.thinbatterytechnologies.com and a current head of World Trade Center Cleveland, a non-profit organization designed to help promote international business. Gary has a long-term commitment to building rule of law and promoting ethical culture in Russia based on Sawyer's experiences with investment in the country.

Matthew H. Murray, TNK-BP Corruption Risk Manager, President, Sovereign Ventures Inc.

Matthew Murray is Corruption Risk Manager for the oil and gas company TNK-BP Management in Moscow , Russia . Mr. Murray is responsible for helping to implement the company's Enterprise Wide Risk Management system geared towards zero tolerance of corruption. The program requires “change management” focused upon enterprise-wide implementation of procedures for identifying and reducing risk, communications, advice and reporting, training, and continuous monitoring to improve performance.

Matthew Murray's career has included public service in international relations (US Senate, Library of Congress); international law (Baker and McKenzie, Coudert Brothers); eight business start-ups in emerging markets (Sovereign Ventures, Inc.) and co-founding a non-governmental organization in Russia (Center for Business Ethics and Corporate Governance). Mr. Murray, who graduated from Columbia University with a JD and Masters in International Affairs in 1988, served as Legislative Assistant for National Security Policy to Senator Edward Kennedy from 1982-1984, a research fellow at the Library of Congress in 1981 and a research assistant for Dr. Leslie Gelb at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 1979-1981.

In 1991, Matthew Murray founded Sovereign Ventures, Inc., a management consultancy that specializes in dispute resolution, rule of law development services and small business incubation in Russia , the Independent States and Eastern Europe . As president, Mr. Murray helped 8 local and foreign businesses commence successful operations in the area of high technology, food-processing, family entertainment wholesale distribution, logistics, retail, fast-food chains, hotels, and real estate.

Between 1998 and 2007, Mr. Murray helped resolve numerous investment disputes between US and foreign parties in the region, by providing government relations, litigation support and mediation. Mr. Murray was a member of the international legal consortium formed by the Russian Federal Financial Market Service and the European Bank for Re-construction and Development to research and write the Corporate Governance Code . Mr. Murray helped the US Department of Commerce create Business Ethics: A Manual for Managing a Responsible Business Enterprise in Emerging Market Economies , designed to help businesses in transition markets adopt ethics programs.

In October 2000, Matthew Murray co-founded the Center for Business Ethics and Corporate Governance, one of the first non-profit organizations in Russia dedicated to helping private sector companies develop ethics programs. As Chairman of the Board of the Center for Business Ethics and Corporate Governance, Mr. Murray worked with Russian and US private sector leaders, business and trade associations, NGOs and government officials on programs to help individual enterprises implement business ethics and corporate governance.

Jeff Senne, a Consultant to the United Nations.

Jeff Senne is Manager, Communications on Progress, the United Nations Office of the Global Compact. In this position Jeff has worked with company, university, civil society and governmental representatives around the world. He has shepherded multi-stakeholder dialogue and partnerships in developing tools, trainings, action, and better understandings regarding the role of business in the 21st century.

Jeff began his career as a private sector “disaster relief specialist.” As a management professional Jeff took over business operations that were under-performing and worked to redefine their business models and to create sustainable and competitive company cultures. Jeff's forte has been managing and motivating by defining shared goals, common values, and incremental performance indicators.

In order to fulfill his long standing desire to work in an international setting Jeff spent 3 months working in Kyrgyzstan teaching business and studying Russian. Jeff then spent 18 months studying at the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica, where he earned his Master of Arts in International Peace Studies; Specialization, Economic Development.

Natalia Utenkova, Director, Center for Business Ethics and Corporate Governance. Natalia has been Director of the Center since January 2006, responsible for managing the administration of project grants, personnel and outside consultants, government relations, marketing and finance, budget and accounting issues. Natalia is a finance and accounting specialist, with advance training in IAS and GAP accounting standards.