In Huntsville I had been asked to come onto the International Committee of the Chamber of Commerce. This was an active and lively group that was focused on giving Huntsville a greater international presence with the intention of gaining foreign investment and international awareness of the talent available in the region. Many foreign companies had set up their North American operations in Huntsville due to the tireless work of Guy Nerren and other city officials.
The interest was so strong that it was decided that a new body be created to deal with this growing activity and the North Alabama International Trade Association was founded. I was elected as it’s first President with Peggy Barnard as Vice-President. We hosted visitors from many countries including Russia and China. This was happening at the same time (1992) as I was setting up a company in Moscow, Meteor Personnel, Moscow’s first Employment Agency.
In this regard I was asked to give presentations to various bodies about doing business in Russia since Russia had started to open up to the West. On one such presentation for a section of the US State Department (the regional DEC) I was approached by Ollie Delchamps who had a timber export business, suggesting that I met with a friend of his, Robert Kreible (P), who at that time was President of The Heritage Foundation headquartered in DC (actually in part of the Capitol Building).
On the occasion of my next visit to DC I met with Mr Kreible who was establishing 50 “Democratising” Centres in the Soviet Union and we discussed co-operation in general. Later I met with his “man on the ground” Tom Hodgson and he and I moved matters further
My work promoting The State of Alabama in general and Madison County in particular consisted of various visits and presentations. These included the presentations given to businesses in Europe where I spoken as one who had come from the UK and invested in Alabama (that group included Jo Hinds who was President of First Alabama Bank) and later with Steve Monger (Jo’s successor at the bank) for a presentation for the Regional DEC at the Marriott on Mobile Bay (now a Sheraton?).
More to follow