Board of Directors
Lt. General James Abrahamson
(USAF Ret.) (Chairman of the Board)
Lt. General Abrahamson is Chairman of GeoEye Inc., the largest commercial provider of satellite imagery. Additionally, he has served as Chairman of Oracle Corporation and as Executive Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors of Hughes Aircraft Company. During an impressive 34-year military career, General Abrahamson has served many posts including Associate Administrator for NASA in charge of Man Space Flight, and prior to that as Executive Director of the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars). He served as a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War and is a graduate of the Air Force Test Pilot School and Command Staff College. He is also a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Charles H. Pardoe
Mr. Pardoe is a Managing Director of Prudential Investment Management, with current responsibilities for institutional marketing and client service for international investors. Mr. Pardoe has been dedicated to managing aspects of Prudential's international investment operations since 1990, and has operating experience in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Robert Cohen
Mr. Cohen is founder and President of Perseus Realty, LLC. Formerly the Chairman and CEO of Barnes Morris Pardoe & Foster, Mr. Cohen has created successful Washington area real estate transactions for over three decades and brings a wealth of business and financial experience to GRT. Mr. Cohen serves on the Board of Visitors at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University and has served on the boards of WETA and Norwood School.
Michael D. Gray
Mr. Gray founded Global Relief Technologies in the spring of 2003.
Previously to GRT, Mr. Gray has over 20 years of extensive, high-level experience working for the US Federal government, the US military and other international interests. Most recently, from 2001 to 2003, he served as a US State Department advisor to US Central Command and General Tommy Franks in regards to humanitarian and reconstruction operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Previous to that position, Mr. Gray worked as a US State Department Refugee Coordination Officer in the Balkans; a US Naval Reserve officer, serving on the policy and planning staff of Sir Lt. General Michael Jackson in Kosovo; and as a Naval Reserve officer on the Joint Staff (J-4 Logistics) at the Pentagon where he coordinated civil-military Disaster Relief Operations.
Mr. Gray also has extensive experience working in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He was Program Director of the US Department of Justice’s Anti-Organized Crime Assistance Program for Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. As Associate Director of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Central and East European Law Initiative (CEELI), Mr. Gray provided start-up management for the ABA’s and the US State Department’s rule of law and criminal justice assistance to the countries of the former Soviet Union. He lived and worked in the countries of the former Soviet Union and Central Asia from 1992 to 1995. From 1990 to 1992 Mr. Gray served as Deputy Director of Creditanstalt's (Bank of Austria) Trade Finance Programs for Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.
Fred Kocher
Mr. Kocher is president of Kocher and Company Inc. and the New Hampshire High Technology Council. Mr. Kocher was named the 2007 Business Leader of the Year by Business NH Magazine and the NH Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. He also served as Chief of Staff to Senator Warren Rudman. Mr. Kocher has been recognized for his considerable contributions to New Hampshire businesses, including his efforts to support new companies and to promote high technology as an engine of New Hampshire’s economy.
Lawrence Paul
Mr. Paul is the Director of Business Development for Vizada, Inc. (the successor entity to Telenor Satellite Services, Inc.). He is responsible for managing strategic relationships and directing commercial negotiations on a global scale in the telecommunications and satellite industries. Prior to joining Telenor, Mr. Paul served as the Director of International Relations for Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications and before that COMSAT Corporation. He contributed to the U.S. Government and COMSAT/LMGT initiatives concerning the privatization of both satellite agencies.
Phillip L. Spector
Mr. Spector is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the global satellite communications provider Intelsat, Inc. He is formerly the Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP. After clerking for a U.S. Supreme Court Justice and working as a White House aide, Mr. Spector has since 1980 practiced law continuously in telecommunications and related areas, with particular emphasis on high-technology companies and those in emerging areas of growth.
J. Bonnie Newman
J. Bonnie Newman’s career spans the public, private, nonprofit and academic sectors. In government, she has held senior level positions as the Deputy White House Chief of Staff to President George H.W. Bush and served as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce within the Reagan Administration. Within academia, she is a Former Executive Dean at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and former President of the University of New Hampshire. Ms. Newman is currently a Director of Citizens Advisors, the Lumina Foundation, the Markem Corporation and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. She is also Chairwoman of the United States Naval Academy Board of Visitors and a member of The Economic Club of New York.
Mr. Jeffrey Watanabe
Mr. Watanabe is a founding partner of Watanabe Ing & Komeiji, LLP. Additionally, Mr. Watanabe holds a number of Directorships advising organizations in both the private and non-profit sectors including the American Bar Association and the Japan Hawaii Economic Council. Mr. Watanabe previously served in the office of Senator Daniel K. Inouye, as Deputy Attorney General for the State of Hawaii and with the US Army Reserves 322nd Civil Affairs Group.
As a Board Member, Mr. Watanabe joins an esteemed group of business professionals representing a broad spectrum of professional experiences who all share a common commitment to furthering the GRT mission.
Mr. Watanabe’s unique expertise in governmental affairs, international relations and hands on experience with high tech enterprises provide GRT with unique and invaluable insights opportunities across the Pacific Region.
Mr. Watanabe lives in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Jeffrey Back
Jeffrey Back, founder of Captree Capital LLC, has provided management consulting and financial advisory services to a wide range of businesses during his career. Jeff was a principal owner of Kline & Company, a marketing and management consulting company with offices in several countries. During his tenure at Kline, he worked primarily with multinational companies to develop growth strategies and identify acquisition targets.
After nine years of consulting Jeff moved into investment banking where, over a ten year period, he became Managing Director of Corporate Finance in Salomon Brothers' Energy Group, Managing Director of Corporate Finance in CitiGroup's Industrial Group, and Managing Director of Deutsche Bank's North American Chemical Group. After moving on from investment banking, Jeff became an advisor to such private equity groups as North American Capital and Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. Earlier in his career Jeff, worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a forensic chemist and as a research chemist for Mobil Chemical.
Captree Capital is a New Hampshire-based LLC providing advisory services and investment capital to middle market businesses. Current Captree investments include, in addition to GRT, Liquamelt Corp., Peregrine Semiconductor, Eggs Overnight, Inc, and Catalytic Solutions, LLC.
