Ambassador Gregory J. Newell is president and founder of ICDC established in 1993 following a distinguished record of public service across four White House administrations: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush.  

 

Ambassador Newell held numerous positions within the administrations including being appointed as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Appointments, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs–the youngest assistant secretary of state in United States history, and as the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden in 1985 at the age of 36.   

 

As U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, he headed official U.S. delegations to 60+ countries to advance international strategic, political, commercial and humanitarian interests; managed US$2B budget with 524-person staff, including eleven accredited U.S. Ambassadors; permanent offices in Washington, New York, Montreal, Paris, Geneva, Rome, Vienna & Nairobi; and was the senior U.S. government official responsible for the formulation and execution of U.S. multilateral foreign policy in 96 International Organizations (e.g., United Nations, OECD, UNESCO, WHO, FAO, WFP, IFAD, ITU, IAEA, World Bank, etc.).

 

As the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, he accomplished the first major meeting between the U.S. President and Swedish Prime Minister in 36 years; improved the balance of U.S.-Swedish commercial accounts, working directly with diverse industry leaders; and, served as Chief of Mission directing U.S.-Swedish economic, political and cultural bilateral relationships.

 

Upon leaving the public sector, Ambassador Newell founded International Commerce Development Corporation facilitating commercial relationships between the United States and dynamic foreign markets. He has successfully executed aggressive strategic and tactical growth plans for 125+ clients–ranging from Fortune 100 to SMEs–in over 110 countries. He is a high-level international business strategist and is regarded as an effective articulator and persuasive communicator by senior-level government and business executives. 

 

Ambassador Newell is very active in his faith and has served missions in Belgium, France, and Sweden.  He is fluent in French and conversant in Swedish and holds a BA in International Relations and Political Science from Brigham Young University and a Seniors Manager in Government Certification from the Harvard Kennedy School.