Gyorgy Banlaki

Born in 1948, he has an economist degree in international relations and a university doctorate in the same field. In his present multifaceted activity, he combines his experience of several decades of a diplomatic career (Press Attaché in London, Consul General in New York City, Hungary’s Ambassador to Washington, D.C.) with his private sector acumen. As Consul General in NYC, he negotiated and oversaw the arrangements for the return of Composer Béla Bartók’s remains to Hungary. As Ambassador to the US he managed the all-important Washington angle of the crucially significant NATO enlargement process including ratification by the US Senate and efforts to have American direct foreign investment in Hungary reach record levels. In 1996 he masterminded and implemented the most ambitious country promotion project ever undertaken by Hungary in the United States; the celebrations of Hungary's 1,100th Anniversary. As co-founder and President of Sawyer-Miller Group Hungary, he was a pioneer of strategic communications consulting in 1990 establishing qualitative opinion research, PR and advertising in a unified methodology. Through his present firm, BG International, he provides high level consulting and advisory services in developing corporate and institutional communications, development and positioning strategies. He serves on the boards and supervisory boards of several American and Canadian private sector companies. He is President of the Hungarian-American Society, a Vice President of the Hungarian Atlantic Council, a Trustee of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and President-Elect for 2003-4 of Rotary Club – Budapest City. Amb. Bánlaki used to serve as Chairman of the Ambassadors Advisory Board of the Executive Council on Diplomacy in Washington, D.C.

He has been married to the former Teresa Konopka for thirty-one years; they have one grown-up daughter, Katalin. AMB. DR. GYÖRGY BÁNLAKI

Born: Budapest, March 21, 1948

Schools: 1972: Doctorate in Economics (dr. oec.) 1971: B.A., Faculty of International Relations, Both at the Budapest University of Economics Freshman year at Howard University, Washington, D.C. Gyorgy Banlaki

"Ambassador Bánlaki used to serve as Chairman of the Ambassadors Advisory Board of the Executive Council on Diplomacy in Washington, D.C. He is President of the Hungarian–American Society and Vice-President of the Hungarian Atlantic Council. He is a Trustee of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. He is President Elect for 2003-4 of Rotary Club - Budapest City.

"Family: Married to the former Teresa Konopka, since 1971. Their daughter Katalin, born in 1974, is an interactive consultant.

"As Ambassador in Washington from 1994 to 1998, Dr. Bánlaki was one of Hungary's most senior diplomats abroad. He managed Hungary's bilateral relationship with the only super power in the world, moving from partnership to alliance, and the all-important Washington angle of the crucially significant NATO enlargement process including ratification by the US Senate. The outcome has determined the course of the country for many decades to come.

"Dr. Bánlaki graduated from high school and attended a year of college in Washington, D.C.; spent twelve years of his life in the US, six years in London; has traveled all over the globe and thus has the unique ability to understand both the American and the European mind; bridge the gaps and forge understanding. He also has a unique and fresh insight into matters and phenomena American, the perception of America and Americans abroad, combining the perspectives of the insider and the outside analyst.

"As private enterprise opportunities started to open up in Hungary after 1989, Dr. Bánlaki decided to take a momentous change of course. He resigned from his position as Consul General in New York City (at the time of his appointment he was the youngest head of mission in the Hungarian foreign service) and from the foreign service after nearly twenty years and co-founded his joint-venture strategic communications consulting firm with the American Sawyer-Miller Group. To make it a full entrepreneurial experience, outside his equity position, he took a salary of $1/year. Over the years in the firm he has had a close working relationship and equity partnership with SMG, as well as Robinson, Lake, Lerer, Montgomery and Bozell Worldwide. While heading Sawyer-Miller Hungary he organized and ran opinion research and communications projects in Poland, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia and Albania. He and his company worked for a consortium on the USAID project for the Hungarian Privatization Agency in 1991- 93. In 1994 he was appointed from the private sector to the Washington Ambassador post, where he was to combine his public and private sector experiences in representing a new, transforming and emerging market Hungary.

"Earlier in his career for many years he regularly, though not full-time, acted as a summit-level interpreter. This has given him exceptional international experience, exposure and contacts.

"Because of his numerous appearances at charities and functions involving dancing, one of his developed social skills, The Washington Post has called him the "Dancing Ambassador.

"In 1996 he masterminded and implemented the most ambitious country promotion project ever undertaken by Hungary in the United States; the celebrations of Hungary's 1,100th Anniversary. The Millecentenial Gala Concert and Dinner at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts became one of the all-time memorable events in Washington, D.C...

"As principal of his own, family-owned present firm, BG International, he provides high level consulting and advisory services in developing corporate and institutional communications, development and positioning strategies and international relations. He serves on the boards and supervisory boards of several American and Canadian owned private sector companies."