Morningstar, Richard Louis, 1945-

<p>Richard L. Morningstar (born 1945) is the former United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan. He was formerly Special Envoy of the United States Secretary of State for Eurasian Energy. Currently, Ambassador Morningstar is the founding Director and Chairman of the Global Energy Center at the Atlantic Council. He also serves as a Senior Advisor at Albright Stonebridge Group, a global business strategy firm.</p>

<p>Richard Morningstar earned a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Harvard College and a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School in 1970.</p>

<p>Morningstar started his career with the law firm of Peabody & Brown (now Nixon Peabody) in Boston, Massachusetts, where he practiced law from 1970 to 1981. He then served as CEO of Costar Corporation, and since 1990 as the Chairman of the Board. Since June 1993, Morningstar served as Senior Vice President for Policy and Investment Development at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. In April 1995, Morningstar was posted as the Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State on Assistance to the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union. His rank of ambassador was confirmed by the Senate on 11 June 1996. In July 1998, he was assigned as a Special Advisor to the President and the Secretary of State for Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy. In that capacity Morningstar was a promoter of the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline. In 1999–2001, Morningstar served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union.</p>

<p>Beginning in 2001, Ambassador Morningstar served as a Senior Director at the global strategy firm Stonebridge International (now Albright Stonebridge Group)</p>

<p>On 20 April 2009, Ambassador Morningstar was named to the position of the Special Envoy of the United States Secretary of State for Eurasian Energy. In that capacity Morningstar represented the United States at the signing ceremony of the intergovernmental agreement of the Nabucco pipeline. He has strongly opposed the possible participation of Iran in the Nabucco project.</p>

<p>Morningstar has been a visiting scholar and diplomat in residence at the Stanford University Institute for International Studies, a lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School and an adjunct professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.</p>

<p>On 27 April 2012, Morningstar was nominated for the US Ambassadorship in Azerbaijan. On 30 June 2012, the U.S. Senate confirmed this appointment.</p>

<p>In 2014 Morningstar was named Director of the Atlantic Council’s New Global Energy Center.</p>

<p>Richard Morningstar is married to Faith Pierce Morningstar, a former board member of the democracy promotion and human rights group Freedom House, with two sons and two daughters. He also has 12 grandchildren.</p>

<p>Ambassador Richard L. Morningstar is a Senior Advisor at ASG, where he draws on his deep experience in Europe and the energy sector broadly to help ASG clients identify strategic advantages and grow their businesses across Europe and Eurasia, and around the world.</p>

<p>He is the founding Director and Chairman of the Global Energy Center at the Atlantic Council.</p>

<p>From 2012 to 2014, he served as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan. Previously, he was the U.S. Secretary of State's Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy. Prior to that, he lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and at Stanford Law School.</p>

<p>From 1999 – 2001, he served as U.S. ambassador to the European Union. Prior to this, he served as Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State for Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy, where he was responsible for assuring maximum coordination within the executive branch and with other governments and international organizations to promote U.S. policies on Caspian Basin energy development and transportation.</p>

<p>From 1995 to 1998, he served as ambassador and special advisor to the President and Secretary of State on Assistance for the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union, where he oversaw all U.S. bilateral assistance and trade investment activities in the NIS. From 1993 to 1995, he was Senior Vice President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).</p>

<p>Ambassador Morningstar served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Costar Corporation from 1990 to 1993 and as President and Chief Executive Officer from 1981 to 1990. He also practiced law at the Peabody & Brown law firm.</p>

<p>Prior to returning to the government in 2009, Ambassador Morningstar served on the board of the American Councils for International Education and a trustee of both the Kosovo-America Educational Foundation and the Eurasia Foundation. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.</p>

<p>Ambassador Morningstar received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1967 and J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1970.</p>

<p>He is based in Washington, D.C.</p>

<p>Ambassador Richard L. Morningstar served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 1999-2001. He had been Special Advisor to the President and the Secretary of State for Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy. He was responsible for assuring maximum coordination within the Executive Branch of US policy and programs relating to the development of oil and gas resources in the Caspian Basin.</p>

<p>In April 1995, Ambassador Morningstar was appointed as Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State on Assistance to the New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union, and on June 11, 1996, the Senate confirmed him with the rank of Ambassador. He oversaw all bilateral assistance and the trade and investment activities of the 16 US government agencies engaged in technical assistance, trade and investment, exchange, weapons dismantlement, and other programs in the NIS.</p>

<p>Before he assumed that position, from June 1993 to April 1995, Ambassador Morningstar served as Senior Vice President for Policy and Investment Development at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). He coordinated OPICýs seven-fold increase in NIS finance and insurance programs in 1994. Prior to his position at OPIC, he had more than 20 years of business, policy and legal experience. For over ten years, he served as Chairman and CEO of Costar Corporation, listed by Forbes as one of the top 200 small companies in the country and recognized as one of the nationýs fastest growing exporters. He has advised the Department of Commerce on international trade and technology issues, and he prepared an analysis of the US Trade and Development Agency for the 1992 presidential transition. From 1970-1981, he practiced law with the firm of Peabody & Brown in Boston, Massachusetts.</p>

<p>He graduated from Harvard College with high honors and received a law degree from Stanford Law School. He is married to Faith Pierce Morningstar and has two sons and two daughters.</p>