Sedgwick, Tod, 1948-

<p>Theodore “Tod” Sedgwick is the former US Ambassador to the Slovak Republic from 2010 to 2015 and President and CEO of Sedgwick Publishing Co. (1987-2010). Since 2015, he is a Fellow at the Transatlantic Center at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Study and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.</p>

<p>While CEO of Sedgwick Publishing, he was also President and CEO of Red Hills Lumber Co. (2000 to 2008) and Director of Sedgwick Land Company (1992 to 1998). Sedgwick founded IO Energy and served as its Chairman from 2001 to 2004. He was CEO of Pasha Publications, another company he founded, from 1978-1998.</p>

<p>On June 3, 2016, President Barack Obama appointed Sedgwick Commissioner to the United States World War One Centennial Commission.</p>

<p>Sedgwick received an A.B. from Harvard College.</p>

<p>Sedgwick’s great-great-grandfather is Theodore Sedgwick (1746-1813), a member of the Continental Congress who served in the U.S. Senate, and was the fourth Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ellery Sedgwick, Sr., his grandfather, was editor and publisher of Atlantic Monthly magazine. Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., his father, was a naval intelligence officer during the D-Day invasion and his uncle, William Ross Bond, was a brigadier general who was killed in the Vietnam War. William Ellery, an original signer of the Declaration of Independence, is another ancestor.</p>

<p>A business executive from the publishing and timber industries, Theodore “Tod” Sedgwick has no experience as a foreign diplomat. But the chosen ambassador to Slovakia has donated substantially to Democratic candidates, especially to President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Sedgwick was officially sworn in on July 28, 2010, although he had already taken the oath of office on his front porch on Martha’s Vineyard on July 4.</p>

<p>Sedgwick is the great-great-grandson of Theodore Sedgwick (1746-1813), a member of the Continental Congress who served in the U.S. House and Senate. His grandfather, Ellery Sedgwick, Sr., was editor and publisher of Atlantic Monthly magazine. His father, Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., was a naval intelligence officer during the D-Day invasion and his uncle, William Ross Bond, was a brigadier general who was killed in the Vietnam War. He is also a distant cousin of actress Kyra Sedgwick.</p>

<p>After growing up in the Cleveland, Ohio, area, Tod Sedgwick graduated from Harvard College, cum laude, in 1971, majoring in Ottoman history. After traveling in India, he took a job with a small newspaper in Huntington, West Virginia.</p>

<p>In 1978, at the age of 29, Sedgwick was editing the energy sector newsletter Coal Outlook. When the owner decided to sell the publication, Sedgwick bought a 70% stake for $70,000. The newsletter was the first piece of what eventually became Pasha Publications (named after his dog), a publishing house with 22 insider newsletters specializing in the energy, defense and environment markets.</p>

<p>In 1998, Sedgwick sold the energy wing of the publisher to the Financial Times group for $17.8 million. He kept three newsletters—the Bird Hunting Report. Business Mailers Review and Synthesis, which was aimed at Episcopal ministers who needed help improving their sermons—and started a company named Sedgwick Publications, although he unofficially called it Wing and Prayer Publishing.</p>

<p>In 2002, he founded Io Energy, an online energy information company covering the natural gas, coal and electricity industries, which he sold two years later, and was president of Red Hills Lumber Co., a producer of pine flooring.</p>

<p>Sedgwick has served on a number of private company boards, including Inside Higher Ed, Atlantic Information Services, and Washington Business Information Inc. He also has served on the boards of cultural institutions such as the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Shakespeare Theater Co. and The Gennadius Library in Athens, Greece, and on the boards of land preservation organizations, including the Civil War Preservation Trust, which he chaired from 2006 to2009, and Wetlands America Trust, an affiliate of Ducks Unlimited. He was on the National Council of the Land Trust Alliance, and is a member of the Chief Executives Organization, an organization of global business leaders.</p>

<p>Sedgwick bundled more than $200,000 for the Obama campaign. In addition, he contributed $42,416 of his own money to Democrats in the 2008 cycle and another $10,000 for Barack Obama’s inauguration. An enthusiastic bird hunter, Sedgwick tried to organize Sportsmen for Obama as a counterweight to the Republican–leaning National Rifle Association.</p>

<p><b>Background</b><br>
Sedgwick, Theodore was born on November 13, 1948 in Thomasville, Georgia, United States. Son of Ellery and Elizabeth (Wade) Sedgwick.</p>

<p><b>Education</b><br>
Bachelor, Harvard College, 1971.</p>

<p><b>Career</b><br>
Publisher Pasha Publications, Arlington, Virginia, since 1978. Editor Observer Public Company, Washington, 1976-1978. United States ambassador to Slovakia United States Department State, Bratislava, since 2010.</p>

<p><b>Achievements</b><br>
Theodore Sedgwick has been listed as a noteworthy Publisher by Marquis Who's Who.</p>

<p><b>Membership</b><br>
President Newsletter Association, Arlington, 1986-1987. Board directors The Potomac School, McLean, Virginia, 1986-1987. Member The National Press Club.</p>

<p>Ambassador Tod Sedgwick previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the Slovak Republic from 2010 to 2015. He is a Fellow at the Transatlantic Center at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Study and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, positions he has held since 2015. He is a member of the Ambassadorial Advisory Committee of the Atlantic Council and is on the board of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.</p>

<p>From 1987 to 2010, Sedgwick was President and CEO of Sedgwick Publishing Co. During that period, he was also President and CEO of Red Hills Lumber Co. from 2000 to 2008 and Director of Sedgwick Land Company from 1992 to 1998. In 2001, he founded IO Energy, an online energy information company covering the natural gas, coal, and electricity industries, and served as its Chairman from 2001 to 2004.</p>

<p>He also founded Pasha Publications, a specialty publisher focused on energy, defense and environment markets, and served as the chief executive from 1978 to 1998.</p>

<p>Since 2015, Sedgwick has served on the Board of Directors for the Slovak American Foundation. He is a former trustee of the Institute of Current World Affairs. He has previously served on the Board of Directors for the Folger Shakespeare Library, Shakespeare Theater Co., the Civil War Preservation Trust, and the Wetlands America Trust. Sedgwick received an A.B. from Harvard College.</p>

<p>Sedgwick is the great-great-grandson of Theodore Sedgwick (1746-1813), a member of the Continental Congress who served in the U.S. Senate, and was the fourth Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. His grandfather, Ellery Sedgwick, Sr., was editor and publisher of Atlantic Monthly magazine. His father, Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., was a naval intelligence officer during the D-Day invasion and his uncle, William Ross Bond, was a brigadier general who was killed in the Vietnam War.</p>