Richard H. Griffiths

Richard H. Griffiths
Sovereign advisory 2015
Born	Richard Howard Griffiths 7 July 1975 Kempton Park, Republic of South Africa
Residence	Washington, D.C., U.S./ London, UK.
Occupation	International Advisor, Advisor to Heads of State and Royalty
Years active	1999–present
Known for	Libyan International recognition, Sovereign advisory
Title	Visiting Professor, Faculty of Law and social sciences LSBU,Special Envoy
Board member of	Global Citizen Foundation
Religion	Anglican
Children	Adrian Griffiths
Parent(s)	Ann Griffiths, Graham Griffiths
Relatives	Mark Steven Griffiths

Richard H. Griffiths (born 7 July 1975) is a political strategist and international advisor with Squire Patton Boggs. He is a holder of several patents, was one of the pioneers of the electric vehicle industry, and is a leading practitioner in nation branding and Public diplomacy.^[1] He is best known for his sovereign advisory work with Presidents, Heads of State and Royalty with a specific focus on sub-saharan Africa and developing nations.

Family

Richard H. Griffiths is the second son of Ann and Graham Griffiths of Cheshire, England. He was married in Vienna, Austria in 2016

Griffiths is a surname with Welsh origins, as in Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr.

Early career

Patents and inventions 1999–2003

Nation branding Colombia

On 10 May 2002, Griffiths developed a software application for use in cinemas. The application used in cinema computer kiosks in order to gain instant post-movie opinions of cinema-goers: patent.Following the development of this proprietary system, Griffiths founded Filmfly, a company which sought to place integrated touchscreen kiosks within movie theaters.The company forged alliances with both major Hollywood film studios as well as national cinemas. The company was eventually sold through a public offering on the NASDAQ.^[2]

On 1 August 2002, Griffiths registered another patent for a self-regulating water supply system for pets: patent. The low tech application was adapted for use into many other market segments including applications for third world water development program. ^[3]

Electric Vehicles: 2000–2010

Richard H. Griffiths later focused on the development of the electric car industry, working as a founder and pioneer in the early stage lithium-electric market.^[4][5][6][7]

Richard Griffiths was featured on Modern Marvels, a popular History Channel TV show for his role in the development of electric vehicles. Mr. Griffiths role in the electric vehicle industry was featured widely by CNN, Wall Street Journal, Ny Times, Time Magazine, Forbes, Fox news, History channel.

Space Act Agreement Recipient

In 1998 Griffiths developed a commercial relationship with NASA,working with their alternative energy fleet. In 2000, Griffiths was awarded a Congressional Space Act Agreement for the development of electric cars within NASA and at Kennedy Space Center.^[8][9]

Space Act Agreements (abbreviated SAA) are a type of legal agreement specified in the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (and subsequent congressional authorizations) that uniquely empowers NASA to work with any entity that enables fulfillment of the Administration's mandate. As recently as the 2010 authorization of (Pub.L. 111–314)

State of New York Legislation, Renewable Energy Advocate and Lobbyist

In 2005, Griffiths was involved in the creation of legislation allowing all electric vehicles to be used as New York city taxis.^[10][11] The legislation was accepted in accordance with section 1043(e) of the Charter of the City of New York following a hearing on 8 September 2005.^[12] The project was the first of its kind and paved the way for further development of electric vehicles for fleet and public transport.

In 2005, New York introduced incentives to replace its current yellow cabs with electric hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape Hybrid. In May 2007, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a five-year plan to switch New York City's taxicabs to more fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles as part of an agenda for New York City to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the plan was dropped after Cab companies complained that the cost of maintaining the new hybrid vehicles vastly outweighed the tiny amount of fuel savings they got from going smaller.^[11] Proponents of the traditional Lincoln Town Car and Ford Crown Victoria say they were well suited to their task, while others said customers who cared for the environment preferred hybrids

Griffiths continues to work in the alternative energy vehicle industry and as of 2010 was working on projects with NASA and the United States federal government. ^{[13] [14] [15] [16]}

Work with Libya and International Recognition and Lobby for Libyan National Transitional Council

Griffiths became involved in the Libyan revolution early on by working with Libyan National Transitional Council Special Envoy to facilitate Presidential meetings in Latin American Nations. The purpose of these meetings was to secure official recognition of the National Transitional Council as the sole legitimate representatives of the Libyan people.

On 14 June 2011, President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli officially recognized the NTC as, "the legitimate representative of the Libyan people." In doing so, Panama became the 14th nation worldwide to recognize the NTC in this manner.^[17]

On 25 August 2011, President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos met with Special Envoy's at the Nariño Palace (Casa de Nariño).^[18] On the same day, Colombia became the 54th nation worldwide to recognize the NTC.^[17]

Work with The U.S. Chamber of Commerce

In Late 2011, following the end of conflict and the beginning of the rebuilding of the new Libya, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was established. Mr Griffiths was instrumental in its founding and was subsequently appointed as the Vice President of the Chamber on 16 January 2012.^{[1][19][20][21] [22] [23] [24]}

Griffiths remained in Libya and supported US-Libya bilateral relations through economic and commercial ties. Griffiths presented the keynote speech at the Libya summit and gave a memorial in Tripoli, Libya for Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the fallen US Embassy workers killed on September 11, 2012^[25]

In 2013 The Wall Street Journal highlighted thework of Griffiths as he established protocols for an anti-corruption program between the Libyan private sector and public sector officials ^[26]

“Our mission is to support the development of trade and economic ties between Libya and the United States,” Richard Griffiths, AmCham president, said in the news release. “We believe that by adding this process to our membership, we are setting the very highest standards in relation to anti-bribery and third party due diligence.”

AmCham, which is an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, was created in 2011 following the collapse of Col. Gadhafi’s fall. Such groups were not allowed under Gadhafi. The group has drawn multinational companies including Raytheon, Textron, Beechcraft, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, OshKosh Corporation and others to Libya.

Multinationals face compliance challenges in Libya. The country ranked 160 out of 176 on Transparency International’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures a country’s perceived level of corruption. The Wall Street Journal previously reported the Securities and Exchange Commission is scrutinizing several financial firms’ dealings with Libya’s sovereign-wealth fund. The probe centers on possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans U.S. companies from offering or paying bribes to foreign government officials or employees of state-owned companies.

Griffiths remained as Executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce until 2014 when he was evacuated during hostile actions in Tripoli. ^{[26][27][28][29][30]}

Sovereign Advisory

Latin America

In recent years, Griffiths has worked in an advisory role to Governments and industries in Latin America. He developed projects and programs in Mexico (Mexico City for the federal government and also in the Yucatán Peninsula spending several years in Guatemala working on social projects with Peace Corps and several NGOs. During this period, he worked to link projects with the United States Government and USAID.

Griffiths began working in Colombia in mid 2008 and developed programs to use leading Colombian industries as re-branding vehicles for the nation. He worked closely with the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters (Asocolflores) to create high profile events linking Colombia with flowers.

R Griffiths with HE President Museveni of Uganda and HRH Queen Best of Torro, Uganda

^[31] On 17 November 2008 he executed the Colombia Pride Day event in New York City; 100 Colombian-Americans handed out over 100,000 Colombian roses on the street of Manhattan to New Yorkers with the message 'from Colombia with love'. The program gained media coverage from various major outlets including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal.

Griffiths linked Hollywood film studio Warner Bros. with the Colombian flower industry to increase global awareness of Colombia flowers most notably, the premieres of Warner Bros. movies Valentine’s Day and Sex and the City 2 and Summit Entertainment’s Remember Me, starring Robert Pattinson of Twilight movie fame. In addition, ‘Pink Intuition’ roses, from Benchmark Growers/The Queen’s Flowers, were used for the Academy Awards celebration of Kathryn Bigelow, who received the Oscar for Best Director for her work on The Hurt Locker.^[32]

Sub Saharan Africa

King Oyo at his coronation in 2010

Griffiths serves as an advisor to governments globally including Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, South Sudan and Zambia. His focus is on international affairs and the development of stronger foreign relations programs between African nations and Western Nations such as the United States and United Kingdom.

In 2016, Griffiths served as a senior International advisor to the successful re-election campaign of Edgar Chagwa Lungu Zambian President.

African Royal Families

In addition to working with East African Presidents he also focused on advising African cultural leaders and Kings. In particular, Griffiths advised King Rukirabasaija Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV King Oyo, is the reigning Omukama of Tooro, Uganda. He was born on 16 April 1992 to King Patrick David Mathew Kaboyo Olimi III and Queen Best Kemigisa Kaboyo. Three and half years later in 1995, Oyo ascended the throne and succeeded his father to become the 12th ruler of the 180-year-old Kingdom of Tooro. He is currently the world's youngest ruling monarch, taking the place of previous record holder, King Mswati of Swaziland, who was crowned at 18 years of age. ^[33]

Squire Patton Boggs

Mr Griffiths joined the international lobby powerhouse Patton Boggs as a senior international policy advisor. Mr Griffiths is serving the interests of sovereign nations in a variety of issues ranging from public policy, commercial development, diplomatic protocol, nation branding and image enhancement.^{[34] [35] [36]}

In 2015, Patton Boggs merged with Squire Sanders to form Squire Patton Boggs.

Notable Legal and Sovereign defense matters

Griffiths advised the Libyan Government on a sovereign immunity case related to the Presidential aircraft 5A-01. The case was argued by Squire Patton Boggs and focused on State immunity for the Government of Libya.^[37][38]

Griffiths was also part of a high level Squire Patton Boggs team retained by the Government of St.Lucia to support a claim of immunity by one of the St. Lucian Government's diplomats in the United Kingdom.^[39]

References