Building a Private Sector and Doing Social Good at the Same Time: An Interview with Private Equity Transaction Leader Obie Moore
Obie Luschin Moore was born on December 3, 1954, in Austin, Texas. He graduated the University of Oklahoma (degrees in business, 1978 and law, 1980). Mr. Moore is a highly recognized global energy and private equity transaction leader.
Mr. Moore was a Bar Member of Law Society of England and Wales, and Bucharest Romania Bar Associations (2008). He founded OLM Advisors LLC, a Geneva-based multi-disciplinary consulting firm, which focuses on European and Transatlantic cross border investments, including portfolio and private equity investments, private wealth management, Corporate/M&A (major real estate and energy transactions), and related white-collar criminal matters, including assistance to ensure the US Transatlantic Alliance with Europe and related rule of law and human rights protections (September 2016). A U.S. citizen based in Europe the past 20 years, Mr. Moore completed groundbreaking transactions in both the undeveloped transition economies of Central and South-East Europe, Central Asia and the structured financial centers of London, Geneva, Frankfurt and Vienna.
Mr. Moore is currently a licensed member of Washington, DC Bar Association and State Oklahoma Bar. Trained in finance and law in the United States, he practiced international corporate law in major law firms, such as Global Energy Group, which became part of Dentons, the global polycentric law firm, which now is the world’s largest. He also launched and managed the highly recognized U.S. government-sponsored Romania American Enterprise Fund, the first major private equity fund in Romania.
In the context of EU enlargement and harmonization of laws, Mr. Moore is a regular advocate in Brussels and other European capitals for major investors in new Member States of the EU. He is a frequent speaker and advisor for the development of the European unconventional gas industry in Europe and Central Asia. He currently serves on boards of public policy groups and private sector companies and is an active member of the Board of Directors of The Atlantic Council of the United States, the leading global public policy think-tank based in Washington, DC.
I have been knowing Obie since 1992, when he was coordinating implementation programs related to legal assistance and rule of law in Bucharest, Romania, and we worked together for several legal projects. We met again on October 27, 2003 at George Washington University in Washington, DC, when we both attended a meeting with former Romanian President Ion Iliescu and President Jimmy Carter’s former national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski.
On October 3, 2019, Obie Moore attended the annual ALIANŢA/The Alliance Gala, in Washington, DC, at the Conrad Hotel.
With that occasion, Obie granted me an exclusive interview.
1. Mr. Obie Moore, you are a great friend of Romania and you worked in Romania for many years. Please, tell us, in short, about your activities for the readers of our journal.
Well, I was one of the early Americans who went to Romania, after observing Romania’s first free and fair elections, in 1990. I, then, accepted a consulting job in the USAID, the security national development. In 1992, moving to Bucharest, I established a rule-of-law program that became known, that became to be known as “Vocea civică” [The Civic Voice], developing civil society and civic education, political advocacy…
2. The CEELI [Central and Eastern European Law Initiative] project.
Yes, we worked closely with the ABA-CEELI [American Bar Association-CEELI] project, which was a similar project. But that was really… Great times! We were selling ideas, travelling around the country, conducting seminars with Romanian leaders. It was… I really loved the job! But then, you know, investors started showing up. And then, having been a commercial corporate lawyer, then demand for my services led me to launch and manage, as a country head in Romania, the first private equity fund, which was the Romanian American Enterprise Fund, which was capitalized fifty million dollars by the U.S. government. We were trying to build a private sector to achieve commercial returns, while doing social good at the same time. It was a fabulous job and undertaking. I loved it! And then the large law firm, Salans, which is now Dentons, came to Bucharest, offered me the job to be partner and launch their Bucharest office. I did that in 1997. We built that firm to the largest international law firm in Bucharest. And then, after twelve years of that, I did move to Geneva, Switzerland. I went to work for one of my clients. I lived there five years doing investment-related work, but still always being an advocate for Romania’s rule of law, stability and development of human rights, which was always my first calling in Romania. I, then, decided, after five years in Geneva, to move, to act to Washington, DC, where I was. My daughters have never been, have never lived in the United States. So they started in high school here, and then they have graduated from high school. And they are Romanian citizens. And, so, I now count on my own law practice in Washington, but it still focuses heavily on Romania, Ukraine, other transition economies. So, it’s a good time for me. I’ve really enjoyed this career, which has been largely sitting around Romania for the last thirty years, really.
3. Very challenging.
Yes.
4. How do you see the Romanian-American relationship at this particular moment in history?
I see it as a special time, the most unique time that there has been, because right now there is this combination of alignment of interests, I would say. Because of this, Romania is being such an important country. In Romania’s global security, as it particularly relates to the open sea, which is the Black Sea, Romania is incredibly important. And what I have been advocating, there is no question about Romania’s loyalty to military security. But, as a result, I just think the United States continues to do more, needs to do more to bring higher quantity and quality of U.S. foreign direct investments to Romania. There is a lot going on in the information technology sector, with cyber-security. The Romanians are so gifted in this area, technology. So… But I would like to see some more traditional industrial development in oil refineries, and submit factories and other more traditional industries, as well. So, it is a very good time and I think the Romanians are providing more of an example to other countries of the region. There has been this backsliding in Hungary, and Poland, even Bulgaria. And the Romanians have a chance to really be a model example of what a truly functioning rule-of-law state is, that has proper separation of co-equal powers, which, if you don’t keep working on that, you backslide. And I am even worried about that here, in the United States right now, about backsliding.
5. Last question. Please, share with us briefly your insider’s perspective in the American business community as to Romania’s potential, with good and bad, highs and lows.
The lows here, in Romania, are… they’ve improved dramatically over the last ten years, particularly as it relates to clarity of requirements for investments, for setting up companies. All investors look at the same list of issues, as to determine if they want to invest in every country. And that is: really, is there a functioning rule of law, is there a properly trained commercial court judges, is there a minority protection in shareholder rights, and is there proper corporate governance? All those types of issues, Romania has done a very good job at. But I think, in the Romania’s corruption fight, they had some stops and starts, and so on. And there is always this concern about the security services, controlling the judiciary, which I am always greatly concerned about. But, other than that, the Romanian prosecutorial bodies have achieved, have higher quality, and better trained prosecutors and magistrates now that are in this. And they are working more diligently, without… with less political influence. I mean, as people know, back in the, I think, Băsescu presidency, there was all this manipulation, and so on, that was being alleged and talked about. But I see things more stable now and I think it’s a very good environment for foreign investment. And I just think the biggest problem is just keeping Romanians there, in Romania, because, where there is a shortage of a workforce, we have to import into Romania people from other countries, such as Pakistan, such as the Philippines and elsewhere. So we need the good, talented Romanians to remain in the country. But we need… but they really want to connect, they really feel strongly towards United States. So we need more U.S. and, particularly, you know, U.S. investment there, among other forms of foreign investment, as well.
6. Thank you so much, Mr. Moore.
Thank you, thank you very much.
(October 05, 2019)
NOTE — Versions of the article were published in:
AMERICAN THINKER (El Cerrito/San Francisco, California) [+ comments]
***
and
CARIBBEAN NEWS GLOBAL (Brooklyn/New York City, New York) [+ views, comments]
***
and
CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW! (Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas) [ comments]
***
and
CONSERVATIVE READ (Scottsdale/Phoenix, Arizona) [ comments]
***
and
INTELLECTUAL CONSERVATIVE (Phoenix, Arizona) [ comments]
and
MARIANAS VARIETY (Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands) [ comments]
and
MEDIUM (San Francisco, California) [100+ views; comments; 100+ likes]
and
SAIPAN TRIBUNE (Garapan/Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands) [ comments]
***
and featured in:
320ro.com (Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom) [ comments]
***
and
ACCENT (Toronto, Canada) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
ACTIVE BOARD
***
and
AFRO-CONSCIOUS MEDIA (Canada; Long Beach, California) [ comments]
***
and
ALTERNATIVA/THE ALTERNATIVE (Toronto, Canada) (_________ 2018) [in Romanian] [NOTE = scroll down on the journal’s home page to get the article and then press OPEN on the article]
***
and
ARMONIA/THE HARMONY (Hickory/Charlotte, North Carolina) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and also
ARMONIA MAGAZINE/THE HARMONY MAGAZINE (Hickory/Charlotte, North Carolina) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
BLUNT FORCE TRUTH (Detroit, Michigan) [ comments]
***
and
BURNING PLATFORM [ comments]
***
and
CARIBBEAN POST (Santiago, Dominican Republic) [ comments]
***
and
CLICK ROMANIA (London, United Kingdom) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
CURENTUL/THE CURRENT (Chişinău, Republic of Moldova) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
CURENTUL INTERNAŢIONAL/THE INTERNATIONAL CURRENT (Sterling Heights/Detroit, Michigan) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
FIWEH (Okinawa, Japan) [ comments]
***
and
FREE REPUBLIC (Fresno, California) [ comments]
***
and
GÂNDACUL DE COLORADO/THE COLORADO BEETLE (Estes Park/Denver, Colorado) [in Romanian] [ + views; comments]
***
and
GOP BRIEFING ROOM [ + views; comments]
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and
INVESTORS HUB (London, United Kingdom) [ comments]
***
and
JURNAL DE CHIŞINĂU/CHIŞINĂU JOURNAL (Chişinău, Republic of Moldova) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
LUCIANNE.COM (Cliffside Park, New Jersey) [ + comments]
***
and
LUMEA ROMÂNEASCĂ/THE ROMANIAN WORLD (Grand Rapids, Michigan) [in Romanian]
***
and
MENAFN (Amman, Jordan)
***
and
MERIDIANUL ROMÂNESC/THE ROMANIAN MERIDIAN (Santa Clarita/Los Angeles, California) [in Romanian]
***
and
MEXICAN OCCUPATION
***
and
MIORIŢA USA (Sacramento, California) [in Romanian]
***
and also
MIORIŢA USA (Sacramento, California), printed edition [in Romanian]
***
and
MOLDOVA9/NEW MOLDOVA (Chişinău, Republic of Moldova) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
MOLDOVA ŞTIRI/MOLDOVA NEWS (Chişinău, Republic of Moldova) [in Romanian] (300+ views; comments]
***
and
MORNING IN ARIZONA [ comments]
***
and
NAŢIUNEA/THE NATION (Bucharest, Romania) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
NEW YORK MAGAZIN/NEW YORK MAGAZINE (New York City, New York) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
OBSERVATORUL/THE OBSERVER (Toronto, Canada) [in Romanian]
***
and
OCCIDENTUL ROMÂNESC/ROMANIAN WEST (Madrid, Spain)
***
and
OFICIAL/OFFICIAL (Chişinău, Republic of Moldova) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
PARADIGMS AND DEMOGRAPHICS (Cleveland, Ohio) [ comments]
***
and
PROTECTORS OF LIBERTY (Mount Pleasant, Michigan) [ comments]
***
and
QOSHE (Netherlands & Turkey)
***
and
QWIKET (Kingston, New York) [ comments]
***
and
ROMANIA JOURNAL (Bucharest, Romania) [ + views; comments]
***
and
ROMANIAN TIMES (Portland, Oregon) [in Romanian]
and also
ROMANIAN TIMES (Portland, Oregon) (print edition, p. 15) [in Romanian]
and
SAVE AMERICA FOUNDATION (Clearwater, Florida)
***
and
TAPATALK (Santa Monica/Los Angeles, California) [ comments]
***
and
TIMP ROMÂNESC/ROMANIAN TIME (Bucharest, Romania) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
TRIBUNA/THE TRIBUNE (Chişinău, Republic of Moldova) [ comments]
***
and also
TRIBUNA/THE TRIBUNE (Chişinău, Republic of Moldova) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
TRIBUNA ROMÂNEASCĂ/ROMANIAN TRIBUNE (Chicago, Illinois) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
TRULY TIMES [ + views, comments]
***
and
TRUMP’S MINUTEMEN (Fort Worth, Texas)
***
and
UNIMEDIA (Chişinău, Republic of Moldova) [in Romanian] [ + views, comments]
***
and
US POLITICS 10z [ comments]
***
and
ZIARUL DE GARDĂ/THE GUARD NEWSPAPER (Chişinău, Republic of Moldova) [in Romanian]
***
and referenced in:
CENTRUL DE PRESĂ — PRESSPEDIA/THE PRESS CENTER — PRESSPEDIA (Bucharest, Romania) [in Romanian] [+ views]
***
and
CURENTUL INTERNAŢIONAL/INTERNATIONAL CURRENT — FACEBOOK (Sterling Heights/Detroit, Michigan) [in Romanian]
***
and
HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY (Cincinnati, Ohio)
***
and
LIBERAL FORUM
***
and
MUCK RACK (New York, New York)
***
and
OBAMA LIES
***
and
PRESS RUSH (Turku, Finland)
***
and
THY BLACK MAN [ comments]
***
and
ZENITH NEWS (Duluth, Minnesota)
***
NUMBER OF PUBLICATIONS = 5
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