Alexander N. Rossolimo
Encyclopedia
Alexander N. Rossolimo is an American think tank
executive, entrepreneur
, and corporate director
.
. His parents were Nicolas Rossolimo
, an International Grandmaster
of Chess
, and Véra (née Boudakovitch). At age twelve, he emigrated with his parents to the United States, settling in New York
, where he attended Stuyvesant High School
and the Lycée Français de New York
.
Rossolimo graduated with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering
degree from the City College of New York
, where he was awarded the Belden gold medal in mathematics and the Blonder Tongue Award in electronics, and was elected to the national engineering honor societies Tau Beta Pi
and Eta Kappa Nu
. He attended graduate school at Harvard University
, where he had a National Science Foundation
Graduate Fellowship, and received an M.A.
in applied mathematics
and in 1973 a Ph.D.
in applied physics
under the supervision of Professor David Turnbull
. That same year, he received a Master's degree in Management (M.B.A.) from the MIT Sloan School of Management
. During 1991-93, he was a Visiting Fellow
in Slavic Languages and Literatures
at Harvard University.
in Paris. He then worked in brand management
at the Clorox Company
in Oakland, as a management consultant
and project leader with the Boston Consulting Group
(BCG), and as director of planning and financial analysis at United Brands Company
in Boston, New York and Chicago. In 1980, he joined Digital Equipment Corporation
in Maynard, MA, where he conducted projects in the Office of the President – who was then the legendary computer pioneer Ken Olsen
– in the areas of management research, business strategy, corporate venturing and security. In 1999, he cofounded a high-tech startup in knowledge management
, where he served as acting Chief Executive Officer
. In 2006, he became regional director of a strategic consulting firm conducting due diligence
for private equity
and venture capital
firms.
Fluent in several languages, Rossolimo has spoken at conferences in the US and abroad, and at international meetings in London
, Paris, Moscow
, and Casablanca
He is former president and chairman of the Boston Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth
(ACG), the national organization of professionals in corporate growth and M&A
. In 1995, he won first prize in the ACG Dealmaker Challenge. He has served on the Board of Directors
of ACG Global, and on the Board of Advisors
of Radia Technologies Corporation. He is a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society
(BSAS), the System Dynamics Society
, and the National Association of Corporate Directors
(NACD), New England
Chapter. He is also a member of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies
(RUSI).
Rossolimo is the founding chairman of the Center for Security and Social Progress Inc. (CSSP), a think tank focused on environmental policy
, global security
, sustainable economic growth
and overall social progress
. CSSP has done trailblazing work in national and international security, notably on the security of "loose nukes" and nuclear materials. Its Advisory Board
has included former US Secretary of State Alexander Haig
, the best-seller writer Robin Moore
, the technology leader David Packard
, cofounder of the Hewlett-Packard Company
, the actor and diplomat Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
, and the businessman and philanthropist Albert Hamilton Gordon
.
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
executive, entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, and corporate director
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
.
Early life and education
Rossolimo was born in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. His parents were Nicolas Rossolimo
Nicolas Rossolimo
Nicolas Rossolimo was an American-French-Russian-Greek chess Grandmaster. He was many times champion of Paris, France, and after relocating to the United States won the 1955 U.S. Open Championship...
, an International Grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
of Chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, and Véra (née Boudakovitch). At age twelve, he emigrated with his parents to the United States, settling in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, where he attended Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
and the Lycée Français de New York
Lycée Français de New York
The Lycée Français de New York , literally The French High School of New York, is an exclusive French-medium school for K-12 students based in Manhattan, New York which follows the French curriculum of study and allows students to study for the French general Baccalauréat, the international option...
.
Rossolimo graduated with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering
Bachelor of Electrical Engineering
Bachelor of Electrical Engineering is an undergraduate academic degree offered to a student who completes three to five years of study in electrical engineering at a university...
degree from the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
, where he was awarded the Belden gold medal in mathematics and the Blonder Tongue Award in electronics, and was elected to the national engineering honor societies Tau Beta Pi
Tau Beta Pi
The Tau Beta Pi Association is the oldest engineering honor society in the United States and the second oldest collegiate honor society in America. It honors engineering students who have shown a history of academic achievement as well as a commitment to personal and professional integrity...
and Eta Kappa Nu
Eta Kappa Nu
Eta Kappa Nu is the electrical and computer engineering honor society of the IEEE, founded in October 1904 by Maurice L. Carr at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The organization currently has around 200 student chapters and about 3,000,000 members and is headquartered in Chicago,...
. He attended graduate school at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where he had a National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
Graduate Fellowship, and received an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in applied mathematics
Applied mathematics
Applied mathematics is a branch of mathematics that concerns itself with mathematical methods that are typically used in science, engineering, business, and industry. Thus, "applied mathematics" is a mathematical science with specialized knowledge...
and in 1973 a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in applied physics
Applied physics
Applied physics is a general term for physics which is intended for a particular technological or practical use.It is usually considered as a bridge or a connection between "pure" physics and engineering....
under the supervision of Professor David Turnbull
David Turnbull (materials scientist)
David Turnbull was an American physical chemist who worked in the interdisciplinary fields of materials science and applied physics. Turnbull made seminal contribution to solidification theory and glass formation. Turnbull was born in Elmira, Elmira Township, Stark County, Illinois...
. That same year, he received a Master's degree in Management (M.B.A.) from the MIT Sloan School of Management
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
. During 1991-93, he was a Visiting Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
in Slavic Languages and Literatures
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
at Harvard University.
Career
Rossolimo started his business career as a financial analyst at Pechiney SAPechiney
Pechiney SA was a major aluminium conglomerate based in France. The company was acquired in 2003 by the Alcan Corporation, headquartered in Canada...
in Paris. He then worked in brand management
Brand management
Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand.The discipline of brand management was started at Procter & Gamble as a result of a famous memo by Neil H...
at the Clorox Company
Clorox
The Clorox Company is a US-based manufacturer of various food and chemical products based in Oakland, California, which is best known for its bleach product, Clorox.- History :...
in Oakland, as a management consultant
Management consulting
Management consulting indicates both the industry and practice of helping organizations improve their performance primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and development of plans for improvement....
and project leader with the Boston Consulting Group
Boston Consulting Group
The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm with offices in 42 countries. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious management consulting firms in the world. It is one of only three companies to appear in the top 15 of Fortunes "Best Companies to Work For" report for...
(BCG), and as director of planning and financial analysis at United Brands Company
Chiquita Brands International
Chiquita Brands International Inc. is an American producer and distributor of bananas and other produce, under a variety of subsidiary brand names, collectively known as Chiquita. Other brands include Fresh Express salads, which it purchased from Performance Food Group in 2005...
in Boston, New York and Chicago. In 1980, he joined Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
in Maynard, MA, where he conducted projects in the Office of the President – who was then the legendary computer pioneer Ken Olsen
Ken Olsen
Kenneth Harry Olsen was an American engineer who co-founded Digital Equipment Corporation in 1957 with colleague Harlan Anderson.-Background:...
– in the areas of management research, business strategy, corporate venturing and security. In 1999, he cofounded a high-tech startup in knowledge management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
, where he served as acting Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
. In 2006, he became regional director of a strategic consulting firm conducting due diligence
Due diligence
"Due diligence" is a term used for a number of concepts involving either an investigation of a business or person prior to signing a contract, or an act with a certain standard of care. It can be a legal obligation, but the term will more commonly apply to voluntary investigations...
for private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
and venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
firms.
Fluent in several languages, Rossolimo has spoken at conferences in the US and abroad, and at international meetings in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Paris, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, and Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
He is former president and chairman of the Boston Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth
Association for Corporate Growth
The Association for Corporate Growth is the global community for mergers and acquisitions and corporate growth professionals, helping connect capital with opportunity. ACG provides its members with the research, tools and networking opportunities to grow their businesses and themselves...
(ACG), the national organization of professionals in corporate growth and M&A
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
. In 1995, he won first prize in the ACG Dealmaker Challenge. He has served on the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of ACG Global, and on the Board of Advisors
Advisory board
An advisory board is a body that advises the board of directors and management of a corporation but does not have authority to vote on corporate matters, nor a legal fiduciary responsibility...
of Radia Technologies Corporation. He is a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society
CFA Institute
CFA Institute is headquartered in the United States of America at Charlottesville, Virginia, with offices in Hong Kong and London. Formerly known as the Association for Investment Management and Research , CFA Institute awards the Chartered Financial Analyst designation...
(BSAS), the System Dynamics Society
System Dynamics Society
The System Dynamics Society is a not-for-profit organization based in Albany, New York, USA, whose mission is to further research into system dynamics and systems thinking.- Economics Chapter :...
, and the National Association of Corporate Directors
National Association of Corporate Directors
The National Association of Corporate Directors is an independent, not-for-profit membership organization, dedicated to serving the corporate governance needs of directors of public, private, and non-profit organizations. Founded in 1977, NACD is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and serves...
(NACD), New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
Chapter. He is also a member of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies
Royal United Services Institute
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies , officially still known by its old name, the Royal United Services Institution, is a British defence and security think tank. It was founded in 1831 by The Duke of Wellington.RUSI describes itself asIt won Prospect Magazine's...
(RUSI).
Rossolimo is the founding chairman of the Center for Security and Social Progress Inc. (CSSP), a think tank focused on environmental policy
Environmental policy
Environmental policy is any [course of] action deliberately taken [or not taken] to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce, or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do not have harmful effects on...
, global security
International security
International security consists of the measures taken by nations and international organizations, such as the United Nations, to ensure mutual survival and safety. These measures include military action and diplomatic agreements such as treaties and conventions. International and national security...
, sustainable economic growth
Economic growth
In economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...
and overall social progress
Social progress
Social progress is the idea that societies can or do improve in terms of their social, political, and economic structures. This may happen as a result of direct human action, as in social enterprise or through social activism, or as a natural part of sociocultural evolution...
. CSSP has done trailblazing work in national and international security, notably on the security of "loose nukes" and nuclear materials. Its Advisory Board
Advisory board
An advisory board is a body that advises the board of directors and management of a corporation but does not have authority to vote on corporate matters, nor a legal fiduciary responsibility...
has included former US Secretary of State Alexander Haig
Alexander Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. was a United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
, the best-seller writer Robin Moore
Robin Moore
Robert Lowell "Robin" Moore, Jr. was an American writer who is most known for his books The Green Berets, The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy and, with Xaviera Hollander and Yvonne Dunleavy, The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.Moore also co-authored...
, the technology leader David Packard
David Packard
David Packard was a co-founder of Hewlett-Packard , serving as president , CEO , and Chairman of the Board . He served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1969–1971 during the Nixon administration...
, cofounder of the Hewlett-Packard Company
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
, the actor and diplomat Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
, and the businessman and philanthropist Albert Hamilton Gordon
Albert Hamilton Gordon
Albert Hamilton Gordon , was a businessman who transformed the Wall Street firm of Kidder Peabody. He bought the firm in 1931 and remained its chairman until selling it to General Electric in 1986...
.