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Piotr Galitzine and Sarah Carey Honored at the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Awards Dinner

On Wednesday, October 27, 2010, the Woodrow Wilson Center's Kennan Institute honored Piotr Galitzine, Chairman, TMK IPSCO, and the late Sarah Carey, former Chair, Eurasia Foundation at the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Awards Dinner to benefit the Center's Kennan Institute.

On Wednesday, October 27, 2010, the Woodrow Wilson Center's Kennan Institute honored Piotr Galitzine, Chairman, TMK IPSCO, and the late Sarah Carey, former Chair, Eurasia Foundation at the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Awards Dinner to benefit the Center's Kennan Institute.

The Davis Dinner was established through a generous donation from Kathryn W. Davis and her family, recipients of the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service in 2006, and is intended to raise public awareness of individuals demonstrating outstanding and enlightened corporate citizenship and public service in connection with the U.S.-Russian relationship.

Throughout her abundant life and career, Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service honoree Sarah Carey was a tireless and effective advocate for strengthening U.S.-Russian commercial and cultural cooperation. Inspired by her time as a guide at the Pepsi kiosk during the historic American National Exhibit in Moscow in 1959, Carey went on to become a distinguished lawyer and sought-after expert on Russia. She led the establishment of the first Washington, D.C. law firm office in Moscow in 1989 and was lead counsel on numerous investment projects in Russia and the region. She served as a director of Yukos Oil Company from 2001 to 2004, and since 1999 was a senior partner at Squire Sanders & Dempsey. Her corporate experience led to public service through appointments to the board of directors of the Russian-American Enterprise Fund (to promote the development of private enterprise in newly independent Russia) and the Defense Enterprise Fund (to help the peaceful transition of Russian defense industry and personnel to civilian commercial activity) in the 1990s. For over 15 years, Carey served as Chair of the Eurasia Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to building peace and prosperity in the former Soviet Union that has transformed thousands of lives.

In accepting the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service on behalf of Sarah Carey, her daughter Alexandra (Sasha) Carey evoked her mother's love of Russian culture and her devotion to her family. She described Carey's pragmatism as an attorney who pioneered trade ties between the United States and the Soviet Union and then Russia and her pride in helping to bring about societal change in Russia and the surrounding states through her leadership of the Eurasia Foundation: "I'm not sure honestly if I've ever met anyone who loved what they did on a daily basis like my mom did." Carey closed with her recollection of Sarah Carey receiving notification of the award earlier in the year. "She was thrilled to get this award. And while it is bittersweet to accept this award without her here, I am incredibly thankful that she knew about it, and I can really feel her here tonight."

The Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship was presented to Piotr Galitzine. As Chairman of TMK IPSCO, Galitzine heads the North and South American operations of Russia's OAO TMK, the top producer of steel pipes and tubes for the oil and gas industry in the world. TMK's acquisition of IPSCO Tubular for $1.7 billion in 2008 represents one of the largest investments ever by a Russian company in the United States. TMK IPSCO employs 2,200 workers at eleven production sites in 8 states with a combined pipe production capacity over 1,000,000 tons. Prior to TMK IPSCO, Galitzine formerly served on the Board of Directors of TMK as an independent director and has an extensive international background and career, including senior positions with Mannesmann AG and BASF AG. The son of Russian exiles displaced by the revolution, Galitzine graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a specialization in design, materials, and analysis. An active philanthropist, Galitzine is an avid supporter of cultural institutions in Chicago and several initiatives in Russia, including church preservation ("Village Church"), child welfare (Dr. Romanov's Rehabilitation Center), and the Russian Women's Microfinance Network based in Moscow.

Galitzine accepted his award with words of thanks for his family and observations on U.S.-Russian relations. "It's time to turn over a new page," he said, calling for moving beyond the trade disputes remaining between Russia and the United States, from the continued application of the Jackson-Vanik amendment to Russia to restrictions on poultry exports to Russia, and finalizing Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization. "In short, it is time to put the Cold War and all its unseen but pernicious background radiation behind us. I am convinced (as I have learned Sarah Carey was) that trade—the more the better—is the sanest and most sensible way of ensuring good relations and, at the risk of sounding like a beauty pageant contestant, even world peace." It is important, he continued, in this time of "reset" of relations to press forward on all fronts of business cooperation, as this is the most pragmatic of all possible interactions on a worldwide scale. Galitzine concluded by wishing the Kennan Institute "every success in continuing [the Institute's] good and important work in bringing our two countries, Russia and the United States, together."

2010 Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Awards Dinner Supporters

The Kennan Institute was founded as a division of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in December 1974. The Institute's mission is to improve American understanding of Russia and other successor states to the Soviet Union. For more than 30 years, the Institute has supported the research of hundreds of American and Russian scholars, journalists, and policy experts studying the region. In furthering its mission, the Institute has also organized thousands of conferences and meetings and its publications, from meeting summaries to books, have reached students, educators, and policymakers throughout the world.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the living, national memorial to President Wilson. It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds, engaged in the study of national and world affairs. The Center establishes and maintains a neutral forum for free, open, and informed dialogue.

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Kennan Institute

The Kennan Institute is the premier US center for advanced research on Russia and Eurasia and the oldest and largest regional program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Kennan Institute is committed to improving American understanding of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the surrounding region though research and exchange.  Read more