Marc S. Ellenbogen (born 6 February 1963 in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

) is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist and a diplomat. He is Chairman of the Global Panel Foundation and president of the

Prague Society for International Cooperation The Prague Society for International Cooperation is a Prague-based non-governmental organization that originated in Communist Central Europe, when political dissidents joined forces to oppose their respective regimes. Several of its members were ...

. Ellenbogen´s main pursuit is to fight against corruption in

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Baltic region, Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltic states, Baltics), Central Europe (primarily the Visegrád Group), Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (primaril ...

. He has been active in seeking justice against former Communist officials and members of the Communist-era secret police ( Avo ( HU),

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

(

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Securitate The Department of State Security (), commonly known as the Securitate (, ), was the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was founded on 30 August 1948 from the '' Siguranța'' with help and direction from the Soviet MG ...

( RO),

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

( DDR),

StB State Security (, ), or StB / ŠtB, was the secret police force in communist Czechoslovakia from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it dealt with any activity that was considered oppositio ...

( CSSR), SB Security Service (Poland) inter alia. He has sought to honor those who stood up against communism in Central and Eastern Europe, such as

Jan Zajíc Jan Zajíc (died 25 February 1969) was a Czechs, Czech student who killed himself by self-immolation as a political protest. Biography He was a student of the Střední průmyslová škola železniční (Industrial Highschool of Railways) techn ...

and

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

. Besides his work in Central and Eastern Europe, Ellenbogen also rescued the daughter of former Rwandan Foreign Minister (1979-1989) François Ngarukiyintwali to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

after the revolution.

Early life and education

Ellenbogen's father, Paul Ellenbogen, was, amongst other things, serving as a Navy officer in war crimes trials in Japan. The Prague Society's

Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award The Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award is a civil decoration given annually to honor individuals who have dedicated their lives to public service. It was established in 2000 by the Prague Society for International Cooperation and thGlobal ...

is named after the mother of Ellenbogen. The ancestors of Ellenbogen originated from the German noble family von Katzen-Ellenbogen (see

County of Katzenelnbogen The County of Katzenelnbogen was an Imperial immediacy, immediate States of the Holy Roman Empire, state of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed between 1095 and 1479, when it was inherited by the Landgraves of Landgraviate of Hesse, Hesse. The es ...

Katzenelnbogen Katzenelnbogen () is the name of a castle and small town in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Aar-Einrich. History Katzenelnbog ...

Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

and town). He attended

Heidelberg American High School Heidelberg American High School was a school operated by the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) located on the premises of Mark Twain Village, a housing area for American military members and their families in Heidelberg, Germany. T ...

. During university he was at the

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (Maxwell School) is the professional public policy school of Syracuse University, a private research university in Syracuse, New York. The school is organized in 11 academic departments and 1 ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

, both as an undergraduate and graduate student. There, Ellenbogen served as student government comptroller and speaker, as student representative to the Board of Trustees and as president of

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly referred to as Lambda Chi, is a fraternities and sororities, collegiate fraternity in North America. With over 300,000 initiates as of 2024, it is the third-largest social fraternity in the world by number of initia ...

fraternity. He later attended

Magdalen College Magdalen College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and one of the strongest academically, se ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Career

He is the chairman of the Global Panel Foundation and

. Annually, he hosts the

. He was an internationally syndicated columnist for

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

(2004-2010), with over 300 columns appearing in publications, including ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...

'', ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'',

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', and ''

Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...

''. The op-eds were published under the title ''Atlantic Eye'' and dealt with political issues and Marc Ellenbogen's own experience with diplomacy across the Atlantic. Ellenbogen's column ''Atlantic Eye'' has been cited in numerous media, print media and other mediums.'' From 2004 to 2010, Ellenbogen served on the National Advisory Board of the

US Democratic Party The Democratic Party is a center-left political party in the United States. One of the major parties of the U.S., it was founded in 1828, making it the world's oldest active political party. Its main rival since the 1850s has been the Re ...

. He is a former Vice Chair & Founding Trustee of the Democratic Expat Leadership Council. In 2009, U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

nominated Ellenbogen to be Ambassador to Bulgaria. He is a Life Member of the

Association of the United States Army The Association of the United States Army (AUSA) is a private, non-profit organization that serves as the professional association of the United States Army. Founded in 1950, it has 121 chapters worldwide. Membership is open to everyone, not ju ...

and a Member of the

Navy League of the United States The Navy League of the United States, commonly referred to as the Navy League, is a national association with nearly 50,000 members who advocate for a strong, credible United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, United States Coast Guard and ...

. He is also a member of the board of directors of the CERGE-EI Foundation (New York, USA), a Senior Associate at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs,

(Syracuse, USA), and an Associate Fellow and Professor at the International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics (Windsor, Canada). He serves as an adviser to, and Honorary Member of, the

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

European Affairs Society. He is a Patron of the right-of-center

Henry Jackson Society The Henry Jackson Society (HJS) is a trans-Atlantic foreign policy and national security think tank, based in the United Kingdom. While describing itself as non-partisan, its outlook has been described variously as right-wing, neoliberal, an ...

and a member of the Corps Rheno-Nicaria zu Mannheim und Heidelberg. He is a Member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance.

References

External links

Prague Society

Global Panel FoundationGlobal Panel Foundation, Board of Directors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellenbogen, Marc S. 1963 births Living people Businesspeople from Heidelberg American diplomats Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs alumni Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford

Early life and education

Career

See also

References

External links