Sir Eldon Griffiths

A former conservative Member of Parliament and former minister in the British government, the founding director of Chapman's Schmid Center for International Business, Sir Eldon Griffiths, is active in U.S. and international business and journalism. He serves on the boards of multinational companies in engineering, finance, property, and trade; writes a twice-weekly opinion column on political/economic issues; lectures widely to business and academic groups; and is President of the World Affairs Council of Orange County.

Educated at Cambridge and Yale, Sir Eldon was elected to Parliament at an early age and quickly named delegate to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. As Under-Secretary of State in the world's first Department of the Environment, he helped set up the United Nation's Environmental Agency; pioneered legislation on water engineering and transport; represented his government at international conferences in Brussels, Washington, and Moscow.

There are few countries which Sir Eldon Griffiths has not visited as a politician, business consultant, or editor. Before entering politics, he was a correspondent for Time magazine, foreign editor of Newsweek, and columnist for the Washington Post. Sir Eldon is a Freeman of the City of London, Honorary Citizen of Orange County, and he serves as a board member of the World Trade Center and numerous charities.