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Clark Winter  

Founder of Winter Capital International, an Independent Advisory Firm

Clark Winter is an internationally known commentator on the world economy, global financial markets and geopolitics. Ian Bremmer, Chairman and CEO of the Eurasia Group, calls Winter "one of Wall Street's most insightful and honest intellectual brokers."Winter is the founder of Winter Capital International, an independent advisory firm that structured multi-manager portfolios by harnessing the talents of independent investment managers working worldwide. That firm was acquired by Citigroup. Winter has served as the chief global investment strategist for Citigroup Global Wealth Management, Citi Private Bank, and Smith Barney. He was director of portfolio strategy and managing director of Goldman Sachs & Co. and he is currently Chief Investment Officer at SK Capital Partners.A Wall Street Journal review of his book, The Either/Or Investor , noted "Mr. Winter does a service by encouraging us to consider emerging markets and the economies of the developed world beyond our own shores."U.S. News & World ReportWinter shows how answering yes-or-no questions about specific investments, markets, the economy, and your personal goals can help drown out some of the noise resulting from today's glut of information." And Steve Forbes, president and CEO, Forbes, Inc.,remarked, "Hallelujah! Here’s a help-investors book with a unique twist: sound investing comes from sound decision making, and the foundation of sound decision making is avoiding getting whipsawed by emotions −for instance, exuberantly buying as a bull market peaks and fearfully selling when a bear market reaches it’s lows." Winter has found that this "either/or" description of circumstances continues to resonate with his audience, regardless of their financial sophistication .Winter’s numerous media appearances include CNBC’s Worldwide Exchange, Fox Business Network, Bloomberg Television, Wall Street Journal Digital Network, CNN, New Delhi Television, CNN en Espanol’s GloboEconomia and Westwood One’s The Dennis Miller Show and The Jim Bohannon Show.He also appears twice a month on CNBC’s Closing Bell With Maria Bartiromo. He is frequently quoted in The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Forbes.

Winter delivered a lecture at the Belfer Center International Council at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he is a member, and has been a speaker before groups such as Wachovia, Spain Chamber of Commerce, World Economic Forum, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and the Global Asset Allocation Conference, to name a few. Here is a link to his speaking reel:

 http://clarkwinter.com/media.html

Speech topics include:

Drivers, Passengers, Road kill As the rules of the road change, some global companies will end up passengers of the new drivers of the global economy and the others, who are going along for the ride with Fed policy, will become their road kill. We’ve seen that the leaders of the most successful countries and companies focus more on innovation, quality and moving up the value chain than on mere cost cutting. These nations and firms are redefining their roles as drivers. But with the emergence of double-digit gross-domestic-product growth in some of the developing economies, there are new challenges for the right to sit in the driver’s seat. A new set of passengers also will emerge, and there could be more road kill up ahead.A Changing World: The Rule of Power vs. The Rule of Law

Looking at these two is meant to answer the following question: can I invest safely in a country where the deck is seemingly stacked against me? In nations such as Russia, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia, as well as many other emerging markets, the rule of law is weak and the rule of individual power is strong. It goes to the heart of the question of how you assess risk and the direction of reform. Don’t reject a market simply because you don’t like the politics or the players or the country or its philosophy. If you are willing to do a little digging, you will generally find a sound reason why a market is rising.

A Changing Investor: Fear vs. Greed

What drives investment decision making? Most of the time, markets are governed either by fear or greed. As the needle swings from fear to greed and vice versa, people don’t know whether to switch from a strategy of preservation to a strategy of growth. They settle for hesitation. Not certain whether fear or greed is governing their markets, they wait too long and thus miss the opportunity. If you have to choose between getting in late or getting out early, always get out early, because while you lose a bit on the upside by getting into an investment late, you never lose by getting out early.

A Changing Market: Protectionism vs. Focus on the Future

Companies have an obligation to shareholders to remain firmly focused on the future. After all, stock markets judge them not on the basis of what they did last month or last quarter but on what they are likely to do next month and next quarter. When a company or an industry or even a nation begins to cry protectionism, it is nearly always a sign to move on. There is no waterfall to be found in companies that depend on their ability to keep competitors at bay. Another company is almost always bound to come up with a way around any barriers a company might create. Even if those boundaries seem permanent, they never last.

Changing Opportunities: Entitlement vs. Opportunity

Entitlements are things to which you believe you have a right; opportunities are things for which you are willing to take a risk. Americans are used to investing in the forces of opportunity—after all, that was what the Internet and telecom booms were all about—and we tend to shun investing in the forces of entitlement. But should we? A look back at the three best-performing stock markets over the past five years shows that all three were in nations controlled by small oligarchies— Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. In Kuwait, the ruling Al-Sabah family controls or has a stake in every business worth owning, and in Saudi Arabia, the princely families related to the Sauds own most of the wealth. There are ways that entitlement generates opportunity, and vice versa. You just have to learn how to see the one in the other, and both in each, and then invest accordingly.

Here are what people say about Winter after hearing him speak:

"Mr. Winter is an outstanding and accomplished speaker and we were privileged to have him sharing his experiences, viewpoints, and knowledge while delivering a motivational and strong message

"Clark Winter has given us the tools to unlock some of the closed doors of the economic world. His strategies could be the key to your success and understanding, is one of the most positive and entertaining speakers on success and achievement to appear in many years. He is loaded with good ideas everyone can use to be better at home and at work!. Mr. Winter is a superb communicator, an energetic speaker and an excellent consultant. His ideas are practical and proven. Clark is a breath of fresh air!" - Mario Diaz-Cruz, III, Chairman, Spain-U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Partner at Dorsey& Whitney

"Mr. Winter is the consummate professional highly regarded among his peers. Mr. Winter is results oriented, an achiever, a strategic thinker. He possesses great communicative skills and uses those skills in motivating others to reach beyond their perceived limitations. Additionally, Mr. Winter possesses an unfaltering determination for success and all the tools required to achieve it. Mr. Winter’s character is of the highest order, with unwavering loyalty, integrity and dedication, I recommend him without reservation in any endeavor he may wish to undertake." - Bisila Bokoko, Executive Director of the Spain–U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Winter is chairman emeritus of both the Spanish Institute and the Mexican Cultural Institute. He serves on the boards of the Andrea Frank Foundation, and the Committee on Photography at the Museum of Modern Art., Clark Winter was fantastic! Not only was he a captivating and entertaining speaker but he had so much valuable information to share." - Jose Ramon Villar, Vice-Chairman Spain-Us Chamber of Commerce, Partner in Garriguesobserved, "

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