CR work with UN University for Peace and Prague Security Studies Institute
One of Informa Economics’ divisions may be small, but it packs a powerful punch. Washington Policy & Analysis (WPA) monitors, analyses and reports on critical issues affecting energy and technology companies. It provides a window into policy making and works amongst the US federal government, the Congress and other communities.
Yet it’s chairman, William Martin, contributes over a month of his time every year to two important causes, with WPA also contributing approximately 1% revenue.
Bill now sits on the Executive Board of the United Nations University of Peace - after originally being appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan as President. Headquartered in Costa Rica, ‘UPeace’ was established to provide an international institution of higher education for peace. Bill lectures, attends board meetings, and is an advisor to the head of the school. He travels to Costa Rica at least four times a year.
Bill is also a founder of the Prague Security Studies Institute. Its Robinson-Martin security scholars programme just celebrated its 10th anniversary. The PSSI is a non-profit centre focussed on teaching Czechs and other east European countries about national security. It was recently ranked the number one think-tank in the Czech Republic by the University of Pennsylvania. Bill spends approximately 2 weeks in Europe annually, hosts receptions in Washington and Prague, as well as invites 1 or 2 Czechs to be WPA interns.
In fact, since WPA’s inception with Informa Economics, it has contributed to the education of over 150 ‘Robinson-Martin’ Czech students in PSSI and there are approximately 300 graduates a year (mostly from developing countries) educated at UPEACE.
Bill explains, “The importance of our pro-bono work in terms of contributing to our global community can’t be underestimated. But along with that, we are enriching our lives and those of our clients.
“In real terms, WPA’s expenses equal approximately 1% of our total revenue. Yet we believe these are useful activities that have been shown to enrich the lives of our clients, especially the Japanese. To explain, in earlier pre-Fukushima days, our Japanese clients contributed thousands to these efforts and participated in several meetings and energy seminars, including two sponsored by President Havel of the Czech Republic. The topic of energy security remains very important in Prague, as Czechs are hesitant to import too much natural gas from Russia.”
Washington Policy & Analysis is an international consulting firm specialising in energy, environment, trade, transportation, technology, and maritime security and intelligence issues. The firm provides strategic business intelligence, analysis, and advisory services to companies, trade associations, and governments worldwide. The firm produces seminars and studies and uses WPA Global Energy, its global modelling system, to examine broad trends in national, regional, and global energy markets.