C. RICHARD D'AMATO

C. Richard D'Amato is a Delegate to the General Assembly of the State of Maryland and President of a consulting firm that represents American corporations on strategic planning and international trade matters. He is also a retired Captain in the United States Navy Reserve, a position that brought him a variety of assignments, including: attaché duty at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China on proliferation issues and military-to-military initiatives in March 1997; service in the Battle Group Command Staff of the USS Eisenhower in the Red Sea during Operation Desert Shield; serving as an Operations Officer directing air drops into Bosnia and Sarajevo; and service on the planning staff of the newly created Asia-Pacific Center, which is a conference and study center under the Commander of U.S. Forces for the Pacific, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

For ten years, beginning in 1988, Mr. D'Amato was the Democratic Counsel for the Committee on Appropriations of the United States Senate. He was responsible for coordinating and managing the annual appropriations bills and other legislation on policy and funding of U.S. international operations and programs, including trade and defense and the full range of foreign activities of the U.S. government.

Mr. D'Amato has also served as Senior Foreign Policy Counsel for Senator Robert C. Byrd. In this capacity, Mr. D'Amato drafted the resolution that set Senate standards for international global climate change treaty negotiations. He also worked on a wide array of issues affecting U.S. international economic and political interests, including: U.S.-Japan auto trade talks; World Trade Organization review legislation; U.S. involvement and funding of operations in Bosnia, Somalia, and Rwanda; and burden-sharing agreements during the Gulf War.

Between 1980 and 1987, Mr. D'Amato served as the Policy Director for the Majority Leader, Senator Robert C. Byrd, for political, economic, and security policies. In this position, Mr. D'Amato supervised all work on a number of important legislative initiatives, including the 1988 Omnibus Trade Bill and the "Super 301" provision. Mr. D'Amato also wrote key legislation dealing with U.S.-Japan economic relations. During his career on Capitol Hill, Mr. D'Amato also served as the co-director of the Senate Arms Control Observer Group.

Mr. D'Amato began his career first as the Legislative Director for Congressman James Jeffords (R-VT) between 1975 and 1978, and beginning in 1978 as the Legislative Assistant and then Chief of Staff for Senator Abraham Ribicoff (D-CT), until 1980.

Mr. D'Amato has been very active in other aspects of public service, including an appointment as an Assistant Professor of Government for the United States Naval Academy between 1968 and 1971, during which he was Assistant Varsity Basketball Coach and the Sailing Coach. He was responsible for the creation of an annual scholarship with the YWCA for college bound African -American women and was the Chairman of a local charitable hunger relief action organization in 1996, 1997, and 1998, which was a part of the nationwide "Share Our Strength" organization, the most successful hunger relief effort in the United States. In addition, he is active in the boating community in Annapolis where he and his wife, Dorothy, have lived for thirty years.

Mr. D'Amato received his B.A. from Cornell University in 1964, graduating Cum Laude in Government. He serves now on the Board of Trustee's Council for Cornell University. Mr. D'Amato received his M.A. and M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston in 1967, and received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1980.