Robert J. Cabelly – Senior Adviser

Most recently, Mr. Cabelly was the Managing Director of Citrine, L.L.C., a privately held, boutique consulting firm.  From 1996-2011 he was Managing Director and owner of C/R International, L.L.C.  Prior to that, he was a Senior Vice President and Partner at Fleishman-Hillard, where he focused on managing and developing international accounts in the Washington office.

In 1993 Mr. Cabelly was the Personal Adviser to the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.  He was the principal architect of the U.S. policy toward Southern Africa for the Assistant Secretary during the first year of the new Clinton Administration and took the lead role in crisis management on the specific issues of Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa.  On leaving government service he received the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Honor Award for Public Service.  In 1991-92 Mr. Cabelly was the Senior Adviser on Africa to the Secretary of State.  In 1990 he served as Senior Adviser to the Ambassador-at-Large for Nuclear Non-Proliferation, where Mr. Cabelly took the lead role in successful negotiations with Argentina, Brazil, Japan and South Africa.  He received a Superior Honor Award for his role in developing and implementing the policy that garnered South Africa’s accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1991.

In 1989 Mr. Cabelly served as the Senior Director for African Affairs and Special Assistant to the President at the National Security Council.  Prior to that, he was the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, serving in that capacity from 1981-89.  During that period he received a Distinguished Honor Award, a Superior Honor Award, and a Meritorious Honor Award, primarily for his role in the protracted and successful negotiations on Angola and Namibia.

Prior to serving in the U.S. Government, Mr. Cabelly was the Director of Political and Economic Risk Analysis for Consolidated Gold Fields in London.  Reporting directly to the Board of Directors, he was responsible for analyzing the political and economic risks concerning existing or new investment in China, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Western Europe, and the former Soviet Union.

Mr. Cabelly graduated from King’s College with a BA in 1972.  He received MAs from Marywood University in 1974 and the American University in 1976.  He pursued his graduate studies (at the Ph.D. level) at Georgetown University in 1977-78, concentrating on East Asian Studies and international economics.  He was a member of the Board of Directors at Marywood University, and the boards of the US-Africa Energy Association, and the US-Angola Chamber of Commerce.  He was an adviser to BKSH & Associates in Washington, DC (now the Prime Policy Group), and is now a consultant to foreign governments, and US and international corporate clients.