Draft:Gregory W. Slayton

The Honorable Gregory Winston Slayton (b. July 8, 1959) is an American diplomat, businessman and philanthropist. He graduated Dartmouth College & Harvard Business School with Honors and a Masters in Asian Studies as a US Fulbright Scholar to Asia. Also a former employee of McKinsey & Company alum, he served in the NY, Buenos Aires and Paris offices.

He has run Slayton Capital for 20+ years, was an investor, and served as a Board of Advisors Member at Google and Salesforce. He was appointed US Chief of Mission and Principal Officer (equivalent to Ambassador) to Bermuda by President George W. Bush and was extended twice by President Obama. He is the only Republican Ambassador in history to be awarded the Distinguished Foreign Service Award by House and Senate Republican Leadership in conjunction with the Congressional Black Caucus. And he has taught leadership and management at various business schools of the world.

Slayton lives primarily in Dallas, Texas with his family. He often travels to East Asia, NYC, Bermuda & Washington DC. Slayton has served on the Board of Clarien Bank Bermuda for 10+ years, and has assisted in the setup of a number of Insurance Captives in Bermuda. He currently runs Slayton Capital and is the Chairman of the Slayton Family Foundation, which serves impoverished families globally via their two 501c3s: Family First Global & Fellowship of Fathers Foundations.

Slayton is also an author, with one of his books (Be a Better Dad Today) translated into 10+ languages.

Career Post-Bermuda (2010 to present)
Mr. Slayton founded Slayton Capital in 2001 but took a leave of absence from 2005 to 2009, during his diplomatic assignment. He returned to the Chairman’s role in 2010. Slayton Capital was a pre-IPO investor in Google and Saleforce.com. Mr. Slayton sat on the Boards of Advisors for both Companies. Slayton Capital is invested today and sits on the boards of various companies.

Mr. Slayton and his wife Marina set up the Slayton Family Foundation in 2001 and expanded it to a global charity in 2011, renaming its US arm as the Fellowship of Fathers Foundation (FoFF) and its international subsidiary as Family First Global (FFG). The FoFF (a US 501c3) and its global partner FFG anticipate serving over 3M families in 2024 in 10+ nations.

Mr. Slayton took over the US Chief of Mission to Bermuda in 2005. Slayton was the only Bush Ambassador extended twice by Pres. Obama. He completed his service during the Obama Presidency.

At the end of his tenure, Bermuda’s Royal Gazette published the following description of Slayton in an article about Slayton’s service: “Energetic, brilliant, passionate and an unabashed American patriot…Slayton has made a greater impact on Bermuda than any of his predecessors in more than a decade.”

Mr. Slayton received the Distinguished Foreign Service Award from members of the Congressional Black Caucus and House/Senate Republican Leadership in May of 2010, which makes him the only US Diplomat so far to receive the award from both groups.

Slayton has served on numerous public and private Boards in the following industries: banking, finance, real estate services, semiconductors, software, telecommunications and non-profit. He has served as Chairman or Vice-Chairman for Audit, Governance, HR, and Risk Committees. Today Slayton serves on the Board of Directors of Clarien Bank (Bermuda’s third largest bank) where he has served for 10+ years. Slayton has continued to maintain business ties in Bermuda since leaving his diplomatic position there.

Education

 * 1988 - 1990: Masters in Business Administration with Honors from Harvard Business School.
 * 1982 - 1984: Slayton was a US Fulbright Scholar to Asia in 1982-84, completing a Masters in Asian Studies (with Honors) at the University of the Philippines. Mr. Slayton’s Master’s Thesis focused on the structural causes of poverty in East Asia. His thesis was published in the East Asian Economic Journal.
 * 1977 – 1981: BA in Economics (magna cum laude) from Dartmouth with Special Distinction in English and Economics. Slayton played lacrosse and tennis.
 * Mr. Slayton speaks French, Spanish & Filipino in addition to his native English.

Post-HBS, Pre-Bermuda Professional Experience (1990 - 2004)
From 1998 – 2001, Slayton served as President/CEO of ClickAction Inc. (Nasdaq: CLAC) and MySoftware (Nasdaq: MYSW), both tech companies based in Palo Alto, CA, US. In his first full year of leadership, MySoftware was the 9th highest performing stock on all US capital markets in 1999. The Wall Street Journal featured Mr. Slayton in a cover story entitled: “Silicon Valley Hybrid: A Boss Who Makes Others’ Ideas Pay Off.” HBS wrote three business cases on Mr. Slayton’s success at My Software and ClickAction, all of which are still in use. Time magazine put Mr. Slayton on the cover of its October 1999 issue.

Paragraph International
Mr. Slayton was hired in 1996 to the 150-person software firm Paragraph International Inc. (San Jose, CA) as its President. When he joined, the Company had less than 90 days of cash. Two years later, he sold the global Company for 20 times its value when he started.

Worlds Inc.
In 1995, Mr. Slayton co-founded, organized, and raised over $25M in initial capital for Worlds Inc. (SF, CA, US) as its SVP/CFO.

McKinsey & Company
From 1990 – 1995, Mr. Slayton served companies in the Insurance/Reinsurance Practice, McKinsey and Company (Paris, NY & Buenos Aires). He maintains contact with McKinsey alumni leaders in multiple countries. After leaving McKinsey, Slayton served as CFO of Paramount Technology Group (part of Paramount Studios and then Viacom Inc - Palo Alto, CA) from 1994-1995. Mr. Slayton was hired out of McKinsey to serve as CFO and de-facto COO for Paramount’s technology division in Silicon Valley.

Early Philanthropy Work
As Director of World Vision International’s work in parts of West Africa, Slayton led a team of over 100 serving famine-affected families in Senegal and Mali from 1984 to 1987.

Slayton was the Managing Director of MGM (Manila Garden Mission, Manila, Philippines), a Christian orphanage in Manila, from 1983 to 1984.

Books Published

 * Be a Better Dad Today (published in 15+ languages with an estimated 1M copies in print)
 * Maximum Marriage (published in 4 languages, co-written with Slayton's wife Marina )
 * Be the Best Mom You Can Be (published in 3 languages)
 * Four Centuries of Friendship: US and Bermuda Relations 1609-2009 (English only)
 * Portraits of Ukraine (coming soon, release date TBD)