Both sides the the microphone and the negotiating table

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Mark James Finlay, My Story:

While I am a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a Member of the Association for Project Management, with over 30-years’ experience in economic development and the delivery of major projects, I would say I am a professional storyteller, a peacemaker, and an encourager at heart - albeit I am sometimes formally or informally referred to as a Special Advisor or 'ambassador of reconciliation'.

My wife Karen and I are blessed to live in Charleston, not far from our daughter Grace, who is a fifth-grade teacher in a title-one inner city school.  While living in South Carolina's 'low country,' and often to be found on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., I still tell people I come from Northern Ireland. Sometimes I will say I was born in the Kingdom of Narnia, as our homeland influenced fellow Belfast man C.S. Lewis to create his magical kingdom found in the Chronicles of Narnia. Karen and I are both C.S. Lewis Institute Fellows and Karen is a CSLI Mentor.

Karen and I lived through so called “troubles” that raged from shortly after I was born until the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) of 1998, and Grace was born at time that qualifies her to be "a ceasefire baby!"  I was actively involved in the peace process and in post-conflict transformation and the delivery of city regeneration and major economic development initiatives.

Much of the story of my 'career' unfolded in multi-jurisdictional settings often working closely with government and political leaders in the UK and Ireland, Europe - including the Balkans and Baltic countries, the Middle East, and the Americas. 

I have been responsible for multi-million pound Public Private Partnerships and industrial development projects, including challenges like the redevelopment of the Port of Rosyth, Scotland and its transformation from the UK’s ultra-secure and highly contaminated nuclear submarine base into a vibrant mixed-use business park and center of community, as well as home port to the UK’s Flagship Aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

In light of my experience in Rosyth, I was honored to hold public appointed office as a Commissioner of the Port of Belfast, the third-busiest port in the UK, which encompasses Europe’s largest waterfront regeneration, known as Titanic Quarter, and to serve as Chairman of Inner South Belfast Neighborhood Partnership, and then Chairman of South Belfast Partnership, cross-government initiatives created to after the GFA to bring about practical change and improve the 'life outcomes’ of people living in some of the UK and Ireland’s most disadvantaged inner-city communities.

Following the GFA, I was appointed a Director of the Ireland-US Council (IUSC) in Dublin and in 2016 was appointed to the Board in New York.  Our Council was created to prepare for President John F. Kennedy's visit to Ireland in 1963 to promote economic links between the United States and Ireland. 

One of the most 'fun' projects I have been involved with was in 2011 when I was commissioned by government to author Northern Ireland’s Global Diaspora Strategy, to examine how to better connect with the region’s “scattered seed," including an estimated 50 million Irish and Scots-Irish in North America. 

In 2007, I was invited to be part of a small team to serve the island of Ireland’s delegation attending the National Prayer Breakfast (NPB) in Washington, DC., and in 2012 was called to relocate to the USA, and in December 2014 invited by Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL-04), incoming Co-Chair of the NPB, to support him with faith-based initiatives and international relations.  This has led to a decade of deepening friendships with Members of Congress and their counterparts in other parliaments and legislatures. 

It has been an honor and privilege serve my brother Chairman Aderholt, one of the United States so called 'Appropriations Cardinals' and most senior members of the GOP delegation in the Congress.

People have told me I am an inspiring public speaker, known for my blend of Irish wit and wisdom - I hope that is true!  For sure, I give God all the honor and glory for the many opportunities I have had to share at home and around the world in Jesus' name.

In addition to my work as an ambassador of reconciliation, I enjoy advising leaders of Fortune 500 companies, SMEs, foundations, and family offices.

Commercial deployments have ranged from advising on complex issues of ethics and responsibility, and corporate governance; to sensitive diplomatic missions; matters of defense and national security; international business development; and major project delivery - as equally diverse as new brand launches, award winning museums, life-saving technology advancement, research partnerships, and the development of production factories and 5-Star Hotels and Golf Resorts!

Our family has been blessed by a God-given and unparalleled international network of friends and to have amassed multi-sector experience in aerospace, automotive, biomedical, biopharma, city regeneration, clean energy, defense, hospitality, infrastructure, ports, research, technology, and tourism. 

I would love to hear your story and to connect and see how I might help you! Please click the link below and set up a time to for me to get to know you.

We often tell friends and clients, perhaps the most important question to ask is, "why am I seeing this on TV, or in the headlines?" - not "what am I seeing?" 

Most of the news we 'consume' today has been 'plated' for us - prepared by some interest group, Political Action Committee (PAC), or indeed government. 

At Guiding Principles ™ our team brings real-time 'intel', garnered through relationships around the world, to publish actionable insights that offer a valuable tool to inform operational decision making, business development, and the establishment of strategic partnerships, by calling upon super-connected, trusted, and pre-validated relationships.

It is vital to understand the world as it is today, and as it is fragmenting and reforming, to ensure our Supply Chains  are robust and fit-for-purpose. Businesses need to know, "where are the safe harbors, and who can we count upon as reliable partners?"  Furthermore, an increasingly asked question is, "can you help us to break adversary supply chain reliance?"  

At Guiding Principles ™ we have no hesitation in answering, "Yes!" 

Our decades of experience in Supply Chain have taken us far beyond the arenas of brick and mortar assets, logistics and ports. Although we are built-environment professionals and port specialists, our greatest concern is for the welfare of people connected to and served by the supply chain.

I hold three passports - USA, UK, and Ireland - and have been 'transatlantic' in perspective since childhood, stemming from my grandfather's role as one of the so called "Incredibles" who was responsible for getting the Boeing 747 off the ground in Seattle in 1968. 

It was Juan Trippe, President of Pan Am, (played by Alex Baldwin in the 2004 Aviator movie, as foil to Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes)  and Boeing's launch partner, who had the vision to 'shrink the world for the masses and to bring Europe and the Americas closer together. He challenged my grandfather to a $100 bet, giving him and his team 28 months to get the Jumbo Jet off the ground and he paid 'Pop' that $100 when the Incredibles achieved their aim. 

At the 747's launch, after its first flight, Tripp famously said, "the 747 would be a great weapon for peace, competing with  missiles for mankind's destiny." It is sobering, as we recall these words, that missiles are again being fired across Europe and the Middle East. 

For decades, people talked of the post war period of globalization as a time of relative stability, between spells of freeze and thaw in the Cold War, but now the language spoken is typically of fragmentation and isolationism. We are observing new geopolitical alliances being formed, and have already been impacted by restructuring. ew trade deals are being struck - and need to be struck 

Against this backdrop, business must be transacted,  - and our diplomatique ™ actionable insights and Guiding Principles ™ global network equip our clients to respond at a time when, in many respects, confusion and uncertainly reign.