BIOGRAPHY

Ned Siegel headshot

AMBASSADOR NED L. SIEGEL

U.S. Ambassador to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, Retired

With over 40 years of entrepreneurial accomplishments, Ambassador Siegel understands the importance of investing in people. Clients recognize his innate skill of connectivity and his gift of matching individuals based on their shared philosophies of life. His success in forging personal relationships is founded on paying attention to what’s said and, more importantly, what’s unsaid.

He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Connecticut in 1973, earned a Juris Doctorate from the Dickinson School of Law in 1976, and, in 2014, an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration from the University of South Carolina. Soon after law school, he began to pursue his passion as an entrepreneur. He successfully expanded Howard Siegel Companies into the Weingarten-Siegel Group, one of the largest residential developers in New Jersey, Florida, and California.

Ambassador Siegel has developed, managed, operated, and owned over one billion dollars of residential and commercial real estate over his impressive and lengthy career. Through his years of government service, he has also cultivated the types of key relationships necessary to help bring international companies to the U.S., utilizing seven rules for working with clients:

 

  1. Is the management team knowledgeable in its respective verticals, mature and focused with its business acumen, and understanding of the company’s vision, mission, and branding challenges in the marketplace?
  2. Is the technology a business and not just an idea? The business model must be proven, and the company should have actual income -- or a pathway to it.
  3. Is the idea or product disruptive in the marketplace in some way or somehow? It cannot disrupt the entire industry but only a piece of it.
  4. Is the idea addictive, viral, or something people want, and will they continue to use it repeatedly?
  5. Is the business product or service cost-effective, and is the price of the product or service something people can afford? It needs to reaffirm the business model.
  6. Is there a strong brand and a go-to-market strategy with many levels and future options?
  7. Is the company willing and agreeable to be monetized for profit at a certain strike price?


Ambassador Siegel’s lifelong commitment to public service was officially recognized in 1999 when Florida Governor Jeb Bush appointed him to Enterprise Florida Inc.’s (EFI) Board of Directors, where he served until 2004, helping to promote statewide economic development through public-private partnerships. He also served on the Space Research and Commerce Park Planning & Development Committee at the John F. Kennedy Space Center.


In 2003, President George W. Bush honored him with a Presidential Appointment to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Board of Directors, where he served until 2007. In 2006, President Bush appointed him to serve under Ambassador John R. Bolton as the Senior Advisor to the U.S. Mission and as the U.S. Representative to the 61st of the United States to the United Nations. In 2007, he was asked to serve as U.S. Ambassador of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, using his expertise and business experiences to oversee all U.S. Embassy – Nassau operations. 

Ambassador Siegel and his wife Stephanie live in Boca Raton, Florida. Proud parents and devoted grandparents, the couple supports many local civic organizations and causes in Israel.

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