CLARK PLEXICO
The President of International Strategies, Inc. is Clark Plexico. Clark Plexico is a speaker, trainer and consultant on intercultural business development, and provides leaders in business, non-profits, education and government new skills for both understanding and working successfully with other nationalities.
He is former State President in North Carolina of Law and Government Affairs for AT&T, North Carolina State Senator, and owner of an international real estate company based in London, Tehran and Hong Kong.
He has many years of international experience in business and education,
including over a decade of living and working in the Middle East, Europe
and Asia. Plexico is a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs
(Chatham House, London), the Southern Center for International Studies, and the Society
of
International Business Fellows. He serves as facilitator for the Central
Eurasia Leadership Alliance (CELA) in Istanbul, Turkey, working with emerging
leaders from the nine countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus on leadership
development, and in creating leadership networks throughout that region.
He is certified by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in delivering the Intercultural Edge (ICE) cross-cultural program, certified by the Protocol School of Washington as a Corporate Etiquette and International Protocol Consultant, and is certified by and a Training Partner with Richard Lewis Communications of Great Britain.
While representing AT&T he was responsible for the development and implementation of public policy initiatives in North Carolina, directed legislative and regulatory advocacy, managed the grass-tops and grass-roots efforts, led the corporate citizenship involvement and directed the company’s philanthropy in the state. He also served as Director of Southern Region Political Advocacy for the nine-state region, and was the National Corporate Representative to the National Attorneys-General Association.
Prior to joining AT&T Plexico was elected to four terms in the North Carolina Senate, and served as Co-Chair for both the Education and the Education Appropriations Committees. He also chaired the committee having oversight and appropriations responsibility for state agencies, and was very active in economic development and environmental efforts. He was a member of the Southern Region Education Board, the Southern Legislators Conference and the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Before serving in elected office, Plexico lived and worked abroad for ten
years. After teaching at the International School in Tehran, Iran, he was
managing director of the Middle East office for an international real estate
company that was based in Singapore and Hong Kong. Following the
Iranian
Revolution he moved to Europe where he formed his own company based in London,
England; Aberdeen, Scotland; and Hong Kong. From there he made frequent
extended trips to serve clients in Europe, the Persian Gulf states and Southeast
Asia.
He earned his master’s degree in International Relations (with Honors) from the London Program of the University of Southern California, and his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He has studied Middle Eastern politics and religion at both Tehran University and the Royal Academy of Philosophy in Iran. Plexico has studied Farsi and is a graduate of the Arabic School of Middlebury College. He is often asked to speak on Islam and the Middle East for groups and conferences, and has been a lecturer on the Middle East for the Great Decisions Program of the Foreign Policy Association. In addition, he has been Adjunct Professor at North Carolina State University, UNC-Asheville, and Western Carolina University in both Middle East History and Politics and American Government and Politics.
Plexico is a frequent participant at international conferences both in the United States and abroad, has helped to plan and implement business and educational travel-study trips to the Middle East and Central Asia, and has been a member of many international trade and educational delegations throughout Asia, Europe and Central and South America.
In addition to the United States, his main geographical expertise is in the areas where he has either lived or spent considerable time working with clients; primarily, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Over the years Plexico has served on many statewide and regional boards, including the World Trade Center North Carolina (Chairman), the Progress Board (Chair of Executive Committee), Smart Start (Vice-Chair), NC Citizens for Business and Industry (Chair of Education Committee), NC Art Society, Exploris Museum and School, NCFREE, Western Carolina Board of Trustees, Duke University Fuqua School of Business CIBER Advisory Board, NC Telecommunications Industry Association, International Affairs Council, NC Committee on Economic Education, Public School Forum, the Governor’s Education First Task Force, the China Center, the Haiti Connection, Stop Hunger Now and the Global Network Foundation of the Society of International Business Fellows.
