John J Roberts

John J. Roberts enjoyed a distinguished career with American International Group (AIG), a global insurance and financial services company for more than 55 years. Mr. Roberts was born in Montreal, Canada. During World War II, he served in the United States Army in the Philippines and Japan. In 1947, he graduated from Princeton University, married Nancy Lee Rhodes of Baltimore, an artist and a writer, and joined American International Underwriters (AIU), which subsequently became a subsidiary of AIG as the overseas arm for general insurance. Over the next 12 years, he held various senior executive positions in Europe and the Middle East, and returned to the US in 1959 as the Director of Operations for Europe. In 1967, he was elected to the Board of Directors of AIG, became President of AIU from 1969 to 1975, and Chairman & CEO until 1989. Until 1997, Mr. Roberts was AIG Vice Chairman of External Affairs, supervising the company's operations in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the territory of the former Soviet Union. In addition to his vast international corporate experience, Mr. Roberts has been active in a number of academic and international organizations. He is a former Chairman of the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU), the Corporate Council for the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the International Insurance Advisory Council, the Polish-U.S. Economic Council, the Hungarian-U.S. Business Council, the Romanian-U.S. Business Council and the Bulgarian-U.S. Trade and Economic Council, and former member of the U.S.-Russia Business Council and the Bretton Woods Committee. He is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Chairman of the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), Director of the EastWest Institute (EWI), a member of the USCC Europe/Eurasia Business Council incorporating the U.S. Business Councils of Bulgaria, Czech/Slovak, Hungary, Poland, and Romania and a Trustee of the Juilliard School, Trinity University of San Antonio, Washington College, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the San Antonio Museum of Art, as well as a member of the Advisory Board of International Business and Management of Dickinson College.