Anthony Gardner keynote speaker

Anthony L. Gardner served as United States Ambassador to the European Union from February 2014 to January 2017.

Anthony L. Gardner was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union on February 18, 2014. He presented his credentials to European Council President Van Rompuy and European Commission President Barroso on March 18.

Prior to becoming the United States Ambassador to the European Union, Ambassador Gardner was Managing Director for six years at Palamon Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in London, that focuses on providing growth capital to fast growing businesses in a wide variety of service sectors throughout Western Europe. In that capacity he managed financing, legal and tax structuring issues related to the firm’s acquisitions and divestitures.

Previously, Ambassador Gardner served as an Executive Director in the leveraged finance departments of Bank of America and GE Capital and as a Director in the international acquisitions group of GE International, all based in London. He has also worked as a Senior Associate at international law firms in London, Paris, New York, and Brussels.

Ambassador Gardner has dedicated more than twenty years of his career to U.S.-European affairs, as a government official, lawyer and investor.  He served as Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council in 1994-95. During that period, he worked closely with the U.S. Mission to the European Union to launch the New Transatlantic Agenda, a joint commitment to promoting peace and stability, democracy, and development around the world; responding to global challenges; contributing to the expansion of world trade and closer economic relations; and building bridges across the Atlantic. Ambassador Gardner also participated in the launch of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue, an advisory group bringing together executives from leading American and European companies to advocate for a barrier-free transatlantic market.

Prior to his government service, Ambassador Gardner worked with the Treuhandanstalt (German Privatization Ministry) in Berlin, with the Commission des Operations de Bourse in Paris, and as an intern at the Directorate General for Competition Policy at the European Commission in Brussels. He is the author of A New Era in U.S.-EU Relations?: The Clinton Administration and the New Transatlantic Agenda and numerous articles on EU affairs.

Ambassador Gardner holds a BA in Government from Harvard University, an MPhil in International Relations from Oxford University, a JD from Columbia Law School, and a Masters in Finance from London Business School.  He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has served as Trustee of the Guggenheim UK Charitable Trust, and a Board Member for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.  Ambassador Gardner is fluent in French, Italian, and Spanish, and also speaks German.