NEXT MEETING
Friday, March 11, 2005
Omni Shoreham Hotel
Washington, D.C.
A Little Something Gourmet-To-Go
Eatery (Located off Main Lobby)
10 am to 12 pm

Agenda

AHEC NEW YORK MEETING AT THE HARVARD CLUB

NEW MEMBER PROFILE: MONICA ELLING AND MONARCHIA MATT INTERNATIONAL

AHEC is delighted to welcome Monarchia Matt International as its newest member. Monarchia is a Hungarian wine importer which operates a winery in Eger, Hungary, and distributes high quality, small production wines from various regions in Hungary.

Monarchia wine was featured at the December 2, 2004 Congressional event organized by HAF and CHACR which is detailed in this newsletter.

Monica Elling, Monarchia’s Chief Marketing Officer, is a tireless promoter of Hungary, as well as a champion of quality and professionalism. She has generously supported countless initiatives with her time and experience. Visit www.monarchiawines.com for additional information and availability of Monarchia’s selection of wines.

ARPAD TOTH MAESTRO OF PHYSICAL SECURITY PROJECTS

Arpad Toth, Senior Technologist of GTSI Corp. and Chairman of the InteGuard Physical Security Alliance, organized a conference for security solutions vendors attended by over 300 guests. Speakers included Dendy Young, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GTSI; Bill Jacobs, Senior Manager of Security, Technology and Systems for Cisco Systems; and Jack Johnson, Chief Security Officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The conference was held November 9, 2004 in Washington, D.C. Please visit www.gtsi.com/protect america for more information about the program. In related news, Arpad was invited to be a guest columnist in the periodical Government Security News. His first article, appearing in the January 10, 2005 issue, concerns an acoustic-based security system. See www.gsnmagazine.com for a copy of the article. GTSI was also featured on the January 24, 2005 cover of VAR Business in connection with the physical security provided by GTSI at Super Bowl XXXVIII. Arpad was prominently featured in the article, as he was GTSI’s spearhead for securing and executing the project.

LASZLO HORVATH IN VIRGINIA’S INDIA DELEGATION

Virginia Governor Mark Warner invited AHEC’s Laszlo Horvath to join the Governor’s April 24 to 29, 2005 business delegation to India. The delegation will visit New Deli, Bangalore and Mumbai. For further information, please contact Laszlo at laszlo@activemedia.com.

AHEC MEMBERS ENCOURAGE HUNGARY PARTICIPATION IN EUROPEAN UNION HOSTED EARTH OBSERVATION SUMMIT

Thanks to the efforts of several AHEC members, the Hungarian Government will participate as an observer in the Earth Observation Summit III, to be held February 16, 2005 in Brussels, Belgium.

Summit participants are creating a Global Earth Observing Systems of Systems (GEOSS) that will provide unprecedented amounts of environmental data from satellites, aircraft, and ground-based sensors. Nancy Colleton, President, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies and AHEC member, has been intimately involved in this project, noticed that Hungary was not among the nearly 60 countries that are part of the Group on Earth Observations, which has called for development of the GEOSS.

Thanks to Nancy's expertise and interest, AHEC was able to communicate with the Hungarian government and the Group on Earth Observations to secure observer status for Hungary in the days leading up to the summit.

Nancy engages industry, the academic community, and nongovernmental organizations in the planning process for GEOSS. For more information about her and her activities, please visit http://www.strategies.org.

SANDOR VEGH’S HAF LAUNCH HUNEX KNOWLEDGE PORTAL

Dr. Sandor Vegh, President of the HungarianAmerica Foundation (HAF), announces the launch of a new “job and knowledge mobility portal” at www.hunex.org. The HungarianAmerica Foundation, Inc., is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3), taxexempt organization, incorporated in the District of Columbia in 2003, for charitable, scientific, literary, and educational purposes. For more information, please visit Hungarian-America Foundation.

RON DOCKSAI ASSISTS IN BUSH RE-ELECTION

Ronald Docksai, Vice President, Federal Government Relations, Bayer Corporate and Business Services, was a designated “George W. Bush Pioneer” in 2004, as he had been in 2000, spearheading fundraising efforts on behalf of the president.

Ron states that would be pleased to assist in AHEC related efforts requiring assistance from elected officials on Capital Hill.

BARNABAS NEMETH RETURNS TO HUNGARY

AHEC expresses warm appreciation to Hungarian Trade Commissioner Barnabas Nemeth, who is returning to Hungary after nearly a decade of dedicated work in Washington D.C. and New York developing U.SHungarian business ties. Mr. Nemeth has been supportive of AHEC initiatives, including the Hungarian Technology Center in Virginia. AHEC wishes him all the best in his future endeavors in Budapest and, in recognition of his accomplishments, is awarding him an honorary AHEC membership.

AHEC DEVELOPING WEB SITE

The American-Hungarian Executive Circle is excited about the development of a new Web site for 2005. AHEC Members are invited to submit, in MS Word format, a biography in 12 point Times New Roman font, of up to one page, to mgeroe@adknowledge.com.

MINISTER JANOS KOKA RESPONDS TO AHEC

Dr. Janos Koka, Hungarian Minister of Economics and Transportation, has received the letter of congratulations earlier sent by AHEC. Minister Koka is former chair of AHEC's sister organization in Hungary, IVSZ (Informatikai Vallalatok Szovetsege). In his reply letter, he thanked AHEC and expressed his desire to work closely with American- Hungarian professionals. The text of his letter is reproduced below:

“Köszönettel fogadom kedves gratulációtokat kinevezésem alkalmából. Az Egyesült Államok, mint hazánk egyik legnagyobb befektetési partnere kiemelt figyelmet élvez a minisztérium munkájában, és e kapcsolat fejlesztésének az egyik legfontosabb hajtóereje az amerikai magyarság lehet. Kiváló szervezetetek, az AHEC, amelynek nem egy vezetõjével személyesen is módomban állt megismerkedni, reményeim szerint kulcsszerepet játszik Magyarország imázsának javításában és a kölcsönös gazdasági kapcsolatrendszer erõsítésében. Örömmel vettem hírét, hogy Szekfû Balázs, a Magyar-Indonéz Üzleti Tanács elnöke amerikai magyar vezetõ személyiségekbõl álló független tanácsadói team megszervezésébe kezdett. Bízom e kezdeményezés sikerében és abban, hogy e testület tovább erõsítheti a két nemzet kapcsolatát.

A mihamarabbi találkozás reményében üdvözlettel:”

JOE BALINTFY HELPS ORGANIZE OCT. 2004 VICTOR ORBAN VISIT

Joe Balintfy, Communications Director of the North American Network, Inc., helped plan the communications strategy for a visit in Oct. 2004 by Victor Orban. Balintfy helped Sandor Nagy’s Center for Hungarian-American Congressional Relations (CHACR) in development of the strategy. Orban, a former Hungarian Prime Minister, was visiting Cleveland, Ohio to commemorate the 48th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Mr. Nagy is President of the CHACR. The North American Network aids in radio focused public relations. For more information, see http://www.radiospace.com.

SUCCESSFUL CAPITOL HILL EVENT BY AHF/CHACR

Bryan Dawson of Webenetics reports the American Hungarian Foundation and the Center for Hungarian American Congressional Relations collaborated to organize a December 2, 2004 event thanking Capital Hill staffers representing the 25 Members of Congress belonging to the Hungarian American Caucus, for their support for Hungarian causes.

The event was held in a large hearing room of the Rayburn House Office Building. Over 60 guests were in attendance.

The Hungarian American Caucus is a bipartisan group of distinguished Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, which seeks to represent interests of Hungarian American constituents; foster bilateral relations between Hungary and United States; and protect the rights of Hungarian minorities in Europe. For more information, please visit http://www.americanhungarianfederation.org.

Webenetics is a Hispanic Woman-owned management consulting, technology services, and on-shore outsourcing company. For more information about the services offered by Webenetics, please visit http://www.webenetics.com.

AHEC MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION