ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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George James Tsounis (born December 26, 1967) is a Greek-American lawyer, businessman, philanthropist, public policy adviser, lobbyist, and diplomat. U.S. Ambassador to Greece. He is known for nominating him as a candidate for U.S. ambassador to Norway, but Tsunis’s protracted Senate confirmation has caused the U.S. ambassador to Norway to be absent for an unprecedented 23-month period. In December 2014, he withdrew his candidacy.

As a Greek lobbyist, George Tsunis was one of those U.S. Greeks (Dennis Mil, George Dimos, etc.) who played a key role in removing barriers and promoting a deal with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to restore the St. Nicholas National Memorial Temple at the World Trade Center.

As one of the wealthiest ($107 million, 2017) and active representatives of the Greek community of the United States and the diaspora as a whole, he is the founder, chairman and CEO of Chartwell Hotels LLC (founded in 2006).

He worked as a lawyer for the City Council of New York.

One of the largest donors to the Democratic Party. For example, in 2012, Tsunis raised more than $ 0.5 million for the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, and in 2015-2016 supported the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. His decision to fund the campaigns of a particular democrat is based on their position on issues important to the Greek community of the United States concerning the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Greece (for example, the Macedonian question) and Cyprus (in particular, the occupation of the northern territory of Cyprus).

Since August 2016 - Arbor Realty Trust. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Don Monti Cancer Research Foundation and the board of trustees of a private school.

Since February 1, 2018 – Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nassau University Medical Center Clinical Hospital.

Biography
He was born into the family of first-generation Greek immigrants James and Eleni Tsunisov. He has two sisters.

He graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts degree (1989) and a Doctor of Laws (JD) degree (1992).

As a practicing lawyer, he was a partner in Rivkin Radler LLP.

On September 10, 2013, he was nominated as a candidate for the post of U.S. Ambassador to Norway, eventually falling into a large number of accumulated unexamined nominations of ambassadors around the world. Norway has never been without an American ambassador for so long. Tsunis’s candidacy hearings caused some controversy in both Norway and the United States, due to his admission that he had never been to Norway and his apparent ignorance of some of the country’s political problems. In press statements in December 2014, Tsunis said he was no longer seeking his candidacy.

A member of the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew, wears the officia (title) of the archon ipomnematographer of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (one of the youngest archons). T