As President and Founder of Council of U.S.-Russia Relations, and Executive Director of the Russian American Pacific Partnership (RAPP) bilateral forum, Derek Norberg works with the U.S. Departments of Commerce and State and the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, the Russian Ministries of Economic Development and Trade and Foreign Affairs, and with regional government administrations of the Russian Far East and U.S. State Governors.

From 2003 through 2011, he worked with the Foundation for Russian American Economic Cooperation as the Executive Director of RAPP and FRAEC’s Director Business Services.

Derek was Director of Operations with the Center for Citizen Initiatives (CCI) in San Francisco in 2001 and 2002 and the founding Country Director in Azerbaijan with the Eurasia Foundation from 2000 to 2001.

Derek was Vice-President and Regional Director in the Russian Far East for The U.S.-Russia Investment Fund (TUSRIF) for two years in 1997 and 1998, managing commercial loans through Russian banks and evaluating investment projects. In the 1990s, Derek worked in various management positions with the U.S.-Russian joint-venture company “Marine Resources Company International” (MRCI). In the late 1980s, Derek worked on Soviet fishing vessels on joint-ventures in U.S. territorial waters off Alaska, Washington and Oregon. 

Professional areas of expertise include fisheries, timber and wood processing, finance and investment, and government relations.

Derek has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California Berkeley, with non-degree Russian Studies post-graduate work at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He is fluent in Russian.

Email: norberg(at)usrussia.org