Peter H. Hellmonds
is the founder and owner of Arete Publica Associates®, a public affairs management consultancy firm he founded after a long and successful career. As a senior executive of public and international affairs, Peter has a thorough background in public affairs and international relations, in development issues, corporate responsibility and government relations.
He has also been active in export finance, project finance, and public-private partnerships of major infrastructure projects. His primary business sectors cover telecommunications, the Internet, and the information society. However, Peter is also familiar with transportation, power, and energy. His largest two projects were international project finance deals in nature, the 2 bn Euro Athens International Airport in Greece, and the 1.5 bn USD power plant privatisation at Jorf Lasfar, Morocco. Both were BOOT project finance deals with a duration of 30 years.
Peter’s proven track record of taking on new and groundbreaking challenges is coupled with his stamina and determination to see projects through to completion. He performs equally well pulling the strings behind the scenes, and representing your business interests in the public eye, whichever is required by the circumstances. Endowed with excellent strategic and analytical skills, Peter is an experienced writer, speaker, presenter and moderator with the ability to engage effortlessly in multicultural environments.
Peter is a multilingual world citizen with advanced degrees from 3 of the world’s top 5 international relations universities: a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, a Certificate in International Studies from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies, and a Master’s degree from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. He brings with him also ten years experience of living, studying and working abroad in various international environments in Europe, the Middle East and North America. Overall, he has accumulated over twenty-five years experience working in multinational, multilingual and multicultural environments.
Having served as a Consultant at the World Bank, as an advisor to the United Nations and an expert for the German UNESCO Commission and as member of the International Chamber of Commerce, Peter has further developed his international negotiation skills in dealing with businesses, governments, civil society, and international organizations in complex international issues.
“I so enjoyed working with Peter Hellmonds during my years at Siemens and Nokia. What a great mind full of ways to make things happen. His international background and analytic skills set him up perfectly for business all over the world. Peter’s passion and enthusiasm is catching!”
Sandra Decius, November 27, 2019
“Working with Peter was always an enjoyable and fruitful experience. His extensive network in international organisations allowed him to quickly engage with innovative topics and translate them into direct business opportunities.
His open attitude and curiosity helped him to easily connect with various stakeholders on all management levels. Driving ideas in an international environment seems to be a natural way of working for Peter.”
Dr. Mark Siebert, December 15, 2012
“I liked working with Peter because he was always interested in researching and pushing the envelope for the best solutions for our clientele. He was not afraid to point out problems and to team with other people to have them solved. He was respected and was respectful to others.”
Numa De Magalhaes, March 28, 2008
“Peter Hellmonds worked with me at the pilot Electronic Media Center in the World Bank. At that time we were pioneering the use of the internet and other electronic technologies to support the Bank’s lending program, research, training, and external relations. He was one of those few in the Bank who grasped the importance of ICT as a tool for the leveraging the development of countries, regions, cities, and enterprises. Working with him was a pleasure, he was a great team player, and his passion for ICT4D was infectious. His expertise in the subject was a great help to us and would be to any future employer. He now seeks to harness this enthusiasm and the knowledge gained in the Bank and extensive private sector experience for new ventures. He is well prepared and suited for this role.”
Peter Knight, May 4, 2012
“During my tenure as Chief Economist at the International Finance Corporation, I had the pleasure of meeting Peter. While I did not work directly with him, I knew his boss very well who introduced me to him. Peter struck me as being highly intelligent and socially adept, and he displayed a profound passion for putting information and communication technologies to good use not only for the staff of the World Bank Group, but also for people in developing countries.
Within the World Bank Group, Peter not only formed a mobile computing task force to support staff in their mission work in developing countries, but he also managed to bring the World Bank online with their first web server, allowing for public distribution of the Bank’s research and publication. To highlight his foresight, he managed to bring this Webserver online three months before the Board of Directors passed the Bank’s new public information disclosure policy. Further, Peter helped to bring some African countries online on the Internet by finding Bank budget resources to kickstart their connectivity.
He also was a networker who brought Bank staff together with experts from various stakeholder groups to discuss ways and means to bring connectivity to developing countries. All of this he did years before the World Bank Group formally woke up to the challenge and formed the Global ICT department. Personally, I found him a warm and fun person to be with, and I enjoyed his style and personality”
Guy Pfeffermann, May 4, 2012
“Peter is absolutely first rate in virtually every way — bright, passionate, strategic, personable, and commited to obtaining results that matter. We have worked together in a number of high level international forums and over many years and I have always found Peter to be a great colleague and friend.”
David Gross, June 5, 2012
“Peter Hellmonds is a serious, committed, well-rounded professional who can exceptionally combine his private-sector experience and competence with broader service to society. He is exceptional in his capacity to listen to wildly divergent points of view and propose and execute pragmatic ways forward without leaving principles to a side.
In the Internet Governance Forum’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group we charted new territory in the governance of the Internet but more so in the way to create a space in which for-profit, non-profit, academic, technical, and government actors can make decisions together. His open mind, strategic view, results orientation, and cultural sensitivity allowed him to stay loyal to his firm and sector and still earn the trust of other parties.
His combined thorough understanding of technology, technical governance, firms structures and goals, and social purposes allowed him to become a constant, highly appreciated good-faith player. These attributes have continued to grow over the years and make Peter an asset to any organization that decides to work with him.”
Alejandro Pisanty, May 14, 2012
“Peter is a creative, highly motivated and social-minded manager. Broadly interested in all facets of political, economic and human affairs he is able to focus and understand details, while never losing the eye for the broader picture. It’s always fun to be in the same team with him.”
Christian Von Heymann, January 20, 2010
“I have had the pleasure of working with Peter in the ICC Commission on E-Business, IT and Telecoms as I manage the commission and Peter and his company are members. We have also worked together in the context of the World Summit on the Information Society, and several of the processes and forums established by the WSIS in Tunis 2005, and Geneva 2003.
Peter is a productive contributor on a range of ICT and Internet related issues. His positive and enthusiastic approach motivates the groups he is involved in, and sparks valuable discussion. Peter has a creative approach to issues and his intellectual energy and ideas help the group to assess and evaluate issues as they build positions and chart out strategic approaches to them.”
Ayesha Hassan, March 31, 2008
“I worked with Peter on the Commission on the Digital Economy at the International Chamber of Commerce, and also in the IGF process as well as BASIS. Peter brings a deep insight and understanding to ICT issues, and has the ability to articulate the issues involved to enable productive policy discussions and advocacy. He is a team player and able to work collaboratively with partners or members across continents. He is passionate about what he does, and brings this passion to any task or process he is entrusted with. Peter is a great player to have on any team.”
David Appasamy, May 2, 2012
“Peter is a rare combination of extraordinary professionalism, attention to details and ability to see the “big picture”, creative and flexible imagination, internal discipline and commitment to the mission at hand – and at the same time, surprisingly, a very warm and caring person, with excellent sense of humour, able to permit himself to be a true extrovert (as we say in Russian, “the soul of the party”) when appropriate. I sincerely respect his profound and diverse professional experience, his unforced ability to interact effectively (and amicably) with people of diverse cultures and backgrounds, as well as his impressive linguistic abilities.
I personally would be happy to work with Peter in any capacity – as a colleague, a boss, or a subordinate. I recommend him wholeheartedly and with no reservations as a professional and a nice person, a perfect member of a team.”
Sergei Kambalov, May 2, 2012
