Charles R. Johnston is responsible for management of Citi’s relationships with governments and political figures in more than 100 countries around the world.
Rick Johnston is an internationally-recognized expert in international trade and investment, and has advised both U.S. and foreign-government leaders as well as major multinational corporations on a broad array of commercial and strategic transnational issues. He has provided commentary and analysis for television and press interviews worldwide as well as authoring numerous books and articles on the subject of international economic relations. While practicing law, Mr. Johnston was voted by his peers as among “The Best Lawyers in America” in the field of international trade and finance. He has served as the founder and as an officer and board member of several bilateral business associations during his career.
Mr. Johnston served as an attorney adviser to a Commissioner at the U.S. International Trade Commission from 1976-78. He then served as International Trade Counsel to the Finance Committee of the United States Senate, advising senators and their staffs on international trade and investment issues as well as representing the U.S. Senate in the conduct of Congressional oversight of international trade negotiations performed by the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. In 1980 he entered the private practice of law, forming a partnership to specialize in international commercial issues.
Mr. Johnston earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1970 and a juris doctorate degree from California Western School of Law in 1973. He received a diploma in international law in 1974 from Cambridge University (Fitzwilliam College), England, and was a scholarship award recipient at The Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands.
Mr. Johnston has served as an adjunct professor on the subjects of international trade and international law at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and at the George Washington University National Law Center. He has written extensively on the subject of international trade and investment including the three-volume set entitled Law and Practice of United States Regulation of International Trade. He has served on the editorial advisory committee of the American Society of International Law’s “International Legal Materials” and the Board of Advisers to the George Washington International Law Review.
Representing Citi, Mr. Johnston serves as Chairman of the US Section of the US-Turkey Business Council (appointment by the US Department of Commerce); Chairman of the Trade and Investment Committee of the US Council for International Business; member of the International Policy Committee of the US Chamber of Commerce; and as Chairman or Co-Chair of various business task forces and coalitions supporting Citi and its customers’ interests in international trade and investment issues.