The Team
Zev Furst – Chief Executive Officer
Zev Furst is a leading global business and communications strategist who has advised political leaders, foreign principals and corporate executives of Fortune 100 companies. He is the Chairman and CEO of First International Resources, an international corporate and political consulting firm he founded in 1992. Mr. Furst specializes in providing strategic counsel on crisis management, market entry, corporate positioning and personal reputational issues with the unique perspective of someone who has operated at the nexus of business and politics for over thirty years.
Mr. Furst has been retained as strategic and crisis management consultant by various multinational corporations in many high profile situations, including: Volkswagen AG, Archer Daniels Midland, Alcoa, ExxonMobil, Pfizer, Samsung, Continental Tire and Lukoil. In recent years, he has also advised and consulted with candidates running for national office in Israel, Japan, Mexico and Ukraine.
Mr. Furst began his political consulting career in 1980 in partnership with David Garth, by establishing Garth-Furst International, an international political consulting and strategic planning firm. He was an advisor and consultant in the 1981 reelection campaign of Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel, and served as an advisor in the political campaigns of: U.S. presidential candidate John Anderson, President Luis Herrera of Venezuela, Senator John Heinz (PA), Senator Arlen Spector (PA), Senator Robert Torricelli (NJ) and Mayor Ed Koch of New York. He also advised Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on sensitive political and diplomatic matters, and served as political consultant to Israeli Prime Ministers Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak.
In 1986, Mr. Furst was a founding partner of Meridian Resources and Development Ltd., an international commodities trading company specializing in chemicals and petroleum products.
Mr. Furst currently serves as Chairman of the International Board of the Peres Center for Peace and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Kennan Institute in Washington, DC. He has written and lectured extensively on international affairs, business and political strategy and the role of media in politics and diplomacy.
Donny Furst – President
Since joining the company in 1999, Donny Furst has provided political and communications consulting advice to a wide range of clients. Donny leads First International’s polling operations where he oversees the development and analysis of qualitative and quantitative research projects. He has extensive experience in using survey data to formulate tailor-made strategies for political, corporate and non-profit clients. In 2005, Donny created the company’s legislative and regulatory research and political intelligence service for the investment community.
Prior to joining First International Resources, Donny worked for the New York City Charter Revision Commission and the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Donny holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yeshiva University and a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Joseph D. Shwirtz – Executive Vice President
Joe Shwirtz joined First International Resources in 1999. During his tenure
at the company, Joe has advised a host of global corporations on their communications, crisis management, branding and business growth strategies. He currently heads the company’s crisis management and media relations operations. Joe has successfully overseen the development and implementation of crisis management strategies on behalf of clients in the automotive, food, metals, telecommunications and energy sectors. Joe also serves as First International’s chief writer and is responsible for authoring speeches, opinion pieces and the company’s proprietary reports to clients.
Prior to joining the company, Joe worked as a writer for the Anti-Defamation League in New York City. He also spent a year as a visiting lecturer at Shanghai University. Joe holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University and a Master of Science degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics.
Joshua P. Dupuy - Vice President and Director, London Office
With experience in both the public and private sectors, Joshua advises U.S. and European clients on strategic planning, communications, and representation in their relations with both government and international organizations. Prior to joining First International, Joshua worked for Weber Shandwick, where he helped corporate clients develop and implement public affairs and communications strategies to advance specific business objectives. In the public sector, Joshua remains active in U.S. politics, working at both the 2008 and 2004 Democratic National Conventions. He also served as an aide to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s (D-MA) 2000 re-election campaign and before that in the U.S. Congress for Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA).
A fluent French and German speaker, Joshua received his J.D. cum laude in 2005 from American University’s Washington College of Law, a Certificat de Langue Française from the Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) in 1998, and his B.A. in international affairs and German from American University in 1997. While in law school, Joshua was a member of the Administrative Law Review, the Moot Court Honor Society, and was the U.S. national champion of the 2005 Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition. He was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 2005 and currently serves on the committee of Democrats Abroad (UK) in London.
Thomas J. Deters - Vice President and Director,
Washington, DC Office
An expert on U.S. and international political and energy issues, Tom Deters provides government relations consulting, legislative and regulatory research, and communications consulting for corporate, political, and investor clients. Prior to joining First International, Tom served as Energy Attaché and National Security Lead at the Department of Energy Office of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia, in 2003-2006, coordinating joint U.S.-Russian energy and nonproliferation programs and writing extensively on all aspects of nuclear nonproliferation and energy cooperation between the U.S. and Russia. After leaving Moscow in 2006 and prior to joining First International Resources in October 2007, Tom served as senior policy advisor at the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-autonomous organization within the Department of Energy (DOE). While at DOE, Tom served as liaison on nuclear energy and nonproliferation programs with the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom), various U.S. government departments and agencies, Congress, and the media.
Tom is a former naval officer, serving tours in the Arabian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea onboard USS Doyle from 1996 until 1998. After his sea duty, Tom managed the Egyptian Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program at the U.S. Navy International Programs Office.
A fluent speaker of Russian, Tom received both his Bachelor of Arts cum laude in Russian Language and Literature and his Master’s Degree in International Policy and Practice from George Washington University.
Anna Wallace – Senior Government and International Affairs Analyst, Washington, DC Office
Anna Wallace provides communications and political consulting services, with an emphasis on European, post-Soviet, and energy issues, as well as handles U.S. legislative and regulatory research. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from New York University and a Master of Arts Degree in International Relations from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, where she specialized in Russian and Eurasian affairs, conflict management, and international economics. Born and raised in Moscow, she has also studied journalism at Moscow State University and worked for a Moscow affiliate of the Euro RSCG global advertising network. Before joining First International Resources, Anna worked for the International Organization for Migration in Tbilisi, Georgia, and for the U.S.-Russia Business Council in Washington, DC. A native-level speaker of Russian and English, she has a reading knowledge of Ukrainian.