WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NNRF, Inc. (Pink Sheets:NNRI) today announced that Steven E. Halliwell, a former Corporate Finance Director for Citibank/Citicorp's Central and Eastern Europe operations, will join NNRF's Board of Advisors effective today. Mr. Halliwell, who has extensive experience interfacing with the Russian finance and banking sectors, will seek to help NNRF further its business prospects in the Russian Federation and expand export markets for the company's Russian and European operations.
Mr. Halliwell has more than 30 years of Russia-related business experience. Since 1994 he has held senior posts at four international financial service organizations including the $440 million U.S. Russia Investment Fund, where he served as Chief Financial Officer, and River Capital International Group, where he was Managing Director of a U.S.-registered limited partnership investing in Russian securities.
For the nine years prior he held a series of executive positions with Citibank/Citicorp, culminating in Director of Corporate Finance, Central and Eastern Europe. In this capacity he originated structured trade finance, project finance and cash management transactions for dozens of major multinational companies doing business in this region. Among his more notable achievements was structuring the first US Exim Bank transaction in the Ukraine -- a $70 million sale of agricultural equipment and supplies to that nation. He also raised $120 million for construction of a petrochemical terminal on Russia's Volga River -- one of the first projects originating from the US Oil and Gas Framework Agreement, a pact signed in 1993 to facilitate the export of American oil equipment, technology and services to Russia.
Mr. Halliwell was also instrumental in the creation of Citibank subsidiaries in Russia, as well as in the Czech Republic and Poland.
"We're honored to have Steve Halliwell join our team," said NNRF chief executive J. Holt Smith. "With his extensive experience doing business in Russia at the highest levels for three decades, we believe he can prove a great asset to our Company.
"We look forward to working with Steve on a variety of opportunities inside Russia and in sharing positive news on these opportunities very soon."
A fluent reader and speaker of Russian, Mr. Halliwell is the author of several publications on investment, finance and banking trends in that country. He did doctoral level study in Soviet Economics at Columbia University and received the Certificate of Columbia's Harriman Institute for Advanced Studies of the Soviet Union.
Prior to joining Citibank, he was an advisor to the United Nations Center on Transnational Corporations as well as Adjunct Professor of Russian History at Dartmouth College.
NNRF is a U.S. corporation with executive and operations offices in Moscow, Munich and Washington, D.C. NNRF, through its Russian-based partners, offers design and manufacturing of specialized products for nuclear reactors, nuclear waste management; proprietary nuclear shielding, decommissioning and decontamination technologies; and engineering/design services for a range of nuclear and radiation related requirements. NNRF's management team has extensive industry and government service including extensive in-house expertise in all aspects of radiological protection and radiological waste management.
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding announcements of financial results, business potential and other prospective presentations by NNRF. Such statements reflect management's current views, are based on certain assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events, or performance may differ materially from the above forward-looking statements due to a number of important factors, and will be dependent upon a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional financing that will allow us to continue our current and future operations and whether demand for our products in domestic and international markets will continue to expand. NNRF undertakes no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof or to reflect any change in NNRF's expectations with regard to these forward-looking statements or the occurrence of unanticipated events.