CGS Staff
David M. Beasley served as Governor of South Carolina from 1995-1999. During his term as Governor, he led delegations on economic development and trade missions throughout Asia, Europe, and Africa, resulting in the recruitment or expansion of more than 400 large corporations to South Carolina and 22 billion dollars of new investment. Following his term as Governor, he served as a fellow at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. In 2002, Governor Beasley led a twenty-one person delegation focused on economic development to Tunisia. In 2003, he received the prestigious John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award. In April, 2005, Governor Beasley, along with long-time friend and Chief Legal Counsel in his administration, Henry L. Deneen, incorporated the Center for Global Strategies, Ltd (CGS). CGS is focused on developmental initiatives in the non-integrated world. Currently, Governor Beasley serves as its Chairman of the Board.
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Stefanie Weiland specializes in empowering business and NGO leaders in the developing world. Stefanie serves as CGS’ Project Manager in Europe and North Africa. With degrees from Georgetown University, the London School of Economics, and the Monterey Institute of International Studies, she has learned how organizations grow and thrive. Her overseas work includes community development projects in Nepal, Mexico, and Thailand, NGO sector development in Japan, economic re-integration for women formerly involved in prostitution in Thailand, and local NGO strategy development in Sri Lanka following the tsunami in 2003. Currently, she is enabling growth in small businesses in Kosovo and Eastern Europe. Stefanie has a vision to help businesses grow, the owners and their families to flourish, and society to be changed through them.
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Ken Ferris possesses a unique ability to envision the bigger picture and “begin with the end in mind.” Having completed a degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech, he worked early in his career for the Department of Defense in Northern VA leading R&D projects. In 1980, he began leading technology R&D in private industry. He has been on the founding team of three technology start-up companies each of which was sold to a large, publically traded company. The technologies involved included fiber optic communications, DSL, and wireless sensors. Ken is past President and currently on the Board of the NewVa Corridor Technology Council (NCTC) which serves the Roanoke and New River Valleys. He has also served on the Board of the Science Museum of Western Virginia. Ken was a founding board member and served for a number of years as Chairman of the Board for the Blue Ridge Women’s Center, formerly the Crisis Pregnancy Center of the Roanoke Valley. In 2008, Ken joined the Board of Great Dads, a national faith-based ministry to fathers based in Fairfax, VA. Currently, Ken is the Chief Operating Officer of Wireless Medcare, LLC and is active in real estate development. Ken has been married for 40 years, and has two children and six grandchildren. He is serving as strategy coordinator for CGS efforts in the Balkans.
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Bill Knotts has been an entrepreneur and teacher most of his adult life. For over two decades he taught success principles and the importance of goals and self-discipline to business owners throughout the United States. With an MBA from Arizona State University, he has taught college courses in investments, entrepreneurship and business communication. In 1991-1992, he worked for the former Special Assistant to the President of the United States (Bush Sr.) on his Congressional campaign staff. Bill has also actively traded the financial markets and taught seminars for several years in various countries while a contractor for an international equities educational trading firm. He has been married for 29 years and has four children and three grandchildren. Currently Bill serves as strategy coordinator for CGS efforts in Europe and Eurasia.
