Jenik Radon’s extensive work with emerging nations was highlighted in the fall Columbia College Today profile “Jenik Radon ’67: Nation Builder.” Over the course of his career, Radon has helped countries to open markets, build constitutions, and gain independence. Highlights include: co-founding a relief committee for Afghanistan after the 1979 Soviet invasion, writing privatization laws for Estonia, advanc – ing Poland’s market reform by drafting its foreign investment law, reclaiming the US Embassy in Estonia by expelling Komsomol (Com – munist Youth League), leading the negotiations for a multination pipeline in Georgia, and drafting the 2006 constitution that helped end the civil war in Nepal.

Radon is currently adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where he hosts an annual in – ternational conference titled “Eurasian Pipelines—Road to Peace, De – velopment and Interdependencies,” which examines the intricacies of transborder pipelines. Among his many current activities, Radon is assisting Uganda and Cambodia to develop their extractive industry policy and laws. To encourage the next generation, Radon founded the Eesti and Eurasian Public Service Fellowship that enables Colum – bia and Stanford Law students to intern in countries such as Estonia, Georgia, Nepal, and Kenya. Former fellows have gone on to become Marshall, Rhodes and Fulbright scholars—and some have continued studies at Stanford Law School, where Radon established a fund in his late wife’s honor, Heidi B. Duerbeck ’72. Radon sees his role as an educator and a motivator, empowering students to implement their ideas in developing nations. To them, he advises, “You are an ambas – sador of yourself, your school, and your country. Your obligation is not just to do the project but to leave a legacy so that your project is carried on without you.”