Ed Verona was appointed President and CEO of the U.S.-Russia Business Council on June 1, 2008. Prior to that position, he was Vice President of ExxonMobil Russia, Inc., based in Moscow.

Mr. Verona began his professional career in 1980 as a Special Representative for mining and petroleum equipment manufacturer Ingersoll-Rand, based in La Paz, Bolivia (1981-4), Quito, Ecuador (1984-5) and Miami, Florida (1985-6). He joined Shell Oil Company in 1987 in the Group Services Division in New York City. He was appointed to the U.S. Foreign Service in 1989 and assigned as an Economic Officer to the American embassies in Mexico City (1989-91), Brasilia (1991-3) and Moscow (1994-96).

In 1996, Mr. Verona left the Foreign Service to become Executive Director of the Moscow-based Petroleum Advisory Forum (PAF), an industry association representing international oil and gas companies in Russia. In 1998, he was named Russia Country Manager for Texaco, Inc., based in Moscow. Mr. Verona was transferred to Almaty, Kazakhstan in 1999 as Texaco's Country Manager, where he also served as Chairman of the Kazakhstan Petroleum Association (KPA) 1999-2000. Subsequently, he was assigned to Washington, D.C. as International Government Relations Advisor.

Following Texaco's merger with Chevron, he served as Vice President for Government and Public Affairs for ChevronTexaco's upstream operations in Latin America, based in Caracas, Venezuela from 2001 to 2003. Mr. Verona served as Chief Representative in Moscow of the Canadian Barrick Gold Corporation from 2004 to 2006.

Mr. Verona received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Arizona and a Masters of International Management (MIM) from the American Graduate School of Global Management (Thunderbird).