Ambassador Shafer was a Corporate Vice President and an elected officer of the Pfizer Corporation (the world’s largest pharmaceutical company). He was a member of the Law Department and later Vice President of Public Affairs and Government Relations. Ambassador Shafer retired from the Pfizer Corporation in 1996 after 30 years of service.

Ambassador Shafer, while at Pfizer, assisted key members of management in identifying and influencing issues affecting the operation of Pfizer and its international subsidiaries. Ambassador Shafer developed and maintained contact with political, academic and business influentials. He chaired a number of internal committees and represented Pfizer on a number of external organizations, boards and committees. Ambassador Shafer represented the Company at the highest levels of government. Early in his career he was the Administrative Assistant and Counsel to the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

Ambassador Shafer has been a member of the Federal Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar, and the State Bar of Wisconsin. He was for eighteen years a member of the Board of Regents of St. John’s University. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich, CT. Ambassador Shafer was a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Executive Committee of USLIFE Corporation.

Ambassador Shafer was the Permanent Observer of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the United Nations for 11 years, and currently serves as the Deputy Permanent Observer.

Ambassador and Mrs. Shafer were Chairmen of the 1997 Lourdes Pilgrimage of the American Association of the Order of Malta. Mrs. Ellen Shafer is a Dame of Malta, Area Chairman of Westchester, and past President of the International Catholic Organizations Information Center, Inc. at the United Nations.