Sam Kislin
New York
Sam Kislin, a business leader based in New York City, established Trans Commodities, Inc., in 1992, more than 20 years after leaving the former Soviet Union for the United States. Soon after its founding, the company grew into a leader in the world commodities trading market. In recent years, Sam Kislin’s business activities have focused on property investment in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, where he was born, as well as in Moscow. His real estate holdings amount to thousands of acres divided between the two cities.
Among his many achievements, Sam Kislin held a seat on the Mayor’s Council of Economic Advisors for New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani from 1994 to 2001. A noted philanthropist, Mr. Kislin has contributed generously to promote education in Israel, and a college library in the Sha’ar Hanegev Region of the country bears his name. For his support of Jewish émigrés from the Eastern Bloc, the UJA-Federation of New York’s Russian Division named him Man of the Year.
Sam Kislin earned his bachelor of science in economics from the renowned Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics, and Informatics in 1961.