Michael Silver (CEO)

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Michael N. Silver
Born (1955-05-10) May 10, 1955 (age 68)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Southern California
OccupationMaterials Science Entrepreneur & Inventor
Organization(s)Chairman & CEO, American Elements
Trustee, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Director, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles[1]
Known forFounder of American Elements
Materials Science Pioneer
Rare Earths & Inner Mongolia
Philanthropy

Michael Nathan Silver (born May 10, 1955) is a business executive, philanthropist, art collector, and commentator. He is the founder and CEO of American Elements,[2] a global high-technology materials manufacturer. He helped establish the post-Cold War rare earth supply chain from China to the U.S. and Europe. His philanthropy includes sponsoring materials science and green technology conferences[3] and educational television programs on high technology and contributing funding to the arts. He served as a trustee of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and serves on the directors council of the Getty Museum and on the board of directors of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, CA. He writes and speaks on science education[4] and Sino-American relations.[5]

Early life and education[edit]

Michael Silver was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He attended the University of Southern California (USC) receiving a B.A. degree in behavioral neuroscience in 1978 and then attended USC's JD/MBA dual degree program graduating in 1982. He practiced corporate law for 10 years, specializing in mergers & acquisitions.[3]

Business career[edit]

Silver with UCLA delegation in Inner Mongolia in 2011

In the mid-1990s Silver founded American Elements as a manufacturer and metals refiner of rare earths and other critical metals serving U.S. industry. Upon the closing of Unocal/Molycorp in Mountain Pass, California and the Rhodia rare earth refinery in Freeport, Texas, ending U.S. rare earths metal production, he established the post-Cold War rare earth supply chain from Inner Mongolia, China to the U.S., Europe and Japan.[6][7] He then established American Elements facilities in Salt Lake City, Utah; Monterrey, Mexico; Baotou, China;[8] and Manchester, England and expanded production to include newly discovered elemental forms of other advanced materials such as nanoparticles,[9] green technology & alternative energy materials[10][11] and advanced military alloys.[12] In February 2021, Mr. Silver acquired 100% ownership of New Harbour Distillery, a South African-based distiller. [13]

Philanthropic activities[edit]

Silver established the not-for-profit American Elements' Academics & Periodicals Department in 2006 which supports high school, college and graduate school education in high technology and materials science.[3] The Department has sponsored academic and industry conferences in fields including space exploration,[14] nanotechnology,[15] green technologies,[16] solar energy[16] and robotics.[17] In 2011, it co-sponsored with the National Science Foundation a four-part PBS TV series on NOVA entitled "Making Stuff" examining the world of materials science.[18] Silver hosted a delegation in 2011 from the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California to the Inner Mongolian Medical Teaching College in Baotou, China which has led to student and teacher exchanges and the development of a joint AIDS program. He served as a trustee of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (2017-2021) and serves as a member of the board of directors of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the Sarara Initiative in Northern Kenya and the council of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. He also serves on the directors council of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and has underwritten artists in residence at the UCLA Hammer Museum. In winter 2021, Mr. Silver established the Michael Silver Fund with a gift to the J. Paul Getty Museum. In recognition of the gift, the Getty Board of Trustees named the Michael Silver Family Gallery at the museum.[19] He has made in-kind donations of artwork to the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC.[20]

Writing and speeches[edit]

Silver writes and speaks on several topics including:

  • American Global Competitiveness in High Technology [21][22][23][24]
  • The Physical and Geo-Political Scarcity of Critical Metals[25][26][27][28]
  • Environmentalism and Green Technology[29][30]
  • Ways to Promote Better Sino-American Relations[31][32]
  • Geopolitics and global natural resources including minerals in China,[33][34] Afghanistan[35][36] and North Korea[37]

In 2010, Silver coined the phrases "Innovation Distortion"[38] to describe efforts to avoid the use of a given element solely because of concerns that it may be hoarded by nations with resource control of that material and "The Environmentalism Catch-22" to describe the dilemma faced by the environmental movement which both supports a green technology future reliant on solar energy, wind power, electric cars and fuel cells and concurrently opposes the mining of the critical metals from which these technologies are manufactured.[22] In October 2014, Silver's editorial discussing these ideas was published in The Wall Street Journal.[29]

Silver coined the phrase "Sovereign Monopolies" to describe nations that have a sufficient percent of the world's reserves of a given metal or mineral that they can dictate its cost and force industries requiring the metal to move production to their country to obtain preferential pricing.[39]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "ICA LA Board of Directors". Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  2. ^ Bloomberg (2014-08-08). "Bloomberg West, Interview with Corey Johnson, August 8, 2014". Bloomberg.
  3. ^ a b c "OSA Executive Series, Steve Jacobs interviews Michael Silver". Osa.org. June 27, 2012. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  4. ^ "Larry O'Connor Show - Mike Silver Interview". Blogtalkradio.com. 2011-11-30. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  5. ^ "Rare Earth Junior Miners Should Applaud China". Community.nasdaq.com. 2012-05-22. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  6. ^ "Let Them Compete! Solving the Rare Earth Dilemma". Industry Week. 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  7. ^ Lasley, Shane (2011-10-30). "China Moves to Gain High-Tech Dominance: AE Exec Provides Insight". Mining News. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  8. ^ Vaporean, Carole (2007-02-13). "Supplies of new chip metal hafnium remain untested". Reuters. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  9. ^ "American Elements announces I-MITE™ Indium nanoparticles for next generation transparent anti-static packaging and coatings". Nanotechnology News. 2008-08-29.
  10. ^ RenewableEnergyWorld.com (2007-03-16). "American Elements announces new AE Solar Energy™ Product Group, Renewable Energy World - March 16, 2007". Renewableenergyworld.com. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  11. ^ Bradsher, Keith (2011-09-15). "China Consolidates Grip on Rare Earths". New York Times. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  12. ^ "American Elements announces new technological advance in precious metal foil manufacturing," Industrial Manufacturing News - May 4, 2007 Archived May 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "Invest in Cape Town and the Western Cape, a Place of More". 2021-06-02. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  14. ^ ISROS Sponsors Archived April 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ "NanoMed Sponsors". Nanomed.uk.com. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  16. ^ a b "SPIE Sponsors". Asmeconferences.org. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  17. ^ "Magnesium 2012 Sponsors". Archived from the original on 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  18. ^ "NOVA | Making Stuff: Series Overview". Pbs.org. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  19. ^ "The Getty Magazine | About the Getty | Archived Winter 2021". The Getty Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  20. ^ "ICA LA Announces Inaugural Gala Bruncheon Honoring Carrie Mae Weems, A Capital Campaign Milestone and Three New Board Members". ICA LA. Archived from the original on 2017-08-20. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  21. ^ Silver, Michael; Quinn, Hal (2012-11-22). "'Call of Duty' video game highlights real threat". The Washington Times.
  22. ^ a b ""Critical Metals & American Jobs in the 21st Century" (Video) - CEO Michael Silver's Keynote Address at the 118th NWMA Annual Meeting". American Elements. December 5, 2012.
  23. ^ "China, a Rare Earths Giant, Set to Start Importing the Elements". New York Times. 2012-07-11. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  24. ^ Stanway, David (2011-09-15). "Rare Earth Prices to Stay High as China Extends Crackdown". Reuters. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  25. ^ Silver, Michael N. (2011). "The real issues with rare earths". Nature Photonics. 5 (3): 127. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2011.26.
  26. ^ Stanway, David (2012-03-13). "WRAPUP 4-US, EU, Japan Take On China at WTO Over Rare Earths". Reuters. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  27. ^ Lasley, Shane (2012-10-30). "Geopolitics trump geology in Fairbanks". Mining News. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  28. ^ David, Anthony (2011-10-03). "Will the U.S. Ever Build A Strategic Metals Reserve?". The Market Oracle. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  29. ^ a b "The Environmentalist's Catch-22". online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2014-10-10.
  30. ^ Lasley, Shane (2012-12-30). "Minerals critical to restoring luster". Mining News. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  31. ^ Berezowsky, Taras (2012-03-14). "China's Rare Earths Export Restrictions in Obama's Crosshairs – Part One". MetalMiner. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  32. ^ "Le Ministère est "prêt" à faire face à l'avancée des terres rares". People's Daily. 2002-02-02. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  33. ^ "White House Should Include Rare Earths in China Trade Deal - Michael Silver interviewed by CNN's Richard Quest". CNN. 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  34. ^ Silver, Michael (2019-04-14). "China's Dangerous Monopoly on Metals". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  35. ^ Landler, Mark; Risen, James (2017-07-25). "Trump Finds Reason for the U.S. to Remain in Afghanistan: Minerals". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  36. ^ Silver, Michael (2017-07-25). "Help Afghans Exploit Their Mineral Riches". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  37. ^ "American Elements CEO to Trump: Stop North Korean Radioactive Black Market". Fox Business News. 2018-06-13. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  38. ^ "Critical materials issues cut both ways". Mining Journal. 2014-03-28. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  39. ^ "WTO Rules Against China On Rare Earths Export Restrictions". Bloomberg BNA International Trade Reporter. Bna.com. March 28, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
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