Guy Tozzoli
WTCA Founder and President

Guy F. Tozzoli was born in North Bergen, New Jersey, and now resides in Westwood, New Jersey. He received his B.S. Degree in Analytic Mechanics and an M.S. Degree in Physics from Fordham University. Mr. Tozzoli did graduate work at Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stevens Institute of Technology. He also received an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Wagner College and an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree from Susquehanna College.

In 1946, he started his career with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as a Junior Engineer in the Engineering Department. He later served as Civil Engineer, supervising construction at Port Newark and Newark Airport.

Returning to the Port Authority in August 1952 as Assistant Coordinator of Engineering, he was involved in the design and construction of airport projects. He was later promoted to the Marine Terminals Department as Manager of the Marine Planning and Construction Division.

In this position, he was responsible for planning and supervision of the construction of the marine terminal facilities in Brooklyn, Port Newark and Elizabeth, including the new container handling facilities at Elizabeth.

When the New York World's Fair Corporation decided to assign the responsibility for the Fair's Transportation Section (one-quarter of the Fair) to the Port Authority in 1961, Mr. Tozzoli was selected to serve as Director under Robert Moses, the President. His responsibilities included design, construction and rental of the 80-acre Transportation Section, as well as the Port Authority's own exhibit at the Fair.

Mr. Tozzoli was also responsible for overall direction of the world trade activities of the Port Authority, including the operation of Port Authority offices located in London, Zurich and Tokyo.

He also originated and served as a Director of a new Port Authority facility called The Teleport. A satellite communications center and office park, Teleport deals with commercial and business information processing by means of computer systems, voice equipment, video equipment and facsimile equipment, together with a regional fiber optic cable network to convey this type of information from the Teleport antennae. It also serves as a by pass local telephone company. In January 1998, Teleport was sold to AT&T for 11.1 billion dollars. He helped found and served as the first President of the World Teleport Association, which now includes over 100 members in 20 nations.

He originated the concept of a Legal and Communications Center, the first of which was constructed in the city of Newark, New Jersey. The Legal Center brings together, in one project, law firms and all the services and modern communications and computerized techniques available to the legal field.

In February 1962 he was appointed Director of the World Trade Department. He was responsible for the planning, construction, rental and operation of the World Trade Center in New York. The building and rental project involved 15 million square feet of floor area distributed over seven buildings, including two 110-story towers, the tallest in the world at the time. It was described by Reader's Digest as the largest building project since the pyramids.

The innovative concepts pioneered by Mr. Tozzoli at the World Trade Center in New York attracted international attention and were directly responsible for the subsequent worldwide growth of World Trade Centers in every corner of the globe. After being briefed by Mr. Tozzoli on the goals and activities of the World Trade Center in New York, the project was described by Mr. U Thant, then Secretary General of the United Nations, as a "United Nations of Commerce."

In 1970, Mr. Tozzoli was a leader in founding the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA). He was elected that year as the WTCA's first President and he has served in that office ever since. In February 1987 he retired, after 41 years, from The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey to serve as full-time President and Board Member of the WTCA. The WTCA, which is acknowledged by many people to be among the most powerful international organizations in the world, includes 330 public and private members, from 98 countries, representing every major trading area and form of government in the world and services more than 500,000 companies in the field of international commerce.

In 1993, Mr. Tozzoli conceived and guided the development of a major new WTCA service called TradeCard, a product of the Full Service Trade System (FSTS). This is a revolutionary service designed to help importers and exporters expedite the cumbersome paperwork and financing associated with international trade transactions. This new service is designed to bring the electronic age to international trade and allow importers and exporters to regain greater control of the transaction. TradeCard reduces the paperwork associated with trade transactions since everything is handled electronically. As a result, the costs and delays associated with correcting documentary discrepancies with contracts can be eliminated.

In 1997, the South Korean Assembly nominated Mr. Tozzoli as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. He received letters of recommendation from Mr. Mikhail Gorbachov, Archbishop Desmund M. Tutu, President F.W. De Klerk and many others. At the request of the Nobel Peace Prize Institute, he was again nominated in January, 1998, because of his work of bringing North and South Korea together in the WTCA movement, and for his many years of promoting peace through trade. In January, 1999, he was again nominated by both the South Korean and North Korea Governments and accepted as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr. Tozzoli's business and professional affiliations include: President of the World Trade Centers Association, and the Board of the WTCA; Chairman of the Board of TradeCard Inc., WTCA Services Inc., WTCA Offshore Holdings (Bermuda) Limited and WTCA Affinity Services Ltd.; member of the Board of Directors of the World Teleport Association, The New York Board of Trade and The New York Convention and Visitors Bureau; and a member of the Advisory Board to the Institute of International Business of Pace University.