President of Worldwide Strategic Partners, Inc. and Chairman, United LNG, LP.
Since becoming the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Latvia in 1999, Mr. Payne has been a key part of Latvia's Diplomatic Corps in the United States. He serves as Latvia's official diplomatic liaison to the South Central region of the United States, working closely with the Latvian leadership. Payne was instrumental in helping Latvia secure NATO membership and was also key in implementing the U.S. Visa waiver status for Latvians visiting the United States. Payne remains highly involved in the development of Latvia’s energy industries. In recognition of Payne’s tireless efforts on behalf of Latvia, in 2004, Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga awarded Payne the Order of the Three Stars – Latvia’s highest honor.
Professionally, Payne is an accomplished governmental and international affairs consultant with vast experience as a corporate and political advisor and foreign diplomat. His extensive clientele roster ranges from large international corporations, including Morgan-Stanley, Nextel Communications, Yukos Oil, Boeing, J.P. Morgan and Lockheed Martin. Stephen’s experience ranges from serving NASA as a Senior Advisor to guiding diplomatic negotiations for foreign heads of state in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Mr. Payne has established strong diplomatic relationships with top officials in the U.S. and internationally, with particular emphasis on relations with and projects in Pakistan, U.A.E., Iraq, Libya, Turkey, Azerbaijan, India, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Russia, Thailand and China.
Steve currently serves as the Chairman of United LNG, which holds the largest license to export LNG issued by the United States Government. Payne is no stranger to mega-international oil & gas projects, leading the conference panel discussion on energy security at the 2006 NATO Summit in Riga, Latvia. Stephen worked with Itera Gas (Russia's largest independent gas company) in its development of various international projects, and also represented the Government of Turkmenistan in re-assembling a consortium of nations and international firms to build a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan. Mr. Payne coordinated the project and organized a trilateral summit between the Presidents of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan that produced a memorandum of understanding regarding the Turkmen/Afghan gas pipeline, restoring the project's viability after years of dormancy. Mr. Payne has played a crucial role in the development of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline concept, which would transport natural gas from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to central Europe, circumventing both Russia and Iran.
Payne began his career in government and politics in the late 1980s in the Texas State Senate. During the 1988 Bush for President Campaign, Payne served as George W. Bush's travel aide.
After election to the United States Senate, he served as the State Director of Special Projects and Deputy Director of the Southeast Texas region for Senator Kay Hutchison.
Payne served as a Senior Presidential Advance Representative to President Bush, and traveled regularly with him, including to Jordan for the Red Sea Summit (Israeli / Palestinian peace talks) in June 2003, and to Europe in 2001. In 2002, he traveled with Vice President Cheney to the Middle East and Afghanistan for the historic inauguration of Afghan President Karzai.
Payne was a Board Member of the National Defense University Foundation, a Republican National Finance Committee Member, and in July 2007, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff appointed Mr. Payne to the Homeland Security Advisory Council. Since 2005, Mr. Payne has been working in Libya and in April 2011, he co-led a private, non-official U.S. diplomacy delegation to Libya just after the February 17th uprising. His was the first delegation in Tripoli to publicly call for Muammar Gaddafi to step down.
Stephen currently resides in Houston, Texas, and has three children (Stephanie, Stephen Jr., and Stuart).