Peter Tufo

Peter Francis Tufo (born April 19, 1938) is an American former diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary from 1997 to 2001, and helped found the law firm Tufo, Johnston & Zuccotti in 1970.

Biography Prior to his appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, Peter Tufo was with the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in New York City, specializing in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. Until 1996 he was a managing director of Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch & Co. advising on domestic and international corporate financing, focusing particularly on developing nations in Asia. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Tufo was Senior Advisor at Lazard Freres & Co., where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions and financial advisory work. He has lived in Europe and has worked and traveled extensively in Asia since 1970. In 1994 and 1995, he was a keynote speaker at The Economist magazine Asian infrastructure financing conferences in Hong Kong and Beijing.

From 1989 to 1996, Tufo also served as unpaid chairman and chief executive officer of the New York State Thruway Authority, the largest toll road and bridge system in the U.S. Under his leadership, the Thruway Authority completed a $2,000 million new construction program, took over and revitalized the New York State Canal System, undertook major transportation-related economic development projects throughout New York State, and completed over $5,000 million of infrastructure financings for New York State. In addition, the Authority privatized various services through public/private partnerships with the Marriott Corporation and McDonald's Corporation investing $175 million to build 26 new travel plazas. Under Tufo the Authority also developed and installed E-ZPass statewide, the nation's first non-stop electronic toll collection system.

Early career Following graduation from the Yale Law School and Beloit College, Tufo served in the United States Marine Corps. Tufo married Maya Rana, daughter of Prabhakar SJB Rana, a Nepalese industrialist and then an economic adviser to King Gyanendra.