Jeffrey H Christiansen

Jeff Christiansen is an Adjunct Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, where he teaches Commercial Negotiations beginning in Spring 2027. Over the past twenty years, he has worked across four continents in roles ranging from private equity investing to strategy consulting, including at Moody’s, Bain & Company, and an Africa-focused private equity firm.
 

Jeff wears two hats: he runs ValCap Critical Minerals, which supplies rare earths, tungsten, manganese, and copper from Africa to global markets; he also runs ValCap Global Advisory, which advises clients on negotiation, dispute resolution, decision-making, and sovereign risk.

His advisory engagements have included land negotiations in South America, negotiation strategy for a global energy company, dispute resolution for a private equity firm, and running project management offices and improving R&D team effectiveness for several Fortune 500 companies. He has also delivered sovereign risk training and advisory for governments in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. 

Jeff is certified in mediation from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School as well as the New York Peace Institute. He studied negotiation at a conflict resolution symposium in Nicosia, Cyprus, and has taught negotiation at universities in Tbilisi and Damascus. He studied at Washington University in St. Louis and at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and speaks French, Arabic, and basic Mandarin.