AIAC CHAIRMAN HONORED BY LUXEMBOURG
Officer of the Order of Merit conferred by His Royal Highness Guillaume V at Luxembourg House, recognising a lifetime of service, exploration, and friendship between Luxembourg and the United States.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2026 — New York, NY L. M. Levie, Chairman of American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) and Trustee of The Explorers Club, was today invested as Officier de l’Ordre de Mérite du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg(Officer of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg) during a private ceremony held at Luxembourg House, 17 Beekman Place, New York. The decoration, conferred personally by His Royal Highness Guillaume V, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, recognised Mr. Levie’s distinguished contributions to economic development, science, exploration, dispute resolution, and emergency relief, as well as his longstanding admiration for the nation’s history, its steadfast values, and its remarkable resilience.
The Grand Duke was accompanied by
Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Bettel
Minister of Finance Gilles Roth
Ambassador Nicole Bintner-Bakshian
Consul General Luc Decker
Fernand Lamesch,Luxembourg American Chamber of Commerce Chairman
Among Mr. Levie’s specially invited guests were:
Lyndsay Howard, Senior Advisor to Michael Bloomberg, former Senior Advisor to Henry Kissinger
Michael Hoffman, former Senior Managing Director and Head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Blackstone, former Partner at Riverstone Holdings, and former Co-Head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Smith Barney.
Janet Walsh, Director Emeritus, Medalist, and Finance Committee Member of The Explorers Club, CEO of Birchtree Global, President of the Irish Business Association of New York, Trustee of The D’Oyly Carte Foundation, Lecturer, Columbia University School of Professional Studies.
Following addresses delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Bettel and by the Grand Duke, His Royal Highness formally presented the Order and pinned the order’s rosette upon the lapel of Mr. Levie.
Upon receiving the honour, Mr. Levie stated:
Your Royal Highness, Deputy Prime Minister Bettel, Minister Roth, distinguished guests -
It is with profound gratitude and the deepest sense of humility that I receive this distinction from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg — a nation whose history, its steadfast values, and its remarkable resilience have long commanded my sincerest admiration and respect.
When I reflect upon the distinguished company of those upon whom this Order has previously been conferred — statesmen and diplomats, military commanders, artists and composers, champions of human rights — I am keenly conscious that this decoration is not solely a recognition of past endeavour, but an obligation to continued service. It is an exhortation to persevere in building, in exploring, and in contributing to the betterment of the world we share.
Luxembourg has, throughout its distinguished history, exercised an influence far exceeding what its geography might suggest. It has projected extraordinary authority in matters of finance, diplomacy, culture, and in the very architecture of a united Europe. At AIAC, we have long understood that partnership with such a nation transcends commercial interest. It represents a consonance of principles — a mutual conviction that enterprise, conducted with integrity and purpose, renders the world more stable, more prosperous, and more equitable.
I wish to express my gratitude to The Explorers Club, tis Trustees, Directors, Members, Officers and Associates, whose fellowship has continually affirmed that the highest human aspiration is the pursuit of knowledge and discovery. I am equally indebted, also, to my colleagues and partners, without whose dedication and excellence, nothing of consequence would have been achieved.
Your Royal Highness, I accept this honour with gratitude, with humility, and with a solemn, renewed dedication to the ideals it represents. The friendship between Luxembourg and the United States is one of long standing and deep mutual regard. It is my firm intention to dedicate the years ahead to strengthening and honoring that friendship.
Thank you. Merci. Villmools Merci.
A formal three-course luncheon at the formal dining room of Luxembourg House followed the investiture ceremony with an poetic toast was offered by Michael Hoffman, in tribute to Mr. Levie and to the enduring friendship between Luxembourg and the United States. A lively conversation over luncheon centered on the prevailing political and economic climate, with Lyndsay Howard sharing her perspective drawn from the global geopolitical, economic and financial team of analysts at Bloomberg L.P. Grand Duke Guillaume and Deputy Prime Minister Bettel weighed in with frequent questions and comments.
That evening at the Luxembourg-American Chamber of Commerce Reception and Black Tie Gala in the Library, Grand Hall and Ballroom of the Metropolitan Club of New York, Mr. Levie again warmly greeted His Royal Highness Grand Duke Guillaume, Deputy Prime Minister Bettel, Finance Minister Roth, Consul General Decker, Ambassador Bintner-Bakshian, and LACC Chamber Chairman Lamesch. He also met other prominent dignitaries, including the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg Stacey Feinberg, former United States Ambassador to Luxembourg Cynthia Stroum, Luxembourg American Chamber of Commerce President Michel Frank and Executive Director of the Luxembourg American Chamber of Commerce Toni Dutsak.
AIAC and its affiliates are members of the Luxembourg-American Chamber of Commerce and L. M. Levie is Ambassador of the Luxembourg American Cultural Society and Center. AIAC has and its affiliates have maintained a strong corporate presence in Luxembourg for many years, as leaders in large scale aluminum foil production and in advanced space satellite propulsion and guidance systems design and manufacturing. In 2025, Mr. Levie, Trustee and Poet Laureate of the Explorers Club, nominated then Crown Prince Guillaume, as Honorary Member of the Explorers Club, for his extraordinary leadership in promoting space technology and industry. Mr. Levie composed a poetic tribute for the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge and a lyrical, orchestrated musical work in commemoration of the 2025 coronation of HRH Grand Duke Guillaume V.
About Luxembourg House
Luxembourg House is a historic mansion at 17 Beekman Place in Manhattan, owned by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. One of the last stately residences built in the city, it was designed by architect Harold Sterner and completed in 1932 for Wall Street banker James V. Forrestal, who would later become the first United States Secretary of Defense. The five-story mansion features a white marble base, three stories of red brick, a copper-sheathed mansard roof, and an entrance flanked by Corinthian columns bearing Luxembourg’s Coat of Arms. In 1946, Irving Berlin purchased the house and lived there until his death in 1989; during those years he composed Annie Get Your Gun, Call Me Madam, There’s No Business Like Show Business, and Sayonara from the Beekman Place address. The Grand Duchy acquired the townhouse in 1990, and today it serves as home to the Permanent Mission of Luxembourg to the United Nations, the Consulate General of Luxembourg in New York, the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office, and the Luxembourg-American Chamber of Commerce, hosting cultural programming through its “Arts at the Luxembourg House” initiative.
About The Metropolitan Club of New York
Founded in 1891 by John Pierpont (“J. P.”) Morgan and a small circle of prominent New Yorkers — among them members of the Vanderbilt, Roosevelt, Goelet, and Whitney families — The Metropolitan Club of New York is one of the most distinguished private clubs in the United States. Mr. Morgan served as the Club’s first President. Its landmark clubhouse, designed by the celebrated architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White under the direction of Stanford White and completed in 1894, occupies the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and East 60th Street, directly opposite Central Park, and is widely regarded as among the finest examples of the Italian Renaissance style in New York. A designated New York City landmark, the clubhouse has served for more than a century and a quarter as the setting for some of the city’s most important annual civic, philanthropic, and cultural gatherings, including the galas of the Council for Canadian American Relations, the Luxembourg American Chamber of Commerce, the CME STEM Awards, and the D’Oyly Carte Foundation Spring Luncheon and its Grand Christmas Feast, all supported by AIAC and its affiliates.
For further information, please see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Club_%28New_York_City%29
About American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) is a diversified industrial group with manufacturing and distribution sites in 24 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia-New Zealand. AIAC has acquired and grown non-core subsidiaries and divisions of Boeing, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Johnson Controls, Merck, Pfizer, Astellas, Visteon, Carlyle, Ahlstrom, Tolko, Groupe Suez, Groupe Rexel, and many other leading multinational corporations.
AIAC companies serve companies and governmental entities worldwide in all major sectors, including aviation, space, defense, automotive, truck, rail, marine, petrochemical, solar, nuclear, civil engineering and infrastructure, commercial construction, mining, disaster relief, education, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, AIAC companies are exclusive, authorized distributors of leading branded industrial and consumer products and serve as critical suppliers for the construction of major airports, schools, hospitals, performing arts and sports centers, offices and hotels throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. AIAC is a leading manufacturer of building, street, and highway signage in Europe, and a distributor of electrical products throughout France.
Of note, AIAC purchased Boeing Canada in 2005 and has produced over 10,000 unique components for every Boeing jet plane ever since, reliably serving Boeing from manufacturing facilities in North America. A leader in ultra-high precision jet engine component manufacturing, AIAC companies produce 2,200 fan blades for each jet engine produced by GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and Honeywell.
AIAC companies actively support exploration into outer space, manufacturing critical components for launching and propelling spacecraft and satellites. AIAC customers in this sector include NASA, the European Space Agency, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Boeing. AIAC affiliate, Champlain Cable Corporation, supported the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space missions with high performance wire and cable. AIAC companies also lead in the design and manufacture of undersea umbilical cables for worldwide oceanographic research.
AIAC companies produce the critical automotive wire and cable for Tesla, GM, Ford, Chrysler-Fiat, Toyota, and Nissan. In connection with its kraft paper manufacturing interests in Canada and the US, AIAC sustainably manages 22 million acres of Manitoba, Canada forestland, an area equivalent in size to the nation of Hungary.
AIAC affiliate, Metallwarenfabrik Gemmingen GmbH, located in Germany, designs, manufactures and distributes high performance, emergency portable power generators utilized in global zones of armed conflict and natural disaster.
For further information, please see https://www.aiac.com.
About AIAC Philanthropy
AIAC and the AIAC Foundation support a wide range of nonprofit, nonsectarian, bipartisan organizations which promote international conflict resolution, disaster relief, economic development, environmental sustainability, exploration, and the performing arts.
The exploration-focused nonprofit organizations which they actively support include The Explorers Club, the National Geographic Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Space Society, and the United States Space Foundation.
AIAC’s other beneficiaries include the Appeal of the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation Inc., the Asia Society, the Atlantic Council, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — Gates Philanthropy Partners, the Bretton Woods Committee, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Foreign Policy Association, the Institut Française des Relations Internationales, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Crisis Group, the International Rescue Committee, the Japan Society, the JFK School of Government of Harvard University, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the Sierra Club, the Trilateral Commission, and the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute.
L. M. Levie, Chairman of AIAC, serves as a Trustee of The Explorers Club, a Trustee of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, and as Chairman of The D’Oyly Carte Foundation.
For further information, please see: https://www.aiac.com/our-values
About The Explorers Club
Founded in 1904, The Explorers Club is a prestigious international multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore. Based at its historic headquarters in New York City, the Club has served as a meeting point and unifying force for explorers and scientists worldwide for over a century.
The Club’s membership includes many of history’s most renowned explorers and scientists, from polar explorers Robert Peary and Roald Amundsen to oceanic pioneers Jacques Cousteau and Robert Ballard, from aviation legends Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart to space pioneers like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Jim Lovell. The Club continues to support cutting-edge exploration in every realm — from the deepest ocean trenches to the highest peaks, from archaeological discoveries to space missions.
The Explorers Club is renowned for its rigorous standards of membership, requiring nominees to have made significant contributions to exploration or the sciences that advance our understanding of the world. The Club’s Board of Trustees, Legacy Society, and various committees work to preserve the Club’s mission while fostering new generations of explorers through grants, expeditions, and educational programs.
The Club’s famous annual dinner, featuring exotic cuisine and presentations by leading explorers, has become legendary in New York society. More importantly, The Explorers Club continues to fund and support expeditions that push the boundaries of human knowledge, from climate research in Antarctica to biodiversity studies in remote rainforests to preparations for future Mars missions.
AIAC Chairman L. M. Levie serves as Member of its Board of Trustees and as Poet Laureate and Member of its Legacy Society. As Poet Laureate, Mr. Levie contributes to the Club’s cultural mission by capturing the spirit of exploration through verse, honoring both historical achievements and contemporary discoveries that continue to expand the frontiers of human knowledge and experience.
For further information, please see: https://www.explorers.org
Media Contact
Isabel C. Carro-Toro, Vice President
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
+1 787 244 3175 (USA)
+34 689 295 827 (Spain)
icarro-toro@aiac.com
www.aiac.com