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WITA Board of Directors

President

  1. Steve Lamar, American Apparel & Footwear Association

Officers

  1. Vice President: Stephanie Lester, Retail Industry Leaders Association
  2. Treasurer:  Donald Eiss
  3. Secretary: Sarah Thorn, WalMart Stores, Inc.

Directors

  1. Craig Albright, World Bank
  2. Dorothy Dwoskin, Microsoft
  3. Kimberly Ellis, Monument Policy Group
  4. Audrae Erickson, Corn Refiners Association
  5. Samuel Gilston, Washington Tariff & Trade Letter
  6. Ed Gresser, GlobalWorks Foundation
  7. Katrin Kuhlmann, The Aspen Institute 
  8. Ken Levinson, Advocom Group
  9. Linda Menghetti, Emergency Committee for American Trade (ECAT)
  10. Cathy Raper, Embassy of Australia
  11. Michael Smart, Rock Creek Global Advisors 
  12. Nicole Venable, Bockorny Group
  13. John Veroneau, Covington & Burling
Craig Albright currently serves as the World Bank’s Special Representative for North America.  In this role he is responsible for managing the World Bank’s relations with the United States and Canada, including governments, the private sector, think tanks and other organizations.  He is also responsible for managing the World Bank’s relations with global philanthropic foundations.  He regularly advises President Robert Zoellick and senior management on these issues.  Before coming to the World Bank, Craig spent over 12 years working in the US government.  In the White House (2005-2008), he served as Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs and Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for Legislative Affairs.  In Congress (1997-2005, 2008-2010), his positions included Chief of Staff for former Congressman Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Kay Granger.   His primary focus throughout his career has been on international economic issues including trade, foreign assistance, sanctions and others.
Dorothy Dwoskin is the Senior Director of Global Trade Policy and Strategy at Microsoft, and a member of its Federal Government team in Washington D.C.  She is responsible for leading the company’s policy efforts to promote open markets and fair trade in software and services, collaborating with government agencies, Congress, international organizations, and foreign governments. 
Dorothy previously served as the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Multilateral Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).  In that position she was responsible for trade negotiations and policy matters before the WTO, including the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations and the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations.  She served as lead U.S. negotiator on a variety of trade policy issues, including the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), and led the negotiating teams setting the terms of membership for countries acceding to the WTO.  She led teams resulting in successful bilateral WTO market access agreements with Russia and the Ukraine, and concluded membership negotiations for the accession of Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. 
Dorothy graduated cum laude from the School of International Service at American University.  She was born and raised in Seattle, Washington.
Donald W. Eiss has been a member of the WITA Board of Directors since 2000, and currently serves as WITA's Treasurer. He works at Office of the United States Trade Representative; he has been at USTR since 1985. His current responsibilities include supervision of the Executive Branch trade policy coordination system and USTR's liaison with the International Monetary Fund and the United States Government Accountability Office. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Mr. Eiss served as Acting Assistant USTR for Industry, during which time he was responsible, inter alia, for international energy policy. He coordinated the development of initiatives to liberalize trade in energy commodities, energy-related services and equipment in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, and has also been responsible for investment issues, international high technology concerns and subsidies negotiations in the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations. Prior to joining USTR he worked in the International Trade Administration at the Department of Commerce from 1980 to 1985, the Department of the Treasury from 1977 to 1980 and in the Trade Adjustment Assistance office at the Department of Labor from 1975 to 1977. He is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Ms. Kimberly Thompson Ellis is Vice President at Monument Policy Group.  Prior to her current position, she serves ad Legislative Director to Congressman Kevin Brady,  Congressman Brady is the Chairman of the Trade Sub-Committee of the House Committee on Ways and Means, Vice Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, and Deputy Republican Whip.  
Ms. Ellis oversees the Congressman's comprehensive legislative agenda and advises him on key issues before the United States Congress, including on trade.  In her capacity as Legislative Director, she supports such priorities as passage of free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, and the Congressman’s leadership on the Congressional Services Caucus, the Caucus for World Bank Dialogue, and the Caucus for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Ms. Ellis served at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as Confidential Assistant and Deputy Executive Secretary to Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick, and as Trade Advisor in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Sandler, Travis and Rosenberg, P.A.  
Ms. Ellis was named one of the Top Ten Trade and Tax Staffers of 2009 by Roll Call and is a member of the Board of the Directors of the Washington International Trade Association.    She graduated from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor’s degree in history.  She and her husband Rich have one child and live in Arlington, VA.  
Audrae Erickson is President of the Corn Refiners Association. She has served on the WITA Board of Directors since 2002.
Samuel M. Gilston serves as editor and publisher of two of the most well respected publications in the trade field, Washington Tariff & Trade Letter and The Export Practitioner.  He is also president and chief executive officer of Gilston-Kalin Communications, LLC, which publishes these journals.  Since 1972 he has reported on major developments in U.S. government regulations, international trade policies, foreign relations and legislation.   Mr. Gilston has covered all major trade talks in which the U.S. has been involved since the early 1980s, including the Uruguay Round and NAFTA, other free trade pacts, as well as current talks on the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Doha Development Agenda.  From 1974 to 1981, he was executive vice president and executive editor of Washington Business Information Inc., a publisher of specialized newsletters for executives in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.  Prior to becoming a journalist, Mr. Gilston served as an officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corp from 1969 to 1972.   A 1967 graduate of George Washington University with a degree in American Thought and Civilization, Mr. Gilston earned his M.S. in Television and Radio from Syracuse University in 1969.
Ed Gresser joined the GlobalWorks Foundation as Director of the ProgressiveEconomy project in February, 2011, and is Senior Advisor to Fontheim International.  He is one of America’s best-known and most influential trade policy researchers, having conducted path-breaking research on the American tariff system and its effects on low-income American families and poorer nations, trade relations with the Muslim world, Asian economic integration and other topics.
Gresser came to GlobalWorks after two years at the Democratic Leadership Council, where he served as Trade and Global Markets Director and as interim President.  Before joining DLC, Mr. Gresser was Trade and Global Markets Director for the Progressive Policy Institute from 2001 to 2009.   From April 1998 through the close of the Clinton Administration in 2001, he served as Policy Advisor to U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky. 
Earlier, as Legislative Assistant and then Policy Director for Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) between 1993 and 1998, Mr. Gresser was responsible for trade and foreign policy, with particular focus on relations with China.
Mr. Gresser graduated from Stanford University with Distinction in Political Science in 1984.  He earned a Master’s Degree from Columbia University and a Certificate from the Averell Harriman Institute for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union in 1987.  He is married to Siriporn Gresser, and they have one son.
Katrin Kuhlmann is Senior Fellow and Director of the TransFarm Africa Policy Network at the Aspen Institute. She manages the regional and international policy component of TransFarm Africa, an initiative of Aspen Global Health and Development that aims to advance the spread of sustainable agriculture along sub-Saharan Africa’s Development Corridors in ways that benefit small farmers.  Her work centers on a demand-driven, bottom-up approach to trade development and food security that she has developed. Ms. Kuhlmann also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University School of Law, where she has taught classes on trade and development since 2008. Ms. Kuhlmann frequently writes and speaks on issues of international economic development and trade policy. 
Prior to her current position, Ms. Kuhlmann was a Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the President of the Trade, Aid and Security Coalition (TASC). From 2005 to 2007, Ms. Kuhlmann was the Senior Vice President for Global Trade at the Women's Edge Coalition.  From 1999 to 2005, Ms. Kuhlmann served as the Director for Eastern Europe and Eurasia in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) where she was responsible for developing and coordinating U.S. trade policy with Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Prior to joining USTR, Ms. Kuhlmann practiced law in Washington, D.C. and New York, New York. 
Ms. Kuhlmann holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Creighton University.  She was a Fulbright scholar in Germany in 1992. 
Steve Lamar is the Executive Vice President for the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), the national trade association of the US apparel and footwear industries. In this capacity, Mr. Lamar represents the apparel and footwear industries on a variety of international trade, customs, and economic policy issues. Before joining AAFA, Mr. Lamar was a Senior Vice President at Jefferson Waterman International where he advised foreign government and US corporate clients on lobbying strategies for a series of issues relating to trade legislation and US Government export finance programs. Previously, Mr. Lamar worked in the Commerce Department, where he counseled US firms on doing business in Africa and the Middle East. From 1996 to 2003, Mr. Lamar chaired the diplomatic series committee for WITA, and was Vice President in 2003 and 2004. He now serves as President.
Stephanie Lester is Vice President for International Trade at the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA). In this capacity she advocates on behalf of the largest, most successful retailers on international trade, customs, and product safety issues with Congress and the Administration. Ms. Lester previously served as a professional staff member for the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade. In this capacity, she advised members of the Committee on a variety of trade matters including free trade agreements, WTO negotiations on rules and dispute settlement, trade preference programs, U.S. trade remedy laws, and investment. Ms. Lester also worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce and was the Chief of Staff for the Assistant Secretary for Import Administration. In that capacity, she briefed and advised senior commerce officials on international trade policy and antidumping and countervailing duty case-related matters. Ms. Lester earned a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Multinational Business from Florida State University, and a Master of Arts degree in International Affairs from American University in Washington, DC. Ms. Lester has served on the WITA Board of Directors since 2006, and currently serves as Vice President.
Ken Levinsonis a partner in the Advocom Group, and the founder of KLC Strategies.  He has over 20 years of experience working with companies, associations, NGOs and governments, advocating innovative solutions to complex public policy challenges.
Over the years, Ken has had a track record of success devising strategies on behalf of clients in the technology, telecommunications, bio-pharmaceuticals, agriculture and food, financial services, retail, energy, and consumer products sectors.  He has successfully advanced client objectives on a broad array of issues, ranging from intellectual property and trade to labor, health care, the environment, tax policy and global development. 
Previously, Ken served as Senior Director for Global Government Affairs for AstraZeneca.  Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Ken served as Senior Vice President at the Washington, DC consulting firm of Fontheim International. Ken joined Fontheim after spending six years on the staff of U.S. Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, where he served as the Senator’s chief advisor for international trade, tax, foreign policy, and national security.
Ken received his Masters Degree from New York University after doing his undergraduate work at the University of Massachusetts, in Amherst.  Ken also spent a year studying at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Linda Menghetti is Vice President of the Emergency Committee for American Trade (ECAT), an organization of leading U.S. companies that promote economic growth through expansionary trade and investment policies. She works with ECAT companies and the broader business community to support trade and investment legislation and policies, WTO negotiations, bilateral and regional trade agreements, and bilateral investment treaties.
Ms. Menghetti is noted for her trade and investment policy expertise and leadership in broad coalitions.
Previously, Ms. Menghetti was Chief Minority Trade Counsel and Minority Trade Counsel (1996-2000) for the Senate Finance Committee where she advised the Ranking Member (Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) and Members of the Committee on international trade issues. She also served as Legislative Assistant to Senator Bill Bradley (Democrat-New Jersey) (1995-96) and at the law firms of Dewey Ballantine (1992-1995) and McKenna & Cuneo (1990-1992).
Ms. Menghetti received her law degree from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley and an honors degree from the Pennsylvania State University. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, West Africa and is the recipient of an International Affairs Fellowship from the Council on Foreign Relations (1995-96) and the Women in International Trade (WIIT) Woman of the Year Award (2007-08).
Michael Smart is Vice President of Rock Creek Global Advisors.  Prior to his current position, he was International Trade Counsel on the Democratic Staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.  His areas of responsibility included World Trade Organization negotiations and dispute settlement, trade enforcement, agricultural trade, and trade and the environment.  Before joining the Finance Committee, Mr. Smart was Director for International Trade and Investment on the staff of the National Security Council.  Mr. Smart was previously an associate at the law firm of Sidley Austin LLP and the Legislative Director for Congressman Earl Pomeroy (D-ND).  Mr. Smart received his B.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
He joined the WITA Board in 2011.
 
Cathy Raper  is Minister-Counsellor (Trade) at the Australian Embassy in Washington, a position she commenced in August 2010.  In this role she has oversight of Australia-United States trade relations and represents the Australian Government on trade policy, including with respect to the WTO Doha Round, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and APEC, as well as climate change.  Prior to coming to Washington, Cathy Raper was Assistant Secretary, Trade Commitments Branch in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra, where she worked on several of Australia’s free trade agreements, including as Australia’s Deputy Chief Negotiator in the TPP negotiations.  Previously (January 2003-January 2006) Cathy Raper was Counsellor responsible for WTO dispute settlement and trade and environment at Australia’s Permanent Mission to the WTO in Geneva.  She has also worked on international climate change negotiations and had a posting to The Hague.  She joined the WITA Board in 2012.
Sarah F. Thorn is the Senior Director of Federal Government Relations for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., where she is primarily responsible for international trade and investment issues..  She is involved in legislative initiatives and trade negotiations (both regional and WTO) that affect Wal-Mart’s retail and distribution rights overseas. In addition, she works to eliminate import and export tariff and non-tariff barriers that impact Wal-Mart sourcing.  Sarah also manages office administration, strategy and planning.
Before joining Wal-Mart, Sarah worked for seven years at the Grocery Manufacturers Association where she led the food, beverage and consumer products industry advocacy on international trade issues.  Sarah has also worked as a consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers and served as an international relations representative with AMP Incorporated. Sarah began her career in Washington as a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Information Agency.  She holds a Master of Arts degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a Bachelor of Arts degree in comparative area studies and comparative literature from Duke University. 
Nicole Venable is a Principal at The Bockorny Group.  She is a seasoned government affairs consultant with educational background and expertise in tax, trade, intellectual property and global health issues.   With almost two decades of experience working in Washington, D.C. in the House, Senate, Executive Branch and the private sector, Nicole provides strategic advice to clients of the Bockorny Group with considerable understanding of the workings of Washington.  As a former Chief of Staff to a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, a former Congressional Affairs specialist for the Clinton Administration White House and as former Democratic lobbyist for two of the premier business associations in Washington, Nicole has substantial experience developing and advocating legislation.  In particular, Nicole has worked on “competitiveness” issues dominate in the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.  She is known as one of Washington’s top international trade specialists, having worked on every major trade bill and policy issue since the NAFTA in 1993.   
Ambassador John Veroneau   is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Covington and Burling LLP, and co-chair of the International Trade and Finance practice group.  He provides legal and strategic advice to clients with global interests, particularly those affecting trade and security matters.
Prior to this, he served as Deputy United States Trade Representative (DUSTR) where he had broad supervisory responsibilities over U.S. trade policy.  He has also served as USTR’s General Counsel, responsible for U.S. trade law and litigation activities.  In these capacities, he worked on a wide range of matters, including negotiating trade and investment agreements, initiating and defending World Trade Organization (WTO) litigation, executing U.S. trade laws, such as Section 421 China safeguards and Section 337 infringement cases, and assisting U.S. companies to overcome foreign regulatory barriers.  He also represented USTR on various government boards, including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), Export-Import Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Millennium Challenge Corporation.
 

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