WITA International hosted a panel at the World Trade Centers Association Global Business Forum to update attendees about developments in international trade policy and geopolitics. Panelists will offer insights on emerging challenges and opportunities shaping the global economy in the year ahead, and the potential impact of those policies on governments, supply chains, businesses and investors.
Featured Speakers:
Joe Damond, Non-resident Senior Associate at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Southeast Asia program; Principal, DamondGlobal LLC; former Deputy Assistant USTR for Asia
Kellie Meiman Hock, Senior Counselor, McLarty Associates; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; Board Member, Inter-American Dialogue; former Director of Brazil and the Southern Cone, Office of the United States Trade Representative
Dan Mullaney, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East
Arun Venkataraman, Partner, Covington; former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service
Moderator: Kenneth I. Levinson, Chief Executive Officer, WITA – The International Trade Association
Joe Damond, Principal, DamondGlobal LLC; former Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative for Asia and the Pacific
Joe Damond is an International Trade Consultant with over 40 years of experience in US trade policy in various capacities, including senior private sector positions, and 16 years as a trade official including as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Asia and the Pacific.
Kellie Meiman Hock, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; Board Member, Inter-American Dialogue; former Director of Brazil and the Southern Cone, Office of the United States Trade Representative
A long-time Latin America and trade policy hand, Kellie for over three decades has managed the most challenging issues confronting companies as they seek to manage global operations, tackle market access barriers, and grow internationally. She worked for nearly a decade as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer at the Department of State, serving in Bogota, Colombia, and throughout Brazil in Porto Alegre, São Paulo, and Recife. Her final posting was at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as Director for Brazil and the Southern Cone.
Kellie joined McLarty Associates in 2000, originally founding the firm’s trade and Brazil/Southern Cone practices and eventually becoming Managing Partner. She is now Senior Counselor to the firm and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She also guest lectures at University of Nebraska and McGill University. Kellie is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, chairs the Women’s Foreign Policy Group Leadership Council, and is on the board of the Inter-American Dialogue and the Washington Campus.
Dan Mullaney, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East
Daniel Mullaney is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center and GeoEconomics Center. Most recently, he served as assistant US trade representative (AUSTR) for Europe and the Middle East in the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) from 2010 to 2023.
He was chief negotiator for comprehensive trade agreements with the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom, as well as trade lead for the US-EU Trade and Technology Council, and was responsible for developing and implementing US trade policy in Europe, Eurasia, Russia, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Before assuming the post of AUSTR, he served as senior trade representative in the US Mission to the European Union in Brussels, where he was the principal voice for US trade policy in interactions with the EU institutions and EU member state governments, the public, and the international press. Prior to that posting, Mullaney was in USTR’s Office of General Counsel for seven years, where he represented the United States in dispute settlement proceedings at the World Trade Organization and led negotiations and acted as legal counsel for free trade and other agreements. Before joining USTR, Mullaney was in private practice for nearly twenty years, specializing in international trade law and litigation; when he entered public service, he was a partner at the law firm of Dorsey and Whitney.
Mullaney is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He holds a BA from Amherst College, and a joint law/foreign service JD/MSFS degree from Georgetown University.
Arun Venkataraman, Partner, Covington; former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service
Arun Venkataraman leverages 20 plus years of government and private sector experience to provide legal, policy, and strategic advice to clients on a range of international trade matters.
Arun joined the firm after serving in senior roles at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Most recently, he served as the Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service at the International Trade Administration (ITA) from 2022-2025. Arun led the federal government’s efforts to expand commercial opportunities for U.S. firms overseas and foreign firms in the United States, including by facilitating deals between U.S. and foreign companies, improving commercial policy environments, resolving barriers to trade and investment, and negotiating governmental agreements to promote commercial partnerships. He also served as Counselor to the Secretary of Commerce, advising the Secretary on all aspects of foreign economic policy within the Department. In this role, Arun led negotiations with foreign governments on technology policy, as well as Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs.
Before joining the Biden Administration, Arun was Senior Director, Global Government Engagement, at Visa. He developed and executed engagement strategy, in advocacy before the U.S. and foreign governments, as well as with trade associations, international organizations, and other stakeholder groups on a range of international policy issues including digital economy, trade, tax, and sanctions.
During the Obama Administration, Arun served as ITA’s first-ever Director of Policy, where he led efforts across the Commerce Department to remove global trade and investment barriers and strengthen the global competitiveness of U.S. industry, including in such markets as China and India. This included leading Department efforts to support Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation, and secure improvements in China’s competition law and semiconductor policies.
Arun also served in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) as the Director for India, where he led the development and implementation of U.S.-India trade policy, for which he received the agency’s Kelly Award for outstanding performance and extraordinary leadership. He also served as USTR’s Associate General Counsel, representing the United States in litigation before the World Trade Organization (WTO) and in bilateral and multilateral negotiations on international trade agreements.
Prior to USTR, Arun was a Legal Officer in the Appellate Body Secretariat at the WTO, where he advised on appeals in litigation between countries under WTO rules. He also served as a Law Clerk for Judge Jane A. Restani at the U.S. Court of International Trade.
Kenneth I. Levinson, Chief Executive Officer, WITA – The International Trade Association
Ken Levinson serves as the Chief Executive Officer of WITA – The International Trade Association. WITA is the world’s largest non-profit, non-partisan membership organization dedicated to providing a neutral forum for the open and robust discussion of international trade policy and economic issues. WITA and its affiliated groups have over 10,000 members, and more than 160 corporate sponsors and group memberships.
Ken has over 30 years of experience working with companies, associations, NGOs and governments, advocating innovative solutions to complex public policy challenges. Over the years, Ken has worked with clients in the technology, telecommunications, biopharmaceuticals, agriculture and food, financial services, retail, apparel, energy, and consumer products sectors.
Previously, Ken served as Senior Director for Global Government Affairs for AstraZeneca. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Ken served as Senior Vice President and COO 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. Ken advised the Senator on foreign policy and national security matters, and served as the Senator’s chief advisor on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, dealing with issues related to international trade and tax policy.
Ken received his Master’s 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. Ken and his wife, the Reverend Donna Marsh, live in Chicago, IL, with their two daughters.