On Tuesday, April 8, WITA International hosted a panel at the 55th Annual World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) Global Business Forum (GBF) in Marseille, France.
The Washington International Trade Association updated attendees about developments in international trade policy and geopolitics. Panelists offered 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:
Ed Allison-Wright, World Trade Center Gibraltar
Iana Dreyer, Founder and Editor of Borderlex
Angela Ellard, Deputy Director General, World Trade Organization
Lionel C. Johnson, President of the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute
Penny Naas, Lead GMF Allied Strategic Competitiveness, German Marshall Fund of the United States
Moderator: Kenneth Levinson, Chief Executive Officer, Washington International Trade Association (WITA)
Speaker Biographies:
Ed Allison-Wright is a Director at Fairhomes Group of Companies, the proud developer and operator of World Trade Center Gibraltar.
World Trade Center Gibraltar launched in February 2017 and was 98.5% occupied within a month, bringing significant foreign direct investment, delivering crucial incubator space for fast-growth enterprises and providing headquarters workspace for established corporate occupiers. WTC Gibraltar contributes an estimated £65,000,000 per annum to the Gibraltar economy.
Fairhomes Group of Companies is an entrepreneurial organisation involved in several industries internationally, from vegetarian skincare cosmetics to real estate investment and development. As a Board Director, Mr Allison-Wright’s focus is predominantly on the international property side of the group, with active real estate investments and developments in the USA, Germany, UK, the Netherlands, Spain and Gibraltar, where their Head Office is located. Within this remit, Mr Allison-Wright is responsible for World Trade Center Gibraltar. He is also responsible for the group’s other two owned licenses, these being World Trade Center London and World Trade Center Madrid. As part of his role, Mr Allison-Wright also takes responsibility for the public sector / government liaison with the group, helping to shape policy towards supporting employment generating growth and prioritising local socio-economic benefits of major regeneration projects.
Mr Allison-Wright is a Chartered Surveyor with specialism in Commercial Real Estate and is also a Chartered Town Planner. He has experience in attracting inward investment, encouraging localised growth and in providing a platform for start-up enterprises to thrive, through his involvement with several public-private sector partnerships. Mr Allison-Wright continues to be heavily engaged in these initiatives, holding board positions since 2012.
Within the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA), Mr Allison-Wright has been a Member of the WTCA European Regional Advisory Council from its inception in October 2018 to September 2021, as well as Chairing the Real Estate Members Advisory Council since it’s inception in January 2018. He has also been involved in the WTCA’s 2019 Accreditation Pilot Programme and has judged the WTCA Champions Awards. Mr Allison-Wright was elected to the WTCA Board of Directors in September 2021 and sits on the Executive Committee.
Mr Allison-Wright holds a BSc (Hons) in Estate Management from the University of Reading (Berkshire, UK) and a MSc in Town Planning from the University of Brighton (East Sussex, UK). Accordingly, he is a Professional Member of both the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). He is also the holder of a Private Pilot Licence.
Iana Dreyer is the founder and editor of Borderlex. She launched Borderlex in 2014 and remains its driving force. Iana has deep international trade policy expertise spanning over fifteen years.
Iana steers Borderlex’s editorial activities and particularly likes to write about the politics shaping EU trade policy, systemic issues at the World Trade Organization, international trade disputes, the nexus between security and trade and EU-Asian trade relations.
Before launching her publishing activity in London, Iana worked as policy analyst in think tanks with a focus on international trade and international energy policy, consulting on occasion for governments. Iana has worked with the European Centre for International Political Economy, the Institute Montaigne and the EU Institute for Security Studies. Iana has also worked for the Financial Times group and trained in journalism. Iana has post-graduate degrees from the London School of Economics and Sciences Po in Paris.
Angela Ellard has served as WTO Deputy Director-General since June 2021. She is responsible for dispute settlement/reform, trade remedies, market access/trade facilitation, and ongoing negotiations on fisheries subsidies. She supervised the Secretariat’s facilitation of the successful conclusion of the 2012 Fisheries Subsidies Agreement. She also oversees the WTO budget.
Previously, DDG Ellard had a distinguished 26-year career as Majority and Minority Chief Trade Counsel in the U.S. Congress. She achieved significant bipartisan trade policy outcomes with Congressional leaders and five Presidential administrations. She practiced law, focusing on trade litigation, policy, and legislation.
She is renowned for her expertise in trade and international economic policy, resolving trade barriers, and negotiating outcomes. She earned her J.D. cum laude/Tulane Law School, M.A. in Public Policy/Tulane, and B.A. summa cum laude/Tulane’s Newcomb College.
She speaks and lectures worldwide and has received numerous awards for her contributions to trade law and policy.
Lionel C. Johnson became president of the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute in July 2014. His career spans nearly four decades, during which he has been a leader in international business, public policy, and economic development. He has served as senior vice president of the Initiative for Global Development, vice president of Turkey, Middle East, and North Africa Affairs at the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, and vice president of Public Affairs at Fleishman-Hillard.
Previously, Johnson was vice president and director of International Government Affairs at Citigroup and deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for International Development, Debt, and Environment Policy in the Clinton Administration. He was also a senior advisor for Resources, Plans, and Policy to Secretary of State Warren Christopher and a Department of State Policy Planning Staff member. He served as deputy director of the Clinton/Gore transition team at the Department of State.
As a member of the U.S. Foreign Service, Johnson held assignments in the U.S. Embassies in Haiti, the Philippines, and Kenya. He also served as special assistant to Secretaries of State George P. Shultz and James A. Baker III. Johnson was a senior program officer at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. He was a graduate instructor of U.S. foreign policy and American politics at the City University of Manila, Philippines, and received his B.A. in political science from Rutgers University in 1982.
Johnson is a professor of Practice of International Relations at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Johnson is also chairman of Sudoc, a sustainable chemical start-up, and is a member of the board of trustees of the RAND Corporation. He has two children, Alicia and Christopher.
Kenneth Levinson serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Washington International Trade Association (WITA) and Washington International Trade Foundation.
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 River Forest, IL.
Penny Naas is a global public policy leader who designs strategies on international economic issues that sit at the nexus of geopolitics, trade, and climate. She is an adviser for TradeExperettes, a global organization of women trade experts.
Naas has created innovative strategies and solutions for Citigroup and, more recently, for UPS as its president for international public affairs and global sustainability. She opened and was managing director of Citigroup’s first government affairs office in Brussels between 2007 and 2012 before leading UPS’s international team from 2012 to 2019. She started her career at the US Department of Commerce, where she worked for 13 years on international economic issues and advancing the commercial interests of US companies in Europe.
Naas holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is on several boards and has co-chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Trade and Investment.
