WITA WEBINAR FEATURING:
Elissa Alben, Senior Director and Lead, Global Trade Policy and International Government Affairs, Pfizer
Joseph Damond, Executive Vice President for International Affairs, Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)
Jonathan Kimball, Vice President, Trade and International Affairs, Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM)
Wendy Cutler, Vice President & Managing Director of Washington D.C. Office, Asia Society Policy Institute
Joseph Damond serves as Executive Vice President for International Affairs at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). Mr. Damond is responsible for developing and implementing the industry association’s program of international advocacy and outreach, including the areas of trade policy and foreign government relations.
Prior to taking his position at BIO, Mr. Damond was Vice President for International Government Relations in Pfizer’s Washington Office from 2006-2011. In that capacity, he was responsible for managing and coordinating Pfizer’s international trade issues with the Administration and Congress.
Prior to his appointment at Pfizer in 2006, Mr. Damond was with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) for five years. As PhRMA’s Deputy Vice President for International Affairs, he was responsible for managing PhRMA’s programs with respect to market access barriers that affect the research-based pharmaceutical industry, as well as managing PhRMA’s Asia and Japan programs.
Before coming to PhRMA, Mr. Damond spent 12 years as a trade negotiator at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, where his last assignment, from 1999-2001, was as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Asia and Pacific/APEC Affairs. During this time, he was also chief negotiator of the historic U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade agreement, completed in July 2000. Prior to his time at USTR, Mr. Damond also spent four years at the U.S. Commerce Department, working on bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations.
Mr. Damond received his Master’s degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1985, and his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, in 1983.
Elissa Alben leads Pfizer’s Global Trade Policy team and is responsible for overseeing the development and execution of trade policy across all major markets in which Pfizer operates.
Prior to joining Pfizer, Elissa served as senior trade counsel for Senate Finance Committee Democrats, responsible for Asia-Pacific trade negotiations, environment, labor, and investment matters, as well as negotiating and securing Congressional passage of trade promotion authority. Before joining the Finance Committee, Elissa spent nearly eight years in the Office of the United States Trade Representative, where she served as Deputy Assistant USTR for Enforcement and Monitoring and chief lawyer for U.S. trade agreements, including the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, and represented the United States in disputes before the World Trade Organization. Prior to her government service, Elissa practiced international trade law at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington, DC.
Elissa received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, concentrating in East Asian Studies, and her law degree from Columbia Law School.
Jonathan Kimball is the Vice President of Trade and International Affairs at the Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM). He serves as senior strategist and advocate in partnership with the SVP, General Counsel, to direct the international trade strategy of AAM and represent the association and its member companies’ interests before the U.S. Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce, Congress, The White House and other stakeholders. He identifies public policy priorities and implements strategies to advance AAM’s trade and international affairs agenda.
Before joining AAM in February 2019, Jonathan was Managing Director, Healthcare Policy at Burson Cohn & Wolfe (formerly Burson-Marsteller). In this role he collaborated with pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, trade associations and other clients to develop public affairs and advocacy campaigns aimed at influencing the policy and regulatory environments in the United States and international markets. Previously he was Deputy Vice President at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), for which he developed and advanced external advocacy and communication efforts in partnership with senior U.S. and foreign government officials, Congressional staff, patient organizations and other trade associations.
Jonathan’s earlier career took him to Budapest, Hungary, for Freedom House and other NGOs. He earned a master’s degree in International Affairs/International Political Economy from American University and a BA from San Francisco State University.
Wendy Cutler joined the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) as vice president in November 2015. She also serves as the managing director of the Washington D.C. Office. In these roles, she focuses on building ASPI’s presence in Washington — strengthening its outreach as a think/do tank — and on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade and investment, as well as women’s empowerment in Asia. She joined ASPI following an illustrious career of nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Most recently she served as Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, working on a range of U.S. trade negotiations and initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. In that capacity she was responsible for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, including the bilateral negotiations with Japan. She also was the chief negotiator to the U.S.-Korea (Korus) Free Trade Agreement.
Cutler received her master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and her bachelor’s degree from the George Washington University.