Washington International Trade Foundation

Christopher Wenk is the Vice President External Affairs at Mercedes-Benz AG.

Wenk brings with him nearly 20 years of government relations experience both on and off Capitol Hill. He came to Kia from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce where he led bipartisan efforts to promote the Chamber’s international trade and investment agenda. Prior to the Chamber, Wenk directed international trade policy at the National Association of Manufacturers and worked on Capitol Hill for the House Small Business Committee, U.S. Representatives Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) and Dave Camp (R-Michigan).

Born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Wenk holds a Master of Arts in Political Management and Corporate Public Affairs & Government Relations from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and his Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and Spanish from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Silver Spring, Maryland, with their three daughters and one son.

Nicole Venable is a senior Democratic strategist with nearly 30 years of experience across the private sector, Capitol Hill, and the executive branch. At Invariant, she drives coalition-building efforts across tax, trade, healthcare, energy, labor, and tech policy. Regularly named among Washington’s “Top Lobbyists,” she leverages a broad, trusted network to deliver results.

Focus Areas

• Curating high-impact forums that deepen client engagement with policymakers and influencers
• Advising on clients on Democratic leadership, the Congressional Black Caucus, and aligning complex business challenges with persuasive policy solutions
• Shaping bold messaging and executive engagement strategies to amplify client influence in Washington

Nicole previously served as Chief of Staff to a senior Ways and Means Committee member and as a congressional affairs lead at the U.S. Trade Representative. She also held senior roles at PhRMA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Nicole is the founder of the Black Girl Magic (BGM) Network, a coalition of senior women in government affairs.

Sarah Thorn is the Vice President, Global Government Affairs, International Sourcing at Walmart Stores, Inc. She is primarily responsible for managing international policy issues at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. In this capacity, she advocates for Walmart priorities in legislation and trade negotiations that impact the company’s worldwide sourcing, e-commerce and retail distribution rights. She also leads a team that manages global supply chain policies, including responsible sourcing and labor issues.

In 2011, Sarah led the strategy team that developed Walmart’s Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative, which is focused on empowering women throughout Walmart’s global supply chain. She is actively involved in the implementation of the initiative, focusing primarily stakeholder engagement and global partnerships.

Before joining Walmart, 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 on business mobility issues 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 cum laude from Duke University.

Dontai Smalls joined the UPS Global Public Affairs function in the Washington, DC office in October 1999. He coordinates all international issues on Capitol Hill for UPS, particularly global trade and customs modernization policy. He also coordinates UPS’ global aviation portfolio in DC. He is responsible in Washington for managing the relationships between UPS and Europe, including the embassies. Dontai also manages the relationship between UPS and the Congressional Study Groups, which provides substantive, issue-based opportunities for Members of Congress to engage with their counterparts abroad.

From 2005-2007, he served as counsel to UPS’s Air Group Legal Department in Louisville, KY. In that capacity, he focused on all brokerage/customs, flight operations, international operations and real estate/airport property issues relating to UPS Airlines, one of the largest airlines in world.

Prior to coming to UPS, Dontai completed various internships in Washington, including The White House, Department of Energy, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He is Chairman of the Board of Directors at the United Planning Organization, the City’s largest anti-poverty nonprofit organization and also serves on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, the Express Association of America (Vice President), the South Carolina Business Council in Washington, and the International Aviation Club (Treasurer).

Dontai received his Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center and his Bachelor of Arts cum laude in political science from Howard University.

Kaitlin Sighinolfi is the Senior Director of Government Relations, and International Affairs at International Paper, where she focuses on issues regarding tax and trade. She comes to International Paper most recently from Siemens Corporation where she worked as Director, Tax and Trade. Previously, she worked on Capitol Hill as Legislative Director for Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana and as a Legislative Assistant for Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. A native Mainer, from Brewer, ME, Kait grew up joining her elementary school class learning about pulp and paper by touring the local Eastern Fine Paper mill. Kait’s expertise and knowledge of the industry will be invaluable.

John Murphy directs the U.S. Chamber’s advocacy relating to international trade and investment policy. Since joining the Chamber in 1999, Murphy has led its successful campaigns to win congressional passage of trade agreements with a dozen nations, including Colombia, Panama, and South Korea in 2011, as well as Trade Promotion Authority in 2015. Murphy also plays a key role in the Chamber’s advocacy for international business priorities before Congress, the administration, foreign governments, and the World Trade Organization.

From 2001 to 2008, Murphy served as the Chamber’s Vice President for Western Hemisphere Affairs and as Executive Vice President of the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America (AACCLA). In 2008, he received AACCLA’s Eagle of the Americas award, which is given annually to the individual who has “done the most to advance our mission of increased trade and investment between the United States and Latin America.”

In the 1990s, Murphy worked at the International Republican Institute (IRI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy overseas, and at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), which champions market-oriented economic reform around the world. From 1992 to 1993, he was the first Western lecturer in economics at the National University of Economics in Czechoslovakia.

Murphy graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and he received his Master of Science degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He serves on the boards of the Global Business Dialogue, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, and the Washington International Trade Foundation. He is fluent in Spanish.

Andrea Durkin leads international policy for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the largest manufacturing association in the United States.Ms. Durkin and her team advocate for trade policies that work for the success of the more than 13 million people who make things in America.

Before joining the NAM, Ms. Durkin served as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for WTO and Multilateral Affairs at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, where she was responsible for trade negotiations and U.S. policy coordination regarding matters before the World Trade Organization includingWTO committees related to industrial subsidies, technical barriers to trade, customs and trade facilitation, government procurement and other subject areas.  Ms. Durkin also led the development ofU.S. trade positions in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and intergovernmental forums such as G7 and G20.

Ms. Durkin returned to U.S. Government service after two decades in the private sector as an entrepreneur, author, and corporate global government relations executive for a Fortune 200 life sciences company. She has served as a non-resident senior fellow and advisor to leading think tanks inWashington, Dallas and Chicago on trade policy, economic growth, and food and agricultural trade.

Over the span of a decade of previous government service with USTR and the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Ms. Durkin led negotiations that included free trade agreements in the Western Hemisphere, the trade-related aspects of United Nations multilateral environment and public health agreements, and sectoral initiatives in APEC.

Ms. Durkin proudly taught hundreds of students International Trade and Investment Policy for twenty years as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Foreign Service program and served as president of the Women in International Trade association (WIIT). She is currently a board member of the Washington International Trade Foundation, the 501(c)3 charitable non-profit educational organization that supports the educational efforts of the Washington International TradeAssociation (WITA).

Bill Lane is Executive Director of Trade for America, and one of the business community’s leading advocates for free trade and global engagement. A 40-year Caterpillar veteran, Bill led a global team of 38 government affairs professionals in 12 countries. In that capacity, Bill was responsible for Caterpillar’s international advocacy in support of competitiveness, trade liberalization and economic growth.

Bill has held numerous leadership positions in Washington most recently chairman of the Russia PNTR coalition and the U.S. Latin America Trade Coalition, a group that supported Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Colombia and Panama. He is also co-president of the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, a coalition supporting a robust international affairs budget.

Appointed by Speaker Hastert, Bill served on the HELP Commission, a presidential committee examining the effectiveness of U.S. foreign aid. He was a member of the German Marshall Fund Task Force on Development and Peace Corps Review Team.

Previously, Bill founded and led the USA Engage Effort, the Coalition of American Steel Using Manufacturers (CASUM) and helped lead the business advocacy efforts in support of the Australia, Chile and Peru FTAs. He was the Company Spokesman in Peoria during the Caterpillar-UAW labor dispute (1991-1993). For ten straight years (2004- 2013), Bill has been named one of Washington’s top corporate lobbyists by the Hill newspaper.

Bill is a 2011 Penn State Alumni Fellow and a member of the Penn State Hammond Society. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Bill received his BS and MA degrees from Penn State and attended the University of Cologne in Germany. He was also a Certified Management Accountant. Bill is on the boards of Global Communities, US-Russia Business Council, National Foreign Trade Council and Washington International Trade Foundation.

Bill received his BS and MA degrees from Penn State and attended the University of Cologne in Germany.