WITA Staff

Kenneth I. Levinson

Chief Executive Officer

Ken 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 Bethesda, MD, with their two daughters.

202-312-1600 (Office)


Diego Añez

WITA Academy Executive Director

WITA Managing Director

Diego Añez is the Managing Director of the Washington International Trade Association (WITA) and the Executive Director of the WITA Academy. He is responsible for management of operations, policy programs, strategic engagements and member services for the organization’s 5000+ members and corporate sponsors across all 50 states and over 100 countries worldwide. He provides direction, with the WITA CEO and Board of Directors, to WITA’s portfolio of programming and capstone events, such as the Washington International Trade Conference and Annual Dinner.

Diego also spearheads the organization’s WITA Academy – a program of the Washington International Trade Foundation which strives to make trade education and career opportunities in international trade accessible to communities in the United States and around the world. The mission of the WITA Academy is to make the trade community itself more diverse and inclusive.

Diego is originally from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia and was raised in Mobile, Alabama. Diego graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs with concentrations in International Political Economy and Comparative Politics.

202-312-1600 (Office)


Maya Ghazi

Program Associate

Maya Ghazi is the Program Associate at the Washington International Trade Association (WITA). She joined WITA in October 2022 as the WITA Academy Fellow. Her enthusiasm and positive outlook will continue to foster a collaborative and supportive environment reflective of WITA’s mission.

She has experience in the field of Arabic-English translation. She has also taught in the fields of English, Math and Science at Al-Wataniah Syrian National School in Damascus, Syria.

Maya is fluent in both Arabic and English; and has professional working proficiency in French. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Damascus University. She grew up spending time between both Damascus, Syria and Dassel, Minnesota.


Thomas Sand Nielsen

WITA Academy Fellow

Thomas Nielsen is the 2023 Washington International Trade Association (WITA) Academy Fellow. He recently graduated from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, where he obtained his Master of Arts in International Economic Policy with a specialization in International Business.

During his studies, Thomas focused on international economics and trade issues. He studied economic theory and modeling of trade policies and worked on various research projects examining trade flows and opportunities for trade. He recently completed his capstone project focusing on the European fertilizer industry.

Originally from Denmark, Thomas is now residing in Washington, D.C. and is eager to start his career within the field of international trade. He will be working on boosting the WITA Academy program and helping to facilitate the exchange of knowledge within the trade community in the nation’s capital.


Riley Chambers

Intern

Riley Chambers is a Spring 2024 intern for the Washington International Trade Association (WITA). She currently is a student at the University of Kansas and is majoring in political science. Additionally, Riley is minoring in sociology and law & society. Riley has been focusing on international trade law and aspires to attend law school in 2025. Riley has tri-citizenship, which inspired her from a young age to be involved in international politics and immigration. She is from Toronto, Ontario but has spent the last decade in the Kansas City area. Her third citizenship is from Ireland.

Previously, Riley has worked in the district office of her state representative, as a history museum educational assistant, and as a receptionist for her local district attorney’s office. These experiences strengthened her knowledge of policy and legal procedure as well as the history of her home state, Kansas. At the University of Kansas, Riley was heavily involved in the pre-law scene. She was President of Phi Alpha Delta, the pre-law association at her university, and prior to that she served as the director of public relations.

Riley is excited to learn more about international trade at WITA while in Washington, DC.


Mia Buswell

Intern

Mia Buswell is an Intern with the Washington International Trade Association (WITA) for the Spring 2024 semester. She is a Junior International Affairs major with a double minor in Economics and Humanitarian Affairs at James Madison University. She is currently a part of JMU’s Washington Semester program, where she resides in D.C. as both a student and intern.

Mia is interested in the intersection of trade and global human development, as well as human rights advocacy. Her current undergraduate research consists of a foreign policy report on the human trafficking of women and children by international terrorist organization, Boko Haram, and a mock grant proposal for indigenous women’s shelters in Mexico. She recently completed a project in connection with the Department of State regarding embassy security, and had the honor of presenting her group’s final proposal at the Department of State, Diplomatic Security Office. 

 

General Inquiries: For more information, please contact us at events@wita.org