On Thursday, March 10, WITA held an emergency webinar on Russia Sanctions – From Jackson-Vanik to Today. The webinar examined the new sanctions put in place by the United States and its Allies in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and looked back at the history of sanctions against Russia and the Soviet Union.
WITA Webinar Featuring:
Amb. Alan Larson, Senior International Policy Advisor, Covington & Burling LLP; former Under Secretary of State for Economics and Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, as well as Ambassador to the OECD
Clay Lowery, Executive Vice President, Institute of International Finance; formerly Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department
Maria Snegovaya, Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic and Trans-European Space Studies at Virginia Tech University, and a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University. Co-author of the paper, The Impact of Western Sanctions on Russia and How They Can be Made Even More Effective
Kevin Wolf, Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration, Bureau of Industry and Security
Moderator: Paula Stern, Ph.D., President, The Stern Group, and former Chair of the U.S. International Trade Commission; author of Water’s Edge: Politics and the Making of American Foreign Policy
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Alan Larson is a Senior International Policy Advisor at Covington & Burling LLP. He provides clients with strategic advice, counselling and representation at the intersection of international business and public policy. A Ph.D. economist, decorated diplomat and non-lawyer, Alan advises clients on high stakes international challenges. His trouble shooting takes him to all parts of the world. His practice encompasses international investment and acquisitions; sanctions and trade compliance; international energy transactions, international aviation and international trade. He has helped win approval of the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) for some of the highest profile foreign investments in the United States, including several by state-owned companies and sovereign wealth funds.
Alan co-leads Covington’s innovative Global Problem Solving (GPS) initiative. GPS combines expert legal work with sophisticated policy strategies to solve client’s most complex and consequential international challenges. He is Chairman of Coalition for Integrity and a Board Member of Helping Children Worldwide. He previously served in the State Department’s top two economic policy jobs, as Under Secretary of State for Economics and Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, as well as Ambassador to the OECD. He is a Career Ambassador, the State Department’s highest honour.
Clay Lowery is the Executive Vice President of the Institute of International Finance. Mr. Lowery oversees the departments responsible for macroeconomic analysis, international financial regulation, financial technology, and specific policy areas such as debt policy and analysis and sustainable finance. In addition, he oversees the membership recruitment and retention department. Prior to joining IIF, Mr. Lowery was a founder and Managing Director of the Rock Creek Global Advisors international economic consulting firm. Previously, he served as the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, where he was the Finance Deputy to the G20, G7, International Monetary Fund, and the Financial Stability Board, chaired CFIUS, and was the point person on U.S. trade policy for financial services and toward Sovereign Wealth Funds. Mr. Lowery served over 15 years in the U.S. government including being the Director of International Finance at the National Security Council. He also serves on the Advisory Board to the Batten School of Public Policy at the University of Virginia and as a Senior Advisor to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Mr. Lowery received his B.A. in Economics and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia (Phi Beta Kappa) and his M.Sc. in Economics at the London School of Economics.
Maria Snegovaya is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Science, a Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic and Trans-European Space Studies at Virginia Tech University, and a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University. She is also a member of PONARS Eurasia, a George Washington University-based network of academics advancing new approaches to research on politics and society in Russia and Eastern Europe. She earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.
Her research interests include party politics, political behavior and political economy. Maria explores the ongoing democratic backsliding and re-autocratization in Eastern Europe and the tactics used by Russian actors and proxies who circulate disinformation to exploit these dynamics in the region. She also studies Russia’s domestic and foreign policy.
Her work has been published in numerous political science journals, including West European Politics, Party Politics, Post-Soviet Affairs, Journal of Democracy, and Democratization. Maria’s research has been referenced by the New York Times, Bloomberg, the Economist, and BBC. I have also written for the Washington Post, the New Republic, Foreign Policy and others.
Throughout my career I have collaborated with multiple U.S. research centres and think tanks to develop policy recommendations designed to address the challenges of democratic backsliding. These include the Brookings Institution, the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Centre, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Freedom House among others.
Kevin Wolf is a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. He has more than 25 years’ experience providing advice and counselling regarding the laws, regulations, policies and politics pertaining to export controls, sanctions, national security reviews of foreign direct investments and other international trade issues. His practice focuses on Export Administration Regulations (EAR, International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and regulations administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
Mr. Wolf previously served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration (2010- 2017) with the Bureau of Industry and Security, where he developed and implemented policies pertaining to export administration issues, particularly the licensing requirements of EAR. Mr. Wolf has not previously testified before the Commission.
Paula Stern, Ph.D., is President of The Stern Group, and former Chair of the U.S. International Trade Commission. Dr. Stern also serves as Senior Strategic Advisor to the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT).
She is a member of the board of directors of the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs, Legacy Trustee at the Committee for Economic Development (CED), Lifetime Director of the Atlantic Council, and member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Inter-American Dialogue. Dr. Stern formerly served on the public Board of Directors of CBS, Infinity, Duracell, Harcourt General, Hasbro, Scott Paper, Walmart, Westinghouse, Avaya, SSMC, the Neiman Marcus Group, and Avon, as well as a member of the International Advisory Board of LafargeHolcim.
Dr. Stern’s past public service also includes serving on the U.S. President’s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations; co-chairing the International Competition Policy Advisory Committee for the Attorney General and U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division; chairing the Advisory Committee of the U.S. Export-Import Bank; and being a Presidentially appointed/Senate confirmed Member of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Foundation. She also was a Member of the US Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and Member of the US Department of Commerce’s Advisory Committee on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.
Dr. Stern began her Washington career as Senior Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson . She was a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution, where she wrote a definitive book on Congressional-Executive foreign policy making, titled Water’s Edge: Domestic Politics and the Making of American Foreign Policy. She also served as Senior International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Senior Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, and member of The Trilateral Commission. Dr. Stern also held the Alkire Chair in International Business at Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Dr. Stern has a B.A. from Goucher College, an M.A. in Regional Studies from Harvard University, a Ph.D. in International Affairs from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and honorary degrees in Law from Goucher College and Commercial Science from Babson College. She is a recipient of the Alicia Patterson Journalism Award and the Joseph Papp Award for Racial Harmony from the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. She has two children and four grandchildren.