Pathways To Opportunity Series: Careers in Trade, Technology and the Digital Economy

The WITA Academy Pathways to Opportunity program consists of a series of career pathways sessions hosted by trade professionals from the Washington D.C. policy community. The curriculum, divided between the public and private sector, highlights different roles and career paths that are available in Washington D.C. and around the world.

Students will gain insight from trade professionals, pose questions to policymakers, and learn about exciting career opportunities in international affairs, political science, business, and trade. Students come away with an understanding of the trade policy-making community, the role of its key players, and the opportunities for internships and careers available to them.

This one hour online event was free and open to ALL students. Hosted in partnership with the University of Kansas Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS), Department of Political Science, Business School, Law School, and Center for Global and International Studies.

Registration was free for students and faculty – must use university email to register.

In Partnership with

Agenda

• Diego Añez, Managing Director, Washington International Trade Association and Executive Director, WITA Academy (University of Georgia)

• Alan Treat, Attaché, U.S. Mission to the World Trade Organization, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (University of Kansas & Georgetown University)
• Jennifer Meng, Director of Global Policy, Semiconductor Industry Association (Georgetown University & University of Toronto)
• Tina Jeffress, Group Manager, Sustainability and Government Affairs, Panasonic Energy & Panasonic North America (UCLA & UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School)
• Moderator: Kimberly Ellis, Principal, Monument Advocacy (Vanderbilt University)

• Ambassador C.J. Mahoney, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Cloud + AI Corporate, Microsoft (Harvard University & Yale Law School)
• Moderator: Ken Levinson, CEO, Washington International Trade Association (New York University & University of Massachusetts)

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES:

Kimberly Ellis is Principal at Monument Advocacy, having joined Monument in 2012 after serving as the Legislative Director for former House Ways and Means Committee chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX).   She is highly respected for her work on trade, tax and health care issues, and communicates regularly with staff and Members on the Committees on Ways and Means and Senate Finance.  Kimberly formerly served in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and other private sector positions. Kimberly was previously named one of the Top Ten Trade and Tax Staffers by Roll Call, serves on the Board of Directors for the Washington International Trade Association, and is a Member of the Tax Coalition. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University.

Tina Jeffress is a Senior Manager with Panasonic North America’s Corporate and Government Affairs team where she leads energy and sustainability policy, supporting the rapid expansion of Panasonic’s EV battery business. She also leads Panasonic North America’s ESG Steering Committee, advising each of Panasonic’s diverse business areas as they pursue decarbonization and other key ESG goals. Prior to joining Panasonic, Tina worked for ScottMadden Consulting where she specialized in electric utilities and ESG issues, supporting clients on grid modernization, renewables, and sustainability strategy. Previously, she was associate director for the Project on U.S. Leadership in Development at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), key energy sector partnerships and research on private sector development in Central America. She began her career in international development, working with non-profit organizations in Los Angeles, Washington, and the Dominican Republic. She holds a BA in International Development Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles and an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Ambassador C.J. Mahoney is Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Cloud + AI at Microsoft working in U.S. International Trade and National Security, in 2021 after serving as Deputy United States Trade Representative from 2018 to 2020.C.J. leads Microsoft teams responsible for export control and sanctions compliance, international trade, and technology and national security policy.

While at USTR, C.J. led negotiations over the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and helped shepherd the agreement through Congress, where it passed with the largest margin of any trade agreement in over 30 years.He personally negotiated key aspects of the agreement’s landmark labor chapter, including the first-of-its-kind, rapid-response enforcement mechanism.

C.J. also oversaw USTR’s digital trade portfolio and helped launch free trade agreement talks with the United Kingdom and Kenya.Under his leadership, USTR launched its first dispute settlement actions to enforce environmental obligations in U.S. free trade agreements.He represented USTR on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and the boards of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Prior to his unanimous confirmation as Deputy USTR, C.J. was a partner at Williams & Connolly LLP where his practice focused on complex commercial litigation, white collar defense, and international disputes.He was a law clerk to Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy during the Supreme Court’s October 2007 term and has served as a Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School.He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Law.

C.J. is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal. Between college and law school, C.J. worked as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company.

A native of Russell, Kansas, C.J. and his wife Becca have two children, Eleanor and Patrick.

Jennifer Meng is Director of Global Policy at SIA, offering direct support for SIA’s international trade and global policy priorities, with a focus on China policy and WTO priorities. Jennifer joined SIA in 2018. Jennifer leads SIA in the World Semiconductor Council, a cooperative global body dedicated to promoting a free, open, and globally competitive trading environment for semiconductor products. Her work also entails promoting US semiconductor industry priorities in the WTO, including the WTO Information Technology Agreement and the E-Commerce Initiative. She works closely with SIA member companies, the U.S. administration, domestic and international companies and business associations, and foreign government officials. Jennifer has prior experience working for the high-tech industry, including positions at the Albright Stonebridge Group, Eurasia Group, and the US Chamber of Commerce. She has a B.A. in political science and economics from the University of Toronto, and an M.A. in Asian Studies from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She grew up in China and Canada and is fluent in Mandarin. She lives with her two dogs in Washington, D.C.

Alan Treat is Attaché at the U.S. Mission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) where he primarily covers trade and environment, fisheries subsidies negotiations, trade facilitation, information technology, and WTO accessions, among other responsibilities. Before joining the U.S Mission to the WTO, he served as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa

at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where he coordinated international trade and investment policy with eastern African countries, including trade agreement negotiations with Kenya. Prior to joining USTR in 2014, Alan was a senior international trade analyst at the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), where he researched and analyzed international trade issues affecting U.S. and foreign industry competitiveness. Between 2009 and 2011, Alan worked in the Senate Finance Committee of the U.S. Congress where he focused on environmental goods trade, trade preferences, and customs enforcement. Prior to joining the USITC in 2004, he spent a summer working in the political and economic sections of U.S. Embassy Luxembourg. Between 2001 and 2003, he taught English at a university in Besancon, France. He studied anthropology and French at the University of Kansas, and received a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He is married and has an eight-year old son.

Ken Levinson is 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.

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.

The mission of the WITA Academy™ is to make trade education and career opportunities in international trade accessible to communities in the United States and around the world, and to make the trade community itself more diverse, equitable and inclusive.

The WITA Academy works with trade leaders in businesses, law, academia, NGOs, embassies and the U.S. Government to help stakeholders, students, and others to better understand and navigate the U.S. and global trade policy apparatus.

Thank you to our WITA Academy Sponsors

Law Partner Sponsor