Featuring:
Panel 1: NAFTA
John Bozzella, Global Automakers
Eric Farnsworth, Council of the Americas
Kellie Meiman Hock, McLarty Associates
Jim Mulhern, National Milk Producers Federation
Panel 2: China
Bruce Andrews, Rock Creek Global Advisors
Charles Freeman, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Mary Lovely, Peterson Institute
Derek Scissors, American Enterprise Institute
John Bozzella, a veteran auto industry executive, is the president and CEO of Global Automakers since 2014. Since 2009, he served as a Senior Operating Executive for Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLC, where he worked with the firm and its portfolio companies on a range of public policy and economic development matters. John served as Senior Vice President of External Affairs and Public Policy at Chrysler Group in 2009, and Vice President of External Affairs and Public Policy for Chrysler LLC from 2007 to 2009. In this capacity, he mobilized government support to significantly restructure Chrysler. At Chrysler, John worked closely with the federal government and other automakers on a substantial advanced technology vehicle loan program and on the development of new fuel economy standards. In addition, he worked with state governments to gain funding for restructuring, training and development. From 2005 to 2007, John spent two years with DaimlerChrysler Corporation as Vice President of External Affairs and Public Policy for the Americas. John was with Ford Motor Company from 1994 to 2005 in positions in public policy, and government and community relations, and labor relations. Prior to joining the automotive industry, John served as New York City’s director of state legislative affairs under Mayor David N. Dinkins. He began his career in public policy as the Director of Legislative and Political Action for the United Federation of Teachers. John is a graduate of Cornell University.
Eric Farnsworth has led the Washington office of the Council of the Americas and the Americas Society since 2003, during which time the stature and influence of the organization has grown significantly. He has played an important thought leadership and advocacy role across the broad range of issues affecting US relations with the Western Hemisphere, including economic development, trade, and energy; Asia-Latin American relations and global governance issues; security; and democracy. He is a widely-sought after conference speaker and media commentator, and has published articles and opinion pieces in numerous newspapers and policy journals. Mr. Farnsworth began his career in Washington with the US Department of State. During his time in government he served in positions of increasing responsibility in the foreign policy and trade communities, from Western Hemisphere Affairs at State to the Office of the US Trade Representative, culminating in a three-and-a-half-year appointment as the senior advisor to the White House Special Envoy for the Americas. In this capacity he played an important role in developing and implementing the administration’s policies toward the Western Hemisphere. Previously, Mr. Farnsworth was managing director of ManattJones Global Strategies, an advisory and strategic consulting group. He also worked in the global public policy division of Bristol-Myers Squibb, and in the US Senate with Sam Nunn (D-GA) and the US House of Representatives with John Edward Porter (R-IL). In 2016 he was decorated by the King of Spain for his work to promote bilateral and regional relations.
Kellie Meiman Hock is a Managing Partner at McLarty Associates. She is responsible for external matters for the firm. In addition, she has led the Brazil & Southern Cone and trade practices of McLarty Associates since 2000. During this time, Ms. Meiman has helped major multinational companies in this dynamic region and beyond to take advantage of opportunities, as well as to troubleshoot obstacles to market access and investment. She has worked on various aspects of national industrial policies, ranging from local content requirements to data localization and trade remedies. Ms. Meiman has been deeply engaged in companies’ efforts to manage increased unilateral US trade actions, as well as renegotiation of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). Ms. Meiman previously worked at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) as Director for Brazil and the Southern Cone, where she had primary responsibility for trade negotiations with Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Prior to her work at USTR, Ms. Meiman served as a foreign service officer with the US Department of State, where her posts included handling crisis management in the State Operations Center. An Economic Officer in the foreign service, Ms. Meiman previously had served in Porto Alegre, São Paulo, and Recife, Brazil, and in Bogotá, Colombia. She has lived and studied in Central America and Japan. Ms. Meiman is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Inter-American Dialogue. She sits on the board of the Brazil-US Business Council and of the New York-based Brazil-America Chamber of Commerce. She also is Chairwoman of the Chile-based development NGO América Solidaria US. Ms. Meiman often writes and speaks on policy matters related to trade, Brazil, and Latin America. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Ms. Meiman is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She fluently speaks Spanish and Portuguese and is active in policy and politics at the national level and in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where she resides with her husband Jim and their two sons.
Jim Mulhern is a veteran agriculture and food policy strategist with over 30 years of experience working with Washington, DC legislators, regulators, and the media. He was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) in January, 2014. Since taking over leadership of NMPF Mr. Mulhern directed the dairy industry’s work on the 2014 Farm Bill, and has led efforts to address a host of issues including trade, environmental, immigration reform, animal care, food labeling, and many more. This is a return engagement for Mr. Mulhern at NMPF. Earlier in his career he directed the organization’s government affairs activities, and played a key role in shaping NMPF’s policy and communications strategy. From NMPF, Jim went to Capitol Hill where he served as chief of staff to Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl. Mr. Mulhern directed the Senator’s Washington, DC and state operations, and advised him on legislative and political issues. Prior to his return to NMPF, Jim was managing partner of Watson/Mulhern LLC, a life sciences communications and public affairs firm that focused on policy challenges facing the food and agriculture community. Over his career Mr. Mulhern has provided expert strategic counsel to a host of Fortune 500 companies, and has worked extensively in government relations, issues and crisis management, media relations, and litigation communications.
Bruce H. Andrews is a Managing Director of Rock Creek Global Advisors, an international economic policy advisory firm, where he advises multinational companies, financial institutions and trade associations on US domestic political and economic policy issues, international trade and investment issues, technology policy issues and other regulatory and policy matters. Mr. Andrews previously served as the Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce, under Secretary Penny Pritzker, where he was a key leader on a broad variety of issues, including digital economy and technology, cross border data flows, trade and investment, export controls, foreign direct investment in the U.S., cybersecurity and privacy. He was the Commerce Department’s representative on the National Security Council’s Deputies Committee, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and the President’s Management Council. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. He also served as the lead negotiator for the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade negotiations with China. He led trade missions on cybersecurity, smart cities and healthcare to many countries including Romania, Poland, India, China and Peru. He served as Chief Operating Officer for the department and oversaw its 12 bureaus, including overseeing stand up of SelectUSA and the Commerce Data Service. Prior to the Commerce Department, Mr. Andrews was the General Counsel of the Senate Commerce Committee, where he served as chief counsel, oversaw policy issues, nominations, and the committee’s oversight and investigations. Mr. Andrews also was the Vice President for Government Affairs for the Ford Motor Company, where he oversaw all federal and state government affairs and played a key role in the Chrysler-GM bailout. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Auto Alliance. Prior to Ford, he was one of the founding members of the firm Quinn Gillespie & Associates, where he worked for a variety of technology, trade and financial services clients. Additionally, he was an attorney at Arnold & Porter, Legislative Director to Congressman Tim Holden in the U.S. House of Representatives and worked for Senator Alan Cranston. Mr. Andrews was educated at Haverford College and Georgetown University Law Center.
Charles Freeman is the Senior Vice President for Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He has been helping companies navigate complex markets in the Asia-Pacific for 25 years. His career included senior stints in government, business, law, and academia, giving him a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in the world’s most dynamic region. During his government career, Freeman was assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs, serving as principal U.S. trade negotiator with China. He also was legislative counsel in the U.S. Senate, where he concentrated on East Asian economic and trade issues. After leaving government, Freeman consulted on Chinese and other Asia-focused business and policy matters for some of the world’s leading companies during market entry, expansion, and crises phases alike. He also served as PepsiCo’s vice president for global public policy and government affairs for Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. In addition, Freeman was chair of China studies at Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Earlier, he was based in Hong Kong with The Asia Foundation and the International Herald Tribune and worked as a securities lawyer and venture capitalist investing in emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and China. He is on the board of directors of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and Harding Loevner Funds, an internationally focused mutual fund. He is also senior nonresident fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and a senior adviser to CSIS. Freeman earned his Doctor of Law degree from Boston University’s School of Law and his bachelor’s degree in Asian studies and economics from Tufts University. He did postgraduate work at Fudan University in Shanghai and studied Mandarin Chinese at the Taipei Language Institute.
Mary E. Lovely, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute, is professor of economics and Melvin A. Eggers Faculty Scholar at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, where she combines interests in international economics and China’s development. During 2011–15, she served as coeditor of the China Economic Review. Her current research projects investigate the effect of China’s foreign direct investment policies on trade flows and entry mode, the relationship between proximity to export markets and cross-city wage variation, and the influence of Chinese tariff reductions on labor shares of value in its manufacturing firms. She recently completed studies of American manufacturing employment and outsourcing to low-income countries, the role of intellectual returnees in the success of China’s photovoltaic solar industry, and the structure of Chinese reforms of state-owned enterprises. Lovely earned her PhD in economics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Harvard University. She has taught at Syracuse University since 1988.
Derek M. Scissors is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on the Chinese and Indian economies and on US economic relations with Asia. He is concurrently chief economist of the China Beige Book. Dr. Scissors is the author of the China Global Investment Tracker. In late 2008, he authored a series of papers that chronicled the end of pro-market Chinese reform and predicted economic stagnation in China as a result. He has also written multiple papers on the best course for Indian economic development. Before joining AEI, Dr. Scissors was a senior research fellow in the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation and an adjunct professor of economics at George Washington University. He has worked for London-based Intelligence Research Ltd., taught economics at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, and served as an action officer in international economics and energy for the US Department of Defense. Dr. Scissors has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, and a doctorate from Stanford University.