President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions

WASHINGTON – Today, President Biden announced his intent to appoint the following individuals as members to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations:

• Revathi Advaithi
• Manish Bapna
• Timothy Michael Broas
• Thomas M. Conway
• Erica R.H. Fuchs
• Marlon E. Kimpson
• Ryan LeGrand
• Kerman Maddox
• Sean M. O’Brien
• Javier Saade
• Shonda Yvette Scott
• Elizabeth Shuler
• Nina Szlosberg-Landis
• Wendell P. Weeks

Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations

The Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations is an advisory committee established to provide overall policy advice to the United States Trade Representative on matters arising in connection with the development, implementation, and administration of the trade policy of the United States including negotiating objectives and bargaining positions before entering into trade agreements, the impact of the implementation of trade agreements, matters concerning the operation of any trade agreement once entered into, and other matters arising in connection with the development, implementation, and administration of the trade policy of the United States. The Committee includes up to 45 members recommended by the U.S. Trade Representative who are appointed by the President and have expertise in general trade, investment, and development issues, including representatives of non-federal governments, labor, industry, agriculture, small business, service industries, retailers, nongovernmental environmental and conservation organizations, and consumer interests.

Revathi Advaithi

Revathi Advaithi is Chief Executive Officer of Flex, the global manufacturing partner of choice that helps a diverse customer base design and build products to improve the world. Since assuming the role in 2019, Advaithi has been responsible for architecting the company’s strategic direction and leading Flex through a transformation that is defining a new era in manufacturing. Advaithi is focused on driving technology innovation, supply chain, and responsible, sustainable manufacturing solutions across various industries and end markets.

Prior to Flex, Advaithi was President and Chief Operating Officer for the electrical sector business for Eaton, a company with over $20 billion in sales and 102,000 employees. She had corporate responsibility for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions. Previously, Advaithi was President of Eaton’s electrical sector, Americas, and was responsible for North, South, and Central America. In addition to her time at Eaton, she worked at Honeywell for six years. Advaithi is a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Advanced Manufacturing CEO Community and joined the WEF Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders. She serves on the Board of Directors of Uber and Catalyst.org. Advaithi was recognized on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list for four consecutive years and named one of Business Today’s Most Powerful Women in India. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Manish Bapna

Manish Bapna is President and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). NRDC has been behind many of the most significant environmental milestones of the last half century—from the creation of bedrock environmental laws, to landmark legal victories, and foundational research. Today, its staff of more than 750 policy analysts, lawyers, and scientists—backed by the power of more than 3 million members and online activists—are standing up for climate, nature, health, and equity in the United States and around the world. During his 25-year career, Bapna’s leadership roles have focused on tackling the root causes of poverty and climate change with strategies that are equitable, durable, and scalable. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the World Resources Institute, a research organization focused on the intersection of the environment and human development, for more than 14 years. An economist by training, he got his start at McKinsey & Company and the World Bank before pursuing a career in advocacy at the Bank Information Center. He has master’s degrees in Business and Political and Economic Development from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT.

Timothy Michael Broas

Tim Broas, a resident of Maryland, is currently Senior Of Counsel at the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, & Rosati. He practices in the Government Investigations group at the firm, representing and advising clients that are undergoing judicial and regulatory investigations and enforcement. During the first term of the Obama-Biden Administration, Broas served on the Board of Trustees of the Wilson Center of International Scholars. He was then nominated by President Obama to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and he served as Chief of Mission in The Hague from 2014 to 2016. In recognition of his service, Broas was awarded the Distinguished Public Service Award by the Department of the Navy, the highest award given by the Secretary of the Navy to a civilian.

Broas serves on the Boards of Trustees of Partners in Health, Humanity in Action, The Hague Institute, the Netherlands America Foundation, and the Stanford Center on Longevity. Broas graduated magna cum laude from Boston College, with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and History, and he received his J.D. from the College of William & Mary School of Law.

Thomas M. Conway

Thomas M. Conway has served as International President of the United Steelworkers (USW) union since 2019. He became an activist in USW Local 6787 in 1978 when he went to work at the Burns Harbor Works of Bethlehem Steel. While working as a millwright in the coke plant, Conway served as a griever for plant-wide maintenance and was a member of the safety and contracting-out committees. He served as USW staff and was elected as USW International Vice President in 2005.

During his tenure as International Vice President, Conway became the union’s most experienced contract negotiator in steel, aluminum, oil, and other major industries where USW members work, often directing bargaining during crises. While heading the union’s work with the Alliance for American Manufacturing, Conway demanded that the government enforce U.S. trade laws to prevent importation of unfairly traded, subsidized, and dumped products that damage domestic industries and destroy good-paying American jobs. He is now leading the charge in organizing more workers into the labor movement, extending the benefits of union representation to workers in a variety of fields from manufacturing to higher education.

Erica R.H. Fuchs

Dr. Erica R.H. Fuchs is a Professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, and by courtesy in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. Fuchs is also a Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research. Fuchs’ research focuses on the development, commercialization, and global manufacturing of emerging technologies, and national policy in that context. Fuchs is the founding Director of Carnegie Mellon’s Critical Technology Strategy Initiative – an initiative spanning Carnegie Mellon’s schools of engineering, computer science, and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. She is also the Director of the one-year, $4 million pilot National Network for Critical Technology Assessment, which is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships Office., involving academic thought-leaders from 13 Tier I research universities across the country. Fuchs grew up and attended K-12 in the Reading Public School District in Reading, PA. She received both her Bachelor’s in Materials Science and Engineering, Master’s in Technology Policy, and her Ph.D. in Engineering Systems from MIT. She has testified in Congressional hearings in both the House and Senateand had her work covered, among other places, by National Public Radio, Bloomberg, and the New York Times.

Marlon E. Kimpson

As a partner with Motley Rice LLC, Marlon E. Kimpson represents individuals, state and municipality pension funds, multi-employer plans, unions, and other institutional investors in securities fraud class actions and on mergers and acquisition cases, seeking asset recovery, and improved corporate governance. He also has represented a variety of clients in civil litigation including personal injury and wrongful death victims and families devastated by air crash accidents. In addition to his law practice, Kimpson was elected to the South Carolina State Senate in the general election in October 2013 and again in November 2020. As the resident Senator for Mother Emanuel AME Church, Kimpson was a sponsor and one of the floor leaders of the bill that removed the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House grounds. In 2017, Kimpson received the Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Soaring Eagle Award by the American Association of Justice.

A frequent speaker, Kimpson has presented at conferences across the country, including the Public Funds Summit, the National Association of State Treasurers, the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems, and the National Association of Securities Professionals. Kimpson is active in the community, serving as a lifetime member of the NAACP, member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated, and the Sigma Pi Phi Boulé. He is a member of Morris Brown AME in downtown Charleston. Kimpson graduated from Morehouse College and received his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law. Kimpson has two young children, Marleigh and Marlon Davis.

Ryan LeGrand

Ryan LeGrand serves as the President and CEO for the U.S. Grains Council, a non-profit organization that promotes the global use of U.S. barley, corn, sorghum, and related products including ethanol and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS).

LeGrand joined the Council in 2015 as the Assistant Director and then Director of the Council’s Mexico office where he identified and addressed all relevant trade, technical, and policy-related factors relevant to building and maintaining the market for U.S. grains and co-products in Mexico. Before joining the Council, LeGrand worked for Gavilon as the Director of Ingredients, located in Guadalajara, Mexico. In this capacity, he managed the company’s feed ingredients trading, import, and distribution throughout Mexico. LeGrand also served as the Director of Exports for Hawkeye Gold, LLC, where he exported DDGS to Latin America and Asia, and began his career as an Export Merchandiser with Garvey International. LeGrand earned a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University in International Business.

Kerman Maddox

Kerman Maddox is President and majority owner of K&R Hospitality, an ACDBE food and beverage concession business and Managing Partner of Dakota Communications, a strategic planning and communication consulting firm. As a small business owner, Maddox is keenly aware of the daily challenges small businesses face retaining customers, controlling expenses, managing employees, negotiating contracts, responding to regulatory challenges, and navigating changing political environments. Maddox is a member of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ transition team and serves on the transition team’s Small Business Committee. Maddox develops strategic planning, management, and communications programs for corporations, small businesses, governmental agencies, faith-based institutions, foundations, and academic institutions.

Maddox was an adjunct professor of Political Science at the University of Southern California and a full time Political Science professor for the Los Angeles Community College District. Maddox was an appointee to the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee by President Barack Obama. Maddox is a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona, USC, and the Coro Foundation’s Leadership Training Institute. He is an active member at First AME Church Los Angeles, where he received the church’s Outstanding Community Service Award, the NAACP’s Youth Council Mentor Award and the Greater Los Angeles African American Chambers Businessman of the Year award. Maddox has won two Emmy Awards from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and a Golden Mike Award from the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California. Maddox lives in Los Angeles and is married to Attorney Capri Maddox, and they have one son.

Sean M. O’Brien

Sean M. O’Brien is a fourth-generation Teamster and General President of the 1.2 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters. In March 2022, O’Brien took office as the union’s 11th General President. O’Brien is committed to winning and defending strong national contracts, organizing new members, and aggressively taking on employers. He is focused on mobilizing rank-and-file Teamsters through education and increased engagement—traveling extensively to visit with members at worksites throughout the country.

O’Brien joined Teamsters Local 25 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, at the age of 18, working in the rigging industry as a heavy-equipment driver in the Greater Boston area. O’Brien became a business agent in 2001 and, in 2006, the youngest President in Local 25’s 128-year history. Under his leadership, Local 25’s membership increased by more than 30 percent. In 2011, he was elected Eastern Region Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. O’Brien is the proud father of two sons, Sean Jr. and Joseph.

Javier Saade

Javier Saade has decades of experience as an investor, operating executive, entrepreneur, board member, and policymaker. He is Managing Partner of Impact Master Holdings, Venture Partner at Fenway Summer, and serves or recently served on the boards of SoftBank Vision Fund Investment Corp, GP Funding, Inc, Porch Group, The Nature Conservancy, Pan American Development Foundation, and Harvard University’s Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. He also held seats on the Global Board of Advisors of Docusign, Inc. and the Corporate Responsibility Board of Univision, and is a CNBC contributor.

Saade served as Associate Administrator, Chief of Investment & Innovation of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Member of the Committee on Small and Emerging Companies of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, and Member of President Biden’s Transition Team focused on the Department of the Treasury. Before public service, he spent 20 years at organizations that include McKinsey & Company, Bridgewater Associates, Booz Allen & Hamilton, Abbott Laboratories, and Air America Media, a company he co-founded. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS in Operations & Technology from Illinois Institute of Technology, and a BS in Industrial Management from Purdue University.

Shonda Yvette Scott

Shonda Yvette Scott is a distinguished business leader, entrepreneur, and small business advocate. As Founder and CEO of 360 Total Concept Inc., Scott has over twenty years of business management experience and has assisted major municipalities, real estate developers, and corporations to build their diversity and equity strategies developing programs for the betterment of the community. Programs implemented by Scott have led to the reinvestment of dollars into historically underutilized communities, providing economic equity focused solutions for small businesses on major infrastructure and capital programs.

Scott has worked with some of the largest capital programs and key industry leaders in the country, assisting in building contractor diversity, equity, and inclusion on projects. She has a reputation for leading with integrity and fairness as she bridges relationships between industry giants and small businesses. Recognized nationally as an award-winning entrepreneur, Scott was inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame. She has served on many boards and organizations, including the Advisory Minority Aviation Council Foundation, Conference of Minority Transportation Officials – Women Who Move the Nation, Black Women in Business for Biden, the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, and African American Leadership Council. Scott also led an international trade mission which focused on increasing bilateral business ties with small, diverse U.S. businesses. A native of Oakland, California, Scott earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Elizabeth Shuler

Elizabeth H. Shuler is President of the AFL-CIO, a federation of 59 unions, 12.5 million working people across all sectors of the U.S. economy. She is the first woman to hold the office of president in the history of the labor federation. A visionary leader and longtime trade unionist, Shuler believes the labor movement is a powerful vehicle for progress and that unions are a central force in leading lasting societal transformations. Her leadership has focused on the future of work, clean energy economy, workforce development, and empowering women and young workers. She is committed to leveraging the labor movement’s diversity and power to advance social and economic justice, and to making the benefits of a union voice on the job available to working people everywhere.

Nina Szlosberg-Landis

Nina Szlosberg-Landis is a respected civic leader with a wide range of experience. Currently, she serves as a director on the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority Board which has oversight of the agency’s $250 million annual budget. With more than 600 daily departures and arrivals, the airport serves approximately 15 million people and 100,000 tons of cargo annually. Previously, Szlosberg-Landis served four terms under three Governors as an At-large member and first female Vice Chair of the North Carolina Board of Transportation, responsible for oversight of the department’s five-billion-dollar multi-modal transportation program. While there she established and chaired the Board’s Environment Planning and Policy Committee, and chaired both the Multi-Modal and Advanced Technology Committees and was Vice Chair of the Board’s Finance Committee.

Szlosberg-Landis also served on the Triangle Region’s transit authority board and on the Transportation Advisory Committees of the region’s two federally mandated Metropolitan Planning Organizations. She also served as a Director on the Board of the North Carolina Railroad Company. In 2003, Szlosberg-Landis was honored to be selected as an Eisenhower Fellow and traveled in the European Union, where she studied transportation-land use policy, with an emphasis on environmental protection and sustainability. She remains in the Eisenhower Fellow International Network today. Szlosberg-Landis also serves on the Board of the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters and has served on the national board of the Environmental Defense Action Fund. Szlosberg-Landis is retired from a profession in communications with more than 30 years of experience in broadcasting, media production, community relations, and social advocacy.

Wendell P. Weeks

Wendell P. Weeks has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Corning Incorporated, a glass and materials science innovator, since April 2005 and Chairman of the Board of Directors since April 2007. He has held a variety of financial, commercial, business development, and general management positions across Corning’s market access platforms and technologies since he joined the company in 1983. He also has earned 34 U.S. patents.

Weeks is a graduate of Lehigh University and earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University as a Baker Scholar. He serves on the board of directors at Amazon.com Inc. and on the board of trustees for the Corning Museum of Glass and the Institute for Advanced Study. He is a member of the Liveris Academy Honorary Board.

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