Todd Acker
Regional Manager for International Sales, FedEx Services
Customs Compliance in the Global Economy

Todd Acker has been in the transportation industry for 26 years starting with a national LTL carrier in 1983. In 14 years he transferred from Denver to Chicago to Oakland back to Denver and finally back to Chicago. After joining FedEx in 1999, he moved to San Jose and he has been working in the International Market for the last 10 years.

Acker is currently the Regional Manager for International Sales responsible for Northern California and the state of Hawaii. He also manages the International Route Development for FedEx's U.S./Japan lane. Acker is a graduate of Northern Colorado University with a degree in Business Administration.

Jerry R. Avila
Regional Manager, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
Overview of SBA's Export Working Capital and Export Express Guarantee Programs

Jerry Avila has over 30 years of international banking experience in both the public and private sectors.  As a career international trade specialist, he has managed Barclays Bank's Trade Finance Marketing and International Operations group responsible for Northern California in San Francisco until Barclays sold its California group in 1988.  Subsequently he managed U.S. Bank's trade finance activities in various states and it's California EDGE Corporation which he helped establish in Northern California.  He first managed US Bank's Trade Services in Oregon then subsequently in California and Nevada until it's sale.  Following US Bank, he was appointed by then Governor Gray Davis as the Director of the California Export Finance Office (CEFO) and was subsequently given the added responsibility as the Acting Director of the Office of Small Business. Up until the recall of Gray Davis and the closure of the Technology, Trade & Commerce Agency he was responsible for a number of State guarantee programs which included CEFO, the Loan Guarantee Program which in itself had over $110 million in guarantees supporting over $210 million in loans to small businesses statewide plus the RUST, SSED and Child Care Programs.  He is currently with the U.S. Small Business Adminstrations's Office of International Trade's Export Solutions Group serving as the Northern California Regional Manager promoting SBA's International Programs by working directly with lenders and California  businesses. 

Peter Ballinger
Director, Business Development, Small & Medium Enterprise Finance, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
OPIC Support for California Small Businesses Investors Seeking to Tap Overseas Markets

Peter Ballinger of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is a Director in the Small and Medium Size Enterprise Finance Department in charge of business development and marketing for OPIC’s fast-growing SME lending programs, including OPIC’s recently launched Environmental Loan Initiative.

He joined OPIC in 1986 in a position promoting U.S. investment in the Middle East/Africa region.  Since 1989, Mr. Ballinger has concentrated much of his efforts at OPIC on developing new finance and insurance projects in the Europe/Eurasia region.  This included a five-year assignment as the OPIC Director at the Caspian Finance Center, a joint regional office of OPIC, the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the U.S. Trade and Development agency based in Turkey.  From this regional office, OPIC completed the first small business projects in countries such as Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Turkey as well as several power generation and energy transport projects. 

From 1992-1995, Mr. Ballinger was the Director of Marketing; prior to this, Mr. Ballinger managed investment development and outreach activities in the Asia, Africa and Latin American region.  He also managed two successful USAID-funded investment promotion projects for the Latin America (1990-1992) and Africa (1990-1994) regions and oversaw the establishment of OPIC’s first overseas office, in Moscow, Russia, in 1992.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
Before joining OPIC, Mr. Ballinger worked for several years at the Washington International Center of Meridian International in a variety of international economic program positions.  Prior to this, he owned and operated a sports-related travel company with operations in the eastern United States and western Europe.  He has lived and worked in some 10 countries, including Turkey, the Philippines, Taiwan, Switzerland, Germany, Panama, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

EDUCATION
Mr. Ballinger received his M.S. in International Business from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in International Relations from the American University.

John W. Dunlop
Chief Executive Officer, InterNetLC.com, LLC
Inject Financing Into Small Business Exports to Create Jobs

John Dunlop is CEO of InterNetLC.com, LLC.  InterNetLC.com provides the eTrade Finance Platform™ as a open source web service for online eUCP Letter of Credit and trade finance transactions.  The company also provides pre-shipment working capital to exporters through their Export Transaction Financing™ program.  InterNetLC.com has been awarded an Export Achievement Certificate for accomplishments in the Global Marketplace by the US Commercial Service.
Mr. Dunlop was past Director of International Services for an Internet eCommerce company established through the funding alliance of MicroGeneral, Chase Manhattan Bank, VerticalNet, Softbank and others. This experience bought Mr. Dunlop into contact with the new eUCP international standards for Letters of Credit that allow the presentation of documents over the Internet.  This concept will  revolutionize trade transactions by reducing the cost, time and complexity to a fraction of present values. In addition to designing online trade finance capabilities for international banks, he also developed proprietary Internet-based software systems and applications related to global trade finance incorporating digital signatures.  Mr. Dunlop's experience includes engineering, operations and marketing management positions with Teledyne Ryan Electronics, Pacific Southwest Airlines, Thornwater International, Galaxie Management and Eastern Airlines and service in the US Army as a company commander in Vietnam.  Mr. Dunlop graduated from the University of Notre Dame in aerospace engineering.

Joseph G. Englert
President, Export Assist Inc.
Get More $ Out of Your Exports

Utilizing his extensive experience in banking, finance and international reinsurance, Mr. Englert founded Export Assist, Inc. in 1992. Export Assist is a leader in export finance management, specializing in export tax benefit services including IC-DISC and Virgin Islands Export Corporation (VIEXCO) incorporation, implementation, compliance and management. Export Assist was the largest foreign sales corporation (FSC) management company in the United States. Headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Nevada, St. Thomas (USVI), Bermuda and Barbados, the company has assisted more than 2,500 exporters nationwide, ranging from small and medium-sized companies to 20 percent of the Fortune 500 and one-third of the Dow Jones Industrials. In addition to speaking at numerous financial conferences, Mr. Englert has worked with the U.S. Department of Commerce since 1993 and teaches trade finance seminars for the Foreign Commercial Service Division, International Trade Administration and the Office of Import Administration, plus he has been an advisor to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of International Trade. In 1999, Mr. Englert negotiated the first public-private partnership with The Export-Import Bank of the United States to teach Export Assist’s Export Lender Course to U.S. financial institutions nationwide. He has also authored the Exporter Finance Guidebook to help exporters understand and obtain export financing. Currently, he is on the Advisory Board of the School of Business and Management for Notre Dame de Namur University.

Karl Kailing
International Trade Specialist, Silicon Valley Export Assistance Center (U.S.DOC)

Karl Kailing currently serves as an International Trade Specialist with the US & Foreign Commercial Service, a bureau of the United States Department of Commerce.  In this capacity, Karl advises small and medium sized Silicon Valley firms on their international operations.  Primarily, this takes the form of providing regulatory and documentary advice, as well as utilizing a network of over 120 international offices to find overseas partners and business development opportunities.  Prior to his service with ITA, Karl served as a Congressional aide in Washington, DC, where he advised on Housing and Financial Services issues.  He holds a Master's degree in International Trade Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and an undergrdauate degree in History and English from Loyola University Chicago.

Ms. Larsen is currently part of the Business Development team of the Masdar City Initiative.  Prior to this, she was a Senior Vice President at Gulf Capital Private Equity in the UAE where she analyzed investment opportunities in energy services, alternative energy, and TMT. Previously, she established i2i Capital in Hong Kong, a boutique venture placement and investment firm serving SMEs in Asia.  In that capacity she originated, structured, and executed several early-stage venture investments in new media and energy services. In the Asian cleantech sector, she worked with companies active in coal gasification, plastics recycling, nanomaterials, biofuels and water filtration.  Karin began her finance career in Hong Kong with JPMorgan Chase’s Global M&A team and in London with GE’s Private Equity group. Karin holds a BA from Duke University, an MBA in Finance from Edinburgh Business School, and an MPA in Int’l Development from Harvard University. She was a Fulbright Scholar in India, and speaks several languages.

Tony Livoti
President, Monterey Bay International Trade Association
Introductory Remarks

Tony Livoti has been involved in small business development his entire career – starting and successfully operating a creative management company in Hollywood, a small manufacturing company in Felton, California,  working as a business broker in the sale of businesses throughout the Monterey Bay region and forming and operating an Export Management Company for companies throughout California. (EMC).

In 1984, Mr. Livoti saw a need for an international trade association for the burgeoning Monterey Bay region and its array of entrepreneurial enterprises, and as a result, founded the Monterey Bay International Trade Association (MBITA).

Under his leadership, the MBITA in 1995 became a founding partner in the BAYTRADE public-private sector export promotion program that has helped generate over $350 million in ‘new-to-market’ exports representing exporting companies throughout 17 counties in Northern California.  

Under his guidance as its President, MBITA has grown over the years to become a wholly self-sustaining non-profit with over 200 members and clients and foreign cooperative partnerships throughout the Pacific Rim, the European Union, and the Americas.

MBITA has also become a leader in California on utilizing web based solutions for conducting, facilitating and consummating global trade transactions for small to mid-sized enterprises.  This includes desktop to desktop global eCommerce training and a web based eTraining program for online global trade in partnership with the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) and the GLOBE project. 

MBITA manages TradePort.org owned by the L.A. Chamber of Commerce (LACC) and the Bay Area Economic Forum (BAEF) and has created and currently operating the U.S’s first statewide ‘intranet’ for trade promotion services called the TradePort Collaborator supported by 40 public and private sector trade promotion organizations located throughout the California.

Michael Lloyd
Vice President, Marketing boutique agency Unique Image, Inc. and Editor-in-chief of ALO Hayati, America's Top Middle Eastern Lifestyle magazine.
The Gulf Coast Countries (GCC) - Best Markets in the Middle East

Michael Lloyd joined Unique Image after his ascension to the top of the advertising and public relations battlegrounds. His formal training in marketing and print media brings fresh ideas and a special area of expertise to the Unique Image alliance.

With a forte in business-to-consumer programs, Lloyd excels in reducing current client budgets while increasing output and productivity. He creates brand promises and implements strict collateral and promotional messages that shape and enhance our clients' image. Lloyd conducts extensive market research within the industry to validate new and existing products, analyzes competitive data and charts strategic pricing procedures for many Fortune 1000 companies.

As editor-in-chief of America’s top Middle Eastern publication ALO Hayati, Lloyd learned this community inside and out. Coming from a strong background in journalism, he brings a typical America perspective to a magazine devoted to uniting cultures. So, how can a man with such a full plate find time to also help launch and tackle editing duties for a successful magazine? Well, as he says, "I don't really have any other passions other than cultural diversity. I can't sing or dance. I can’t sit still through a sports event or play a musical instrument. So writing and the written word are what I pour myself into."

Lloyd has contributed a great deal of energy to the philanthropic mission of the company and what it stands for and has managed to keep balance between business-as-usual and giving methodology. Companies have referred to him as the wizard of communications and a guru of direct mail and special handling projects.

Lloyd holds a Bachelor of Science and an MBA in communications from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Gary Mendell
President, Meridian Finance Group
Trade Finance Tools for Exporting During the Economic Downturn

Gary Mendell is President of Meridian Finance Group, a company providing credit, insurance, and financial services that help exporters increase their international sales. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in 1976, Gary has over 30 years of experience in international sales, distribution, and finance. Prior to Meridian Finance Group, he held positions managing international business development for companies in the pharmaceutical, aerospace, and plastics industries. Gary has been recognized with awards from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., and the Foreign Credit Insurance Association in recognition of Meridian’s contributions to international trade.

Dan Mozena
U.S. Ambassador to Angola
Doing Business in Angola, Africa's Emerging Economic Powerhouse

U.S. Ambassador to Angola, Dan W. Mozena
Dan Mozena
Ambassador, Republic of Angola
Term of Appointment: 08/15/2007 to present

Ambassador Dan Mozena was accredited as Ambassador to Angola upon presentation of his credentials to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos on January 9, 2008. He was appointed by President George W. Bush on August 15, 2007 and was sworn-in by Assistant Secretary of State, Jendayi Frazer, on November 19, 2007. Ambassador Josefina Diakité represented her country, Angola, at the swearing-in ceremony.

A member of the Senior Foreign Service, Dan Mozena served as Director for the Office of Southern African Affairs from 2004 to 2007, when, among other responsibilities, he provided leadership to the U.S. bilateral relationship with Angola.

As Director, Mr. Mozena established as his highest priorities developing and supporting U.S. policies to help southern Africa fight and win the war against HIV/AIDS, strengthen democracy and improve governance, enhance regional stability, and promote economic growth to reduce poverty.

Mr. Mozena has had a range of experience in Africa. Immediately prior to returning to Washington as Director, Mozena was Deputy Chief of Mission in Lusaka, Zambia, where he had begun his Foreign Service career in 1982. In what proved to be his most rewarding Foreign Service assignment, Mr. Mozena served as Officer-in-Charge for South Africa and as Deputy Director for Southern African Affairs during South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. Mr. Mozena assisted with then-President Mandela’s historic state visit to Washington. Mr. Mozena was also posted to Zaire (Kinshasa), where he and his wife had earlier served as Peace Corps Volunteers.

Mr. Mozena was born and raised on a family dairy farm in northeast Iowa and spent the first couple of decades of his life milking cows, slopping hogs and doing the daily chores that are part of life on a family farm. His academic life began in a one-room country school, which had a total of 12 students spread over eight grades. After graduating from Iowa State University (Political Science and History), and later from graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (Public Administration and Political Science), he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zaire, where he and his wife helped local farmers develop better ways to raise chickens.

Mr. Mozena’s wife of 36 years, Grace, is an elementary school teacher with professional interests spanning from elementary education to health service delivery, particularly malaria treatment and prevention. The Mozena’s are proud parents of two adult children, Anne and Mark, who have finished their university studies and reside in the United States.  

Jim Sandoval of CH2M HILL is a professional civil engineer with 20 years of experience in environmental and waste management engineering. He is currently helping a number of agencies respond to the regulatory requirements of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB-32). On behalf of the California Climate Action Registry (CCAR) and the California Wastewater Climate Change Group, he was responsible for developing the wastewater treatment methodology for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from municipal wastewater treatment, which became Chapter 10 of the Local Government Operations Protocol for the Quantification of Greenhouse Gas Inventories.

Jim was responsible for setting up the logistics to implement the planning, design, construction and operation of the zero waste road map for Masdar City. He now serves in a technical support role to the Masdar program team in Abu Dhabi.

The Masdar Project is a program owned by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. CH2M HILL is serving as the program manager responsible for implementation of planning, design and construction of the $23-billion zero carbon/zero waste new city.

Paul Watts
Business Development Officer, San Francisco Satellite Office, Export-Import Bank of the U.S.

Paul Watts is a Business Development Officer with Export–Import Bank of the United States. Ex-Im Bank, as it’s known, is the U.S. Government agency charged by Congress to provide “credit assistance” to small American businesses exporting goods or services to foreign buyers.

This assistance is provided by way of direct Commercial Credit Risk Insurance to the exporters; and U.S. Government Guarantees to lenders.  Such Guarantees enable lenders to make credit accommodations to both U.S. exporters and foreign buyers with the foreign receivables as collateral.

Mr. Watts, a graduate of the University of California’s Haas School of Business, came to Ex-Im Bank in 1996 after 38 years in the San Francisco Bay Area financial industry.  During that period, he worked for several lending institutions; he was the Founding and Organizing Director of a national bank (San Mateo County National Bank), President & Broker of a local mortgage banking company (WINN Financial Co.), and a Director & Executive Officer of California’s largest mortgage broker association (CAMB).

Mr. Watts is retired from the U.S. Army - having served with the 101st Airborne Division during the Vietnam War (1967).