Five California District Export Councils Gather at CalChamber

By
CalChamber
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Members of the five California District Export Councils (DEC) met at the California Chamber of Commerce in Sacramento on May 22, to hear from Diane Farrell, deputy assistant secretary for Asia of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The current issues facing the trade community and the department’s new Indo-Pacific initiative were the focus of discussion. Following, the group attended other international trade-related events.

The National Association of District Export Councils (DEC) contributes leadership and international trade expertise to complement the U.S. Commercial Service’s export promotion efforts through counseling businesses on the exporting process and conducting trade education and community outreach.

The association is made up of 60 regional district export councils. The mission of these councils is to work with the U.S. Commerce Department on export promotion and commercial diplomacy.

The 1,500 council members around the country all are appointed by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce. These international trade professionals use their knowledge and international business experience to act as consultants to small and medium-sized businesses who want to export their products into markets outside of the United States.

For more than 40 years, DECs have served the United States by assisting companies in their local communities export, thus promoting our country’s economic growth and creating new and higher-paying jobs for their communities.

Front Row (from left): The Honorable Jerry Levine, Consulate General of Barbados/National DEC, Former Chair; Toby Levine, San Francisco Port Advisory; David Fiscus, U.S. Department of Commerce; Tsvi (Chuck) Guy, Vecron Exim/Central California DEC; The Honorable Diane Farrell, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Asia, U.S. Department of Commerce; Dean Fealk, DLA Piper/NorCal DEC; Susanne Stirling, CalChamber/NorCal DEC and National DEC; Marv Sepe, CTC Global Corporation/Southern California DEC; Richard Swanson, U.S. Department of Commerce; Kusum Kavia, Combustion Associates Inc./Inland Empire DEC; and Herb Grabell, Kidder Matthews Inc./Inland Empire DEC.
Middle Row (from left): George Tastard, U.S. Department of Commerce; Sung Wook Lee, SW Logistics Inc./NorCal DEC; Candy Hansen Gage, Gage Ag Consulting/NorCal DEC; Alicia Rios, Center for International Trade Development, Fresno/Central California DEC; Jeremy Potash, California-Asia Business Council/NorCal DEC; Teresa Cox, SonicWall/NorCal DEC; Deep SenGupta, DSG Global/NorCal DEC and National DEC; Megan Cullen, SYV Consulting & Marketing/Southern California DEC; Janice Whitaker, Teledyne/NorCal DEC; Joanne Vliet, U.S. Department of Commerce; Tom Neff, RINA Accountancy Corp./NorCal DEC; and Fred Latuperissa, ExIm20/20 Group LLC/former U.S. Department of Commerce.
Back Row (from left): Elizabeth Krauth, U.S. Department of Commerce; Julie Anne Hennessy, U.S. Department of Commerce; Adithya Padala, UmeVoice Inc./NorCal DEC; Michael Parr, Wente Family Estates/NorCal DEC; Carol Johnson, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey/NorCal DEC; John McPeak, Biomarin/NorCal DEC; Ronald Brown, Port of Oakland/NorCal DEC; David Habib, Law Office of David Habib/Southern California DEC; Nick Gera, Central Valley Community Bank/Central California DEC; Rod Hirsch, U.S. Department of Commerce; Glen Roberts, U.S. Department of Commerce; Jim Mayfield, U.S. Department of Commerce; and Doug Wallace, U.S. Department of Commerce.