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Speaker Biographies

Spencer Bachus

EXIM Director and former Congressman, Board of Directors, Export-Import Bank of the United States

Jenna Ben-Yehuda

Executive Vice President, Atlantic Council

John A. Bohn

Managing Partner, TESIAC

Kevin N. Cirilli

VP of Branding, Blue Star Families

Kyle Clark

Founder and CEO, BETA Technologies

Steve Clemons

Founding Editor at Large, Semafor

Margaret Cosentino

Executive Vice President, Westinghouse Electric Company

Thomas Debass

Managing Director of the Office of Global Partnerships at the U.S. Department of State

Dr. Raj DasGupta

CEO, Electrovaya

Jason Few

President and Chief Executive Officer, FuelCell Energy, Inc.

Stephanie von Friedeburg

Managing Director, Public Sector, Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory Division, Citi

Michael B. Greenwald

Senior Executive, Global Head for Financial Innovation and Digital Assets, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Trevor Gunn

Vice President, International Relations for Medtronic

Regina Gywnn

Co-Founder, Black Women Talk Tech

Owen Herrnstadt

Member, Board of Directors, Export-Import Bank of United States

Fred P. Hochberg

Former Chairman, Export-Import Bank of the United States

Barbara Humpton

President and CEO, Siemens Corporation

Abigail Hunter

Executive Director, Amb. Alfred J. Hoffman Center for Critical Minerals Strategy, SAFE

Vince Jesaitis

Head of Global Government Affairs, Arm, Inc.

Reta Jo Lewis

President and Chair of the Board of Directors, Export-Import Bank of the United States

View Bio >

Aman Joshi

Chief Commercial Officer, Bloom Energy

Ambassador Caroline Kennedy

Ambassador, U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Australia

Dr. Andreas Klasen

Professor and HRA, University of Oxford

Kathleen McGrow

Global Chief Nursing Information Officer, Microsoft

Raymond J. McGuire

President, Lazard

Karl Mehta

Chairman of the Quad Investors Network at America’s Frontier Fund

Brian Menell

Chairman and CEO, TechMet Limited

James I. Merlino

Executive Vice President, Chief Innovation Officer, The Joint Commission

Keith Morrison

Chief Executive Officer & Director, Premium Nickel Resources Ltd.

Zeynep Kantur Ozenci

Global Manager for Health and Education, International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group

Anna Palmer

Founder and CEO of Punchbowl News

Judith D. Pryor

First Vice President and Vice Chair of Board of Directors, Export-Import Bank of the United States

Gina M. Raimondo

Secretary of Commerce, Department of Commerce

Kimberly A. Reed

Former Chairman of Board of Directors, President, & CEO Export-Import Bank of The United States

Tim Reid

Chief Executive of UK Export Finance

Nicholas Rémillard

CEO, International Economic Forum of the Americas (IEFA)

Andrea Shalal

White House/Economics Correspondent, Reuters

Rowena Smith

CEO, Australian Strategic Materials

View Bio >

Grace Stanke

Nuclear Fuels Engineer & Clean Energy Advocate, Constellation, Miss America 2023

Jay Timmons

President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers and Chairman of the Board of the Manufacturing Institute

Charles Wetherington

President, BTE Technologies LLC; SMM Chair, NAM Board of Directors

EXIM Director and former Congressman, Board of Directors, Export-Import Bank of the United States

Spencer Bachus graduated from Auburn University in 1969. He began his legal career in 1973 after graduating from the University of Alabama School of Law. In law school, he earned the Somerville Prize for distinguished legal scholarship. He served in the Alabama National Guard from 1969 through 1972 during the Vietnam War. Bachus maintained a private law practice and co-owned a small lumber company until he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992.

In the House of Representatives, Bachus won appointment to such important committees as Transportation and Infrastructure, Judiciary, and Financial Services. His accomplishments for his district and state include work on I-22, the Northern Beltline, and other major highway and infrastructure projects, establishment of the National Computer Forensics Institute, creation of the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge, and construction of the Alabama National Cemetery to honor veterans and their families.

Selected by his Republican colleagues as their leader on the Financial Services Committee as Ranking Member and Chairman (2006 to 2012), Bachus assumed his responsibilities while the U.S. financial system confronted its greatest challenges since the 1930s. During the depths of the crisis in Fall 2008, he was the first to advocate for capital injections (Capital Purchase Plan) to help stabilize the financial sector. The approach was ultimately adopted by the Treasury Department and returned a profit to the U.S. Treasury of more than $15 billion dollars.

Term-limited in 2012, Bachus was named Chairman Emeritus of the Committee for the 113th Congress.

Among many of Bachus’ legislative accomplishments are the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act, deposit insurance reform, and Check 21. Bachus is also regarded with honor for originating the provisions that authorized Medicare coverage to seniors for prostate cancer screening, which started in the year 2000, and provisions that became part of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. One of his proudest legacies is debt relief, which has been credited with reducing hunger and poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

In addition to his legislative accomplishments, Bachus is the recipient of numerous prestigious financial, legal, humanitarian, and leadership honors. They include the American Bar Association Justice Award, Burton Foundation Award for Achievements in Law, National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Directorship 100, The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s “National Distinguished Advocacy Award for Excellence in Cancer Fighting Public Policy” (the group’s highest legislative honor), the American Football Coaches Association Award, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Certificate of Recognition Award for National Child Identification Program “to protect children through the largest child safety initiative in history.”

A voice for racial understanding and reconciliation, Bachus received the Houghton-Lewis Leadership Award from the Faith and Politics Institute. As Dean of the Alabama delegation, he worked on a bipartisan basis with his Selma-area colleague, Representative Terri Sewell, to authorize a Congressional Gold Medal honoring the “Four Little Girls” who died in the civil rights movement-era bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.

Starting in 1993 Congressman John Lewis and Bachus cohosted an annual Civil Rights pilgrimage to Alabama, visiting Selma, Montgomery, and Birmingham. Congressman Lewis and Congressman Bachus traveled to India to retrace Martin Luther King’s pilgrimage years earlier. Their friendship was the subject of a PBS segment in 2015.

Ambassador Bohn currently serves as a Managing Partner of TESIAC Corporation, which focuses on the integration of energy, mobility, and technology with traditional infrastructure to provide sustainable mobility solutions to cities, transit districts, universities, and public and private development. He also serves as a founding member of the Leadership Board of the Center for Capital Market Competitiveness, chartered by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to advise on the reform of the US capital markets, as Chairman of the Board of Clearing Bid, and is a partner in Water Asset Management.

Prior to the above, he served as Chairman and CEO of Renewable Energy Trust Capital, which he co-founded and guided to an enterprise value of $750 million. Ambassador Bohn served as Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission from 2005-2010. During his tenure he was closely involved in developing and implementing the initial regulation and incentive programs for solar and other green initiatives in California, as well as with regulation of PG&E and other electrical utilities in California, including the devasting fire in Southern California involving Sempra Utilities and with the PG&E gas fire incident in San Bruno. He served as the Water Commissioner, with responsibility for the regulation of the private water companies, and also served as a Director of the Electric Power Research Institute.

Ambassador Bohn also served as Chairman of the Center for International Private Enterprise, for 9 years as a Director of the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington DC, and as a member of the Executive and Audit Committees of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce. He also served on the Advisory Boards of the Yale Institute for Corporate Governance and Performance and as a director of the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative.

From 1989 to 1996, Ambassador Bohn served as President and CEO of Moody’s Investors Service in New York, expanding its coverage, opening key offices in Asia, Latin America and Europe, and developing Moody’s into the global standard for credit ratings and integrity in financial analysis.

In 1981, Ambassador Bohn joined the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to Treasury Secretary Don Regan and in addition was subsequently appointed by President Reagan as U.S. Ambassador and Executive Director at the Asian Development Bank. In 1984, President Reagan appointed Ambassador Bohn Chairman and President of the Export Import Bank of the United States, a $35 billion government lending and insurance organization, a position he held until the end of the Reagan term.

After a brief tenure as a lawyer, Ambassador Bohn moved on to a career as an international banker and development advisor, with a particular focus on Japan, South East Asia, and corporate finance. Later, Ambassador Bohn spent 1-1/2 years at Burson-Marsteller, where he served as Managing Director, focusing on international markets, and economic resources issues, and was special advisor to the Government of Korea during the Asian financial crisis.

A graduate with honors from Stanford University, Ambassador Bohn attended the London School of Economics as a Fulbright Fellow and received his JD from the Harvard Law School.

Kevin N. Cirilli is an entrepreneur whose work in embracing democracy has helped lead business, philanthropy, and media growth transformations. Cirilli is vice president of branding for Blue Star Families, the largest chapter-based nonprofit organization in the United States that represents military families wherever they are in the world and on the digital frontier. His work is rooted in bridging the gap between the military and civilian communities through leading all branding efforts of Blue Star Families’ Do Your Part campaign.

As a media leader, Cirilli has launched and hosted several nonpartisan political affairs programs for Bloomberg News and The Hill. He has interviewed prominent lawmakers and policymakers about the most pressing issues of the day for more than a decade. Cirilli has worked at the highest echelons of Washington DC journalism for more than a decade and has been named as rising media star by Washington Life Magazine. He is one of the few journalists assigned to cover Trump in the summer of 2015 through his entire administration. Cirilli has reported all over the world – Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Colombia, Israel and Germany. In 2016, he was embedded with the Trump campaign.

Cirilli is the founder of mtf.tv’s meet the future fellowship program, a volunteer-based non-profit rooted in embracing democracy to meet the future’s challenges and opportunities. The program connects young professionals with industry leaders who have embraced democracy in their fields – including in government, national security, technology, global business, media corporations, advocacy, and public affairs.

Cirilli is a visiting media fellow at the Atlantic Council, where he has worked with the Global China Hub at the intersection of national security and technology. In that capacity, he served as both a senior communications specialist and chief of staff, working to drive connectivity between the media, democracy-based technologists, higher-education, and private-sector C-Suite leaders. Kevin’s fellowships are rooted in working on the areas of security-based diplomacy, geopolitics, and technology.

As a media business leader, Cirilli has helped to launch profitable newsletter brands, podcasts, convening events and simulcast television and radio programming. Cirilli has garnered praise for being an inclusive leader who is an advocate for embracing diversity in democracy. As a broadcast journalist and host, Cirilli has appeared on CBS News, Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Radio, SiriusXM, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Business Network, Yahoo Finance, Scripps News and C SPAN, as well as international media including BBC News.

Cirilli was chief Washington correspondent at Bloomberg News, where he worked for nearly six years. He launched and anchored a daily geopolitical program Sound On with Kevin Cirilli, making it the No. 1 geopolitical nonpartisan radio program in drive-time radio. At Bloomberg, Cirilli covered the intersection of global business and geopolitics, for an audience of global investors and business leaders.

He reported daily from the White House and U.S. Capitol Building. Prior to Bloomberg, he worked for POLITICO Pro Financial Services and The Hill Newspaper, where he helped launch and then authored the daily Overnight Finance tip sheet. Cirilli earned a reputation as a nonpartisan, policy-based reporter. The Trump 2020 campaign named him as a potential moderator for the U.S. Presidential Debates. He was one of the first broadcasters to interview now-Sec. of State Tony Blinken during Biden’s presidential campaign. He moderated a panel at the 2018 U.S. Export-Import Bank conference. He covered trade, tariffs and sanctions – including the State Department’s advising higher education to divest from CCP companies. He has interviewed global business leaders, policymakers, and lawmakers.

In July of 2023, Cirilli moderated a town hall that broke attendance records at Saint Anselm’s New Hampshire Institute for Politics with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and former-Amb. Jon Hunstman Jr. that garnered coverage from every major media outlet in the U.S., including NBC Nightly News, ABC News, CNN, The New York Times and USA Today. Cirilli is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University. As an undergraduate, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association ranked him the No. 1 undergraduate news writer in the nation. He was a recipient of the Pulliam Fellowship at The Arizona Republic in 2011. Kevin is a health and wellness enthusiast (and a former Men’s Health intern). He grew up in Delaware County, Pa., where he earned a partial scholarship to Malvern Preparatory School. In his free time, he enjoys Philadelphia food and running. He has a dog named Theo.

Michael B. Greenwald is the Global Head of Financial Innovation and Digital Assets at Amazon Web Services (AWS). He is also heads up Global Executive Relations for the company pioneering thought-leadership on artificial intelligence. Michael focuses on working with the U.S. Government (USG) and international governments to incorporate cloud computing into their systems as well as drive responsible emerging technology innovation and implementation within the public sector market.

In 2023, Michael was appointed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to represent Amazon on the CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee. He helps the CFTC carry out its mission of fostering open, transparent, competitive, and financially sound markets and examining the impact and implications of technological innovation in the financial services, derivatives, and commodity markets. He co-authored an Amazon publication titled: The convergence of artificial intelligence and digital assets: A new dawn for financial infrastructure.

Prior to Amazon, he was a managing director of Digital Asset Education and Chief Geopolitical Risk Officer for global asset management firm AlTi Global. He previously worked for the U.S. Treasury Department for almost a decade. He served in senior policy and intelligence roles in Europe and Africa for two presidential administrations and three Treasury Secretaries culminating with becoming the first U.S. Treasury attaché to Qatar and Kuwait, acting as the principal financial diplomat to the banking sector in those nations.

He is a Adjunct Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia SIPA and a former Adjunct professor at Boston University Pardee School of Global Studies, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council as well as Center for New American Security, Deputy Director of the Trilateral Commission, member of the Bretton Woods Committee, and senior advisor to Wharton Cypher Accelerator. He was a fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center where he published over 50 articles.

He is a graduate of Harvard Business School and has a Juris Doctor graduate from Boston University School of Law, a Master’s graduate from Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, and a B.A. from George Washington University. Raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, he lives in Palm Beach, Florida with his wife Nolan and served on the Board of The Town of Palm Beach Investment Committee. He was honored by Palm Beach Illustrated as one of the city’s 100 most influential business leaders in 2021.

Vince Jesaitis is a government affairs professional with more two decades of experience focusing on semiconductor, technology, trade, artificial intelligence, spectrum, broadband, IoT, privacy, cybersecurity, energy, and environmental policy, as well as other policy issues affecting the semiconductor and high-tech sectors.

Vince joined Arm in 2017 and oversees global government affairs and advocacy on all issues affecting the company, which range from trade and market access to IoT security, cybersecurity, and intellectual property among many others. Prior to joining Arm, Vince was Vice President, Government Affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI). Vince has worked on numerous pieces of legislation that have been signed into law; including the CHIPS Act, spectrum auction provisions in the Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2012, the Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act of 2013, and the Congressional Trade Priorities Act of 2015, among other legislation, as well as the resulting implementation and rulemaking processes. Vince founded and lead numerous inter- and cross-sectoral coalitions focused on affecting legislative and regulatory outcomes.

Vince began his political career interning in Congress for U.S. Representative Dennis Moore (Kan.) following college graduation before moving on to work for U.S. Representative Gene Green (Tex.) in 2003. He spent nearly eight years there, the last three of which he served as Legislative Director and running the Congressman’s Washington DC office. In that time, Vince oversaw the Congressman’s entire legislative portfolio and covered most issues that came before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He specialized in telecommunications, technology, broadband, wireless, privacy and cybersecurity policy and legislation. Vince was legislative director and senior policy advisor to Green while he served on the subcommittees where the Affordable Care Act, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, and portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act originated and advised the Congressman on each while moving through the Committee and legislative process. Vince also served as lead committee staff to the Chairman of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct while Rep. Green held the gavel of that Committee.

Vince as born and raised in Missouri and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from William Jewell College in 2001. Vince lives in suburban Washington DC with his wife and two children. Outside of work, Vince enjoys coaching several of his children’s sports teams and being active with his church, Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church, and related community and service organizations. He also enjoys competing in local road races, mountain bike races, and marathons. Vince finished in the top two percent of all finishers in the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon, the 117th (2013) and 118th (2014) Boston Marathons.

Dr Andreas Klasen is a thought leadership driven academic and senior adviser working at the intersection of scholarly research, education and consultancy.

He is Professor of International Business at Offenburg University and Honorary Research Associate in the Oxford Smith School at the University of Oxford. At Oxford, he leads the Innovation and Knowledge Hub supporting the UN-convened Net-zero Export Credit Alliance (NZECA). Andreas Klasen has also served as Visiting Professor and Senior Fellow at several other universities, including Bayes Business School, City, University of London, the University of St.Gallen and Durham University.

His research focuses on international business, trade policy and export strategies, as well as export, development and climate finance. He has made significant contributions to academic literature, with publications such as „The Handbook of Global Trade Policy“ and contributions to works including “The Elgar Encyclopedia of Public Management“. He regularly speaks at international conferences and fora such as COP, G7, G20, the EU, the OECD and the WTO, was invited to give expert evidence to the UK Parliament and has long lasting experience as an economic adviser in WTO disputes.

Professor Klasen advises governments, development banks, export-import banks, export credit agencies and innovation funds on industrial and climate policy, innovation and export strategies, and financing instruments. Clients include the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Dutch Ministry of Finance, Export Development Canada (EDC), Finnvera in Finland, NEXI in Japan, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the World Bank Group.

Prior to his academic career, Andreas Klasen had a significant presence in industry. He was a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Germany, where he also served as PwC’s Economics & Policy Leader, and as Co-Head and Managing Director of Germany’s official export credit agency. Furthermore, his career includes roles as Head of Guarantees and Export Finance at Airbus Group (ex EADS) and Vice President of the Berne Union.

Andreas Klasen was educated at Leibniz University Hannover, Northumbria University and the University of St Andrews, studying law, business and theology and receiving his doctoral degree in finance.

James Merlino, MD, is the Executive Vice President, Chief Innovation Officer at The Joint Commission. In this role, Dr. Merlino focuses on the transformation of The Joint Commission’s services utilizing data and innovation to advance health care safety and quality worldwide.

Previously, he served as the Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at Cleveland Clinic overseeing enterprise strategy, business development, safety, quality, experience, and continuous organizational improvement. Earlier, he also served as Chief Experience Officer and Associate Chief of Staff at Cleveland Clinic, vice-chair of the Digestive Disease Institute, and was a practicing staff colorectal surgeon. Prior to Cleveland Clinic, he served as the Chief Transformation Officer for Press Ganey Associates.

Dr. Merlino is recognized as an expert in health care strategy, improving safety, quality, and patient experience, and has extensive experience both domestically and internationally. He is a renowned speaker with over 400 invited presentations including on strategies to redefine care around the needs of the patient. He has led C-suite strategic sessions with more than 70 of the largest and most successful health care organizations in the U.S., and regularly coached CEOs, C-suite leaders and health care boards on health care strategy and cultural change.

Dr. Merlino was named to HealthLeaders Magazine’s list of “20 people who make health care better” in 2013 and has consistently been on Becker’s list of top 50 experts in health care safety, and was recognized by Beckers as a top Chief Transformation Officer. He has been widely published in academic papers and released his first book, “Service Fanatics: How to Build Superior Patient Experience the Cleveland Clinic Way” in 2014. He is a co-editor of the best-selling safety book “Zero Harm: How to Achieve Patient and Workforce Safety in Healthcare,” released in 2018. He has also received numerous awards in health care.

Dr. Merlino is a member of the American College of Health Care Executives, American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, American College of Surgeons, and American Medical Association.
Dr. Merlino earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, OH, and his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH. He completed his general surgery training at University Hospitals of Cleveland and his colorectal surgery fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. He was also an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) fellow.

Gina M. Raimondo serves as the 40th U.S. Secretary of Commerce and was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris on March 3, 2021. As Secretary of Commerce, she is focused on a simple but vital mission — to spur good-paying jobs, empower entrepreneurs to innovate and grow, and help American workers and businesses compete.

Secretary Raimondo was formerly the 75th Governor of Rhode Island and its first woman governor. She grew up in Smithfield in a tight-knit Italian-American family, the youngest of Joseph and Josephine Raimondo’s three children. Her family history and her childhood experiences shaped her core beliefs in hard work, opportunity for all, and the importance of financial security.

After arriving from Italy at age 14, Secretary Raimondo’s grandfather learned English studying in the Providence Public Library and later lived with her family. Her mother was a homemaker, who dedicated her life to teaching her children about the importance of hard work and determination. Her father was a World War II Navy veteran from a family of butchers and became the first in his family to attend college thanks to the GI Bill. After working for 26 years in manufacturing, Joseph lost his job along with hundreds of others when the factory moved overseas, and the Raimondo family lost their sense of financial security.

As a teenager, Secretary Raimondo rode a public bus to LaSalle Academy in Providence, where she was valedictorian of her graduating class. She went on to graduate with honors from Harvard, where she was recognized as the top economics student in her class. She won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University where she earned a doctorate and met her future husband Andy Moffit. She later graduated from Yale Law School. Secretary Raimondo clerked for US District Judge Kimba Wood and served as founding employee and senior vice president at Village Ventures.

Wanting to start her own business and be close to family, she returned home to Rhode Island and founded Point Judith Capital, a venture capital firm. In November 2010, Secretary Raimondo was elected to serve as General Treasurer of Rhode Island, receiving the largest number of votes of any statewide candidate. When she took office as General Treasurer, she tackled the state’s $7 billion unfunded pension liability. Secretary Raimondo was sworn into office as Governor in January 2015 and won a second term in 2018. She also served as chair of the Democratic Governors’ Association in 2019.

During her time as Governor, Secretary Raimondo kick-started the state’s economy and made record investments in infrastructure, education, and job training. She focused tirelessly on creating economic opportunities and good-paying jobs for all Rhode Islanders. Early in her administration, she launched an innovative workforce development program that develops business-led partnerships to address unique workforce challenges.

Secretary Raimondo is married to Andy Moffit and they have two children, Ceci and Tommy, and a rescue dog, Sparky.

The Honorable Kimberly A. Reed served as the first woman Chairman of the Board of Directors, President, and CEO of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM)—the nation’s official $135 billion export credit agency—from 2019 to 2021 after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. During her tenure at EXIM, Ms. Reed reopened and transformed the then 85-year-old independent federal agency after four years of near closure. She led efforts to secure EXIM’s historic seven-year Congressional reauthorization, the longest in the bank’s history. The legislation also included a significant new focus, the “Program on China and Transformational Exports,” to bolster U.S. business competitiveness, specifically with respect to the People’s Republic of China and in ten innovative sectors: 5G, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, biomedical sciences, renewable energy and energy storage, water treatment and sanitation, quantum computing, high-performance computing, semiconductors, and emerging financial technologies. She was presented with the U.S. Department of Defense’s highest civilian award—the Medal for Distinguished Public Service—for her efforts to further the United States’ economic and national security. Ms. Reed currently serves on the Board of Directors of several public companies and the American Swiss Foundation. Additionally, she is a Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Freedom and Prosperity Center and the Council on Competitiveness, a Council on Foreign Relations life member, and affiliated with various nonprofit organizations, think tanks, and academic institutions. Earlier in her career, Ms. Reed was President of the International Food Information Council Foundation where she worked with multi-national food, agriculture, and nutrition companies; Senior Advisor to U.S. Treasury Secretaries Henry Paulson and John Snow; CEO of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund); and Counsel to three committees of the U.S. Congress where she conducted oversight and investigations. Recognized as one of the “100 Women Leaders in STEM” and Washingtonian’s “Most Powerful Women in Washington,” Ms. Reed holds a J.D. from West Virginia University College of Law and a B.S. in biology and a B.A. in government from West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Jay Timmons is president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers and chairman of the board of the Manufacturing Institute, the NAM’s workforce development and education partner. The NAM is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector, and Jay is a leading advocate for the 13 million men and women who make things in America.

Since Jay took the helm, the NAM has more than doubled in size, dramatically expanded its issue advocacy and enhanced the organization’s influence and mobilization efforts outside of Washington, D.C. He led the NAM to create the NAM Legal Center, acquire the Manufacturing Leadership Council and combine with the Innovation Research Interchange. With manufacturers facing an urgent need for talented and skilled workers, Jay is also a champion for connecting more Americans with rewarding careers in modern manufacturing and for closing the opportunity gap. In recent years, the MI has dramatically expanded its reach and impact, and together the NAM and MI launched an unprecedented, multimillion-dollar workforce development campaign, Creators Wanted, along with a first-of-its-kind online manufacturing career center, which houses manufacturing job and educational opportunities from across the entire country. The NAM has become the one-stop shop for manufacturers in advocacy, legal action, workforce development, operational excellence and news and insights.

Under Jay’s leadership, the NAM has also become a trusted resource on the international stage—advocating for manufacturers before world institutions and as trade agreements are negotiated and enforced. The NAM provides a platform for world leaders to work with manufacturers and the broader American business community to address global crises, such as when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to the NAM Board of Directors in February 2023. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jay guided the NAM as it took on a new role in supporting disaster relief. The NAM’s policy proposals during this time were pivotal in shaping COVID-19 relief legislation. Jay leveraged manufacturers’ influential voices to lead by example, encouraging smart health practices and advocating widespread vaccine acceptance.

Jay is recognized as a forceful and effective leader of the business association community. Recent recognitions include:

The Bryce Harlow Business-Government Relations Award;
The “Business Citizen Award” from the Friends of Adam Smith Foundation;
“Association Executive of the Year” by Association TRENDS;
“Business Leadership Award” from The Fund for American Studies; and
“2019 Trade Association CEO of the Year” by CEO Update.

In 2019 and 2020, Jay served on the Department of Commerce’s American Workforce Policy Advisory Board. He has also served as a member of the Bryce Harlow Foundation Board of Directors.

Driven by the values instilled in him by his roots in the manufacturing town of Chillicothe, Ohio, where his grandfather worked at the Mead plant for nearly four decades, Jay witnessed manufacturing’s ability to raise the quality of life for families and communities.

With four decades of experience working in state and national government and politics, Jay has built trusted relationships across multiple presidential administrations and with top leaders in both major parties. He and the NAM team have proven effective time and again at navigating the complexities of policymaking in the nation’s capital to deliver real results for the NAM’s 14,000 members.

Prior to his appointment as NAM president and CEO in January 2011, Jay’s roles at the organization included service as executive vice president and senior vice president of policy and government relations. His previous experience includes serving as chief of staff to Congressman, Gov. and Sen. George Allen (R-VA) from 1991 to 2002 and as executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2004 election cycle. When he first came to Washington in the 1980s, he served as press secretary to Congressman Jim Martin (R-NC) and later to Congressman Alex McMillan (R-NC). Jay attended The Ohio State University.

Jay is active in numerous charitable endeavors, including promoting the adoption of companion animals. He served for seven years as the chairman of the Washington Humane Society Board of Directors and led the successful effort to merge WHS and the Washington Animal Rescue League to create the Humane Rescue Alliance in order to save more animals.

A passionate advocate for families and children, Jay and his husband, Rick Olson, turned adversity for their own family into triumph for others. They fought tenaciously and eventually won a landmark legal case for parental rights involving their son. They then successfully advocated for the protection of parental rights over other children born through surrogacy with the bipartisan passage of a Virginia statute known as “Jacob’s Law,” which was named after their son by the bill’s sponsor.

Jay and Rick reside in Virginia with their three children, Catherine, Ellie and Jacob, and an assortment of rescue dogs and other critters.