Join International House as we support this International Houses Worldwide Event. For this event, International Student House of Washington, DC and the Association of Women in International Trade Charitable Trust present a panel discussion on Career Skills. Connect with highly accomplished professionals to learn about their career paths, professional skills and networking, and how they successfully navigated their paths to accomplish their professional goals.

The Association of Women in International Trade (WIIT), based in Washington, DC, works to promote the professional development of women in international trade and business and to raise public awareness of the importance of international trade to economic development.

The purpose of The Women in International Trade Charitable Trust (“WIIT Trust”) is to promote education. Specifically, the WIIT Trust aims to share information on personal and professional development for women in trade and to promote educational opportunities for young women.
 

Panelist Bios:

Gizem Eras joined the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC in September 2017, as Agriculture and Fisheries Counsellor.  She is responsible for trade policy issues related to meat and livestock, fisheries, and bilateral, regional and multilateral initiatives related to agriculture. Gizem is also the Chair of the Washington Agricultural Roundtable and a board member of the Women in International Trade (WIIT) DC.

Prior to her assignment in DC, Gizem was a Deputy Director at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and also worked at Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa, Canada, in various areas of trade policy, including in trade in goods and services, tariffs and non-tariff barriers , geographical indications, pharmaceutical patents and trade remedies.  Since 2005, Gizem has been involved in numerous free trade agreement negotiations, including the Canada-EU Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (now the CPTPP) and the USMCA. She also has private sector experience as an olive oil exporter.

Gizem has also lived in Italy, Chile, Bangladesh, Iraq, Turkey and United Kingdom. She has a Master’s degree in International Trade Policy and Theory from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Studies from City University in London, UK.

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Lisa Schroeter is the Global Director of Trade and Investment Policy for Dow. As part of the corporate Global Government Affairs team, Ms. Schroeter’s responsibilities focus on trade policy and regulations, trade negotiations, and investment issues that foster growth in Dow’s global businesses through the identification of policies facilitating market access and reducing global distribution costs. Her role has direct responsibility for developing the company’s global trade strategy, driving impact assessments and response to emerging trade issues and facilitating government affairs strategies aligned with Dow’s investment priorities. Ms. Schroeter manages the company’s outreach to key trade-related entities in the U.S. Administration, Washington, DC embassy community, and across key governments. Before joining Dow, she was the Executive Director of the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), a unique trade-facilitation process by which American and European CEOs work with the U.S. Administration and the European Commission to implement practical, detailed recommendations. Ms. Schroeter joined TABD in 1999 and managed the process on behalf of the Boeing Company, PricewaterhouseCoopers, United Technologies Corporation and Xerox.

Ms. Schroeter is currently the President of the Women in International Trade (WIIT) Trust and previously served as WIIT’s President from 2018-2019. She is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR); and a Board Member of the Washington International Trade Association as well as Cultural Tourism, DC. She serves as the Chair of the ICCA Trade Network and Global Regulatory Cooperation task forces and the U.S. Business Committee of the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN).

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Renata Vargas Amaral is an experienced international trade lawyer, with an extensive and proven record of successful engagement at the World Trade Organization (WTO), bilateral and regional trade negotiations, domestic trade policy and market access. Over the course of her fifteen-year career, has advised governments and private stakeholders on international trade matters, with a focus on WTO law. She currently serves as Adjunct Professor at the American University Washington College of Law, where she co-directs the certificate program on WTO and US Trade Law and Policy.

Currently, Dr. Amaral is the trade and good regulatory practices staff lead of the InterAmerican Coalition for Regulatory Convergence of the Medical Devices Sector. She is also Vice-Chair of the ABCI Institute – a non-profit organization of international trade scholars headquartered in Washington, DC, and the founder of Women Inside Trade, a non-profit international organization that aims to contribute to the empowerment of women through its global network of professionals, specialized training and leadership development.

Prior to moving to Washington DC in January 2019, Dr. Amaral was the Director of the international trade team at a major consulting firm in Brasília, BMJ & Associates, responsible for coordinating day-to-day work with clients and managing senior and junior staff in all international trade-related projects. She was a member of the management committee and responsible for the overall coordination of research and policy strategy for clients intending to improve access to international markets.

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Barbara Weisel is a Managing Director at Rock Creek Global Advisors, an international economic policy advisory firm, where she focuses on international trade and investment policy and negotiations as well as market access, regulatory matters, and digital trade issues.

Ms. Weisel has more than 25 years of experience advancing international trade and investment initiatives in the Asia-Pacific.  She served most recently as Assistant US Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific and as the US chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  In addition, Ms. Weisel led bilateral FTA negotiations with Malaysia and Thailand, and as Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative for Bilateral Asian Affairs (Korea, Southeast Asia, and South Asia), helped negotiate FTAs with Australia and Singapore.  She also was charged with monitoring and enforcing Asian countries’ compliance with their World Trade Organization and other trade commitments and working with US companies to resolve specific issues in these markets.  Earlier, Ms. Weisel served as the official responsible for managing global pharmaceutical regulatory issues and as Director for Japan Affairs.

Before joining USTR, she worked at the State Department from 1984-1994, serving in a variety of positions, including as an international economist on Japan, the Persian Gulf, and North Africa.

Ms. Weisel earned two Masters degrees from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College (Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude).

This event is free and open to the public. | Registration is required.

This event is presented by the International Student House of Washington, DC and the Association of Women in International Trade Charitable Trust.