WASHINGTON, D.C. - YOU ARE INVITED to attend special USUBC meeting with Stephen Renna, Director of the Advocacy Center at the U.S. Department of Commerce.  The Director of the Commerce Advocacy Center is meeting with USUBC members to discuss ways the U.S. Commerce Department can help expand and close business deals in Ukraine for U.S. companies.  Martin Claessens, Senior Commercial Officer, U.S. Embassy, Kyiv, will also participate in the meeting by call in.

The U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), www.USUBC.org, meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 from 12:15 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., in the The Executive Buildling Conference Center, 1030 15th Street, NW, Suite 230 East, Washington, DC, 20005, use East Wing elevators, not West Wing elevators.

A light lunch will be served. The Advocacy Center mission is to coordinate U.S. Government resources and authority in order to level the playing field on behalf of U.S. business interests.

The Advocacy Center was very involved in the closing of a recent major business deal in Ukraine, the Holtec agreement with Energoatom with Bank of America financing and is actively involved with the closing of other business deals in Ukraine. The Advocacy Center is a unit of the Global Markets/Commercial Service (GM/CS) bureau of the International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce     


The objective of this meeting is to discuss how Commerce can help realize deals in Ukraine through the advocacy center and also give a brief overview of how Commerce views the situation on the ground.  You will not want to miss this important meeting with Stephan Renna in Washington and Martin Claessens in Kyiv.

RSVP:  Registration is required for attendance at the USUBC members meeting with Stephen Renna in the Conference Room at the offices of Dow DuPont, 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Suite 630, Washington, DC .  Please send an e-mail to Morgan Williams, mwilliams@usubc.org

ADVOCACY CENTER - U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

WHO WE ARE ---------
The Advocacy Center is a unit of the Global Markets/Commercial Service (GM/CS) bureau of the International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.

WHAT WE DO ----------

Based in Washington, D.C., the Advocacy Center coordinates U.S. government interagency advocacy efforts on behalf of U.S. exporters bidding on public-sector contracts with overseas governments and government agencies. We work very closely with the GM/CS network of domestic Export Assistance Centers and Commercial Offices within U.S. diplomatic missions overseas.


The Advocacy Center helps to ensure that sales of U.S. products and services have the best possible chance competing abroad. Advocacy assistance is wide and varied but often involves companies that want the U.S. Government to communicate a message to foreign governments or government-owned corporations on behalf of their commercial interest, typically in a competitive bid contest.

Since its creation in 1993, the Advocacy Center has helped hundreds of U.S. companies — small, medium and large enterprises in various industry sectors — to win government contracts across the globe. In short, we are your advocates! In pursuing foreign business opportunities, we encourage you and your company to contact us early and often.


The Advocacy Center also has GM/CS liaisons to five Multilateral Development Banks (World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Asian Development Bank) to assist U.S. firms and advocate on their behalf when they compete for Bank tenders. The liaisons counsel U.S. companies on how to work with the Banks and advocate on procurement and contracting issues to ensure fair and equal treatment for U.S. companies.

 

MISSION STATEMENT ------------

Our mission is to coordinate U.S. Government resources and authority in order to level the playing field on behalf of U.S. business interests as they compete against foreign firms for specific international contracts or other U.S. export opportunities. In doing so, the Advocacy Center helps create and retain U.S. jobs through exports.

BIO:  Stephen Renna, Director, Advocacy Center, U.S. Department of Commerce.

Mr. Renna has over 30 years of experience working in the legal, policy and trade association professions. He previously served as a trade association executive having led two trade associations and been a senior executive in a third. Mr. Renna also is a subject matter expert in complex real estate equity and finance structures and capital markets.

Prior to the Advocacy Center, Mr. Renna held the position of Managing Director and Co-Founder of Source Association Strategies, a strategic consulting firm to trade associations. He served for five years as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC). CREFC is the premier trade association of the $3.2 trillion commercial real estate finance industry worldwide.

Prior to joining CREFC, Mr. Renna was President of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers (NAREIM). NAREIM is the leading association of companies engaged in the real estate investment management business with over $1 trillion of assets. Mr. Renna also was Senior Vice President and Counsel at The Real Estate Roundtable, a Washington, DC based national public policy organization representing the commercial and multifamily real estate industry. His tenure with the Roundtable centered on tax policy.

Mr. Renna practiced law and specialized in real estate taxation, partnerships and public and privately placed investment syndications. H received his Juris Doctor degree from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, DC and his BA with honors from Fairfield University. He is admitted to the District of Columbia and Connecticut bar associations.

LINK: https://2016.export.gov/advocacy/eg_main_114207.asp 

USUBC NOTE:  USUBC appreciates the assistance of Boris Chumak, Desk Officer, Office of Russia, Ukraine & Eurasia, Global Markets Unit, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., in arranging the USUBC meeting with the Director of the Advocacy Center, Stephen Renna.