Panel on U.S. Economic Diplomacy: The BUILD Act

Start Date/Time: 
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 - 07:45
End Date/Time: 
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 - 09:15
Description: 

Join us at AFSA headquarters, 2101 E St NW, on Wednesday, April 3 beginning at 7:45 a.m. for a discussion of the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (BUILD) Act as a new tool of U.S. economic diplomacy. Light breakfast buffet served from 7:45 – 8:15. Panel discussion from 8:15 – 9:15 a.m. Click here to register.

Leading sponsor of the BUILD Act, Representative Ted Yoho (R-Fla), and an expert panel will discuss this act, which President Trump signed in October 2018. What is its significance as a tool of U.S. economic diplomacy in an era of great power competition? How can it help U.S. infrastructure companies to compete more effectively overseas and to deliver quality and value to our development partners? AFSA President Ambassador Barbara Stephenson will moderate the discussion with:
  • Congressman Ted Yoho (R-Fla) who represents North Central Florida’s 3rd District. Elected to the 113th Congress in November 2012, he won re-election for a fourth term in 2018. Rep. Yoho serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, and on the House Committee on Agriculture. He also chairs the Congressional Caucus for Effective Foreign Assistance. Prior to serving in Congress, he was a small business owner who operated several large animal veterinary practices for 30 years.
  • Karl Fickenscher, USAID’s Deputy Assistant Administrator for Economic Growth, Education and Environment. He also oversees the Offices of Private Capital and Microenterprise, and Development Credit. Previously, he was Deputy Coordinator for USAID’s Power Africa initiative based in Pretoria, Millennium Challenge Corporation country director for Tanzania, USAID mission director and deputy mission director in Armenia, and USAID regional legal adviser for countries in East and Southern Africa. He is a career Senior Foreign Service officer. Before joining USAID, he was an attorney with Morrison and Foerster.
  • Daniel Crocker, a Senior Foreign Commercial Service officer and AFSA’s vice president for the FCS. He has promoted U.S. commercial interests and advised on trade matters at U.S. embassies and consulates in Spain, Panama, Mexico and Brazil. His extensive private sector experience includes consulting with Hewlett Packard’s Inkjet Business Division to optimize global operations and directing Supply Chain Management for HomeWarehouse.com. As a field service engineer for Schlumberger in Angola, he was responsible for finding oil offshore. He also worked as an international sales and servicing engineer for Brenco, a railroad and automotive equipment manufacturer.
  • Laird Treiber, a Senior Foreign Service Officer currently on detail as the Senior Adviser to the President of the Corporate Council on Africa. Previously, he was Economic Minister Counselor in the U.S. Embassies in South Africa, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and he served as a senior adviser for international affairs to the Deputy Secretary of Energy. He joined the Foreign Service in 1989, and has served in Poland, Mexico, and in the State Department’s Bureaus of European, Near Eastern and Economic and Business Affairs.