East Asia - Promotion and New Staff

TO:             Asia Task Force (ATF) Members
                  Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce
 
FROM:       Myron Brilliant, Vice President, East Asia
 
DATE:        December 13, 2005
                  
RE:             East Asia - Promotion and New Staff                                                             

Continuing the expansion of the U.S. Chamber’s East Asia Department, I am pleased to announce a promotion and a new hire.
 
Sean Connell has been promoted to Director, Japan and Korea.  In this new capacity he will also serve as Executive Director of our growing US-Korea Business Council.   Sean has done excellent work on Japan and Korea issues over these past two years, and I am pleased to reward his efforts with this promotion.    In his new role, he will play a critical part in helping the Council establish itself as a leader in US-Korea FTA talks we hope are launched early next year.       
 
Second, Cherie Carden joins are team as Associate Director, Southeast Asia.   Cherie obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Seattle Pacific University in 2001, with a double-major in Political Science/European Studies-Spanish.  As an undergraduate student she studied abroad in England, Spain, and Russia.  After graduation she returned to Russia for approximately two academic years to continue studying the language, and in the fall of 2003 began graduate school at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.  During the summer of 2004 she interned at the International Trade Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, and later worked as a Junior Consultant at the organization’s annual Executive Forum.  In May of 2005 she obtained her Master of Arts degree in International Policy Studies, specializing in International Trade Policy.  After completing graduate school she moved to Washington, D.C. to intern with the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
 
In her Chamber role, Cherie will assist Kathleen Connors in managing the Southeast Asian portfolio.
 
We are delighted about these two developments in our department.  You can expect a robust year of policy work and programs in 2006 from our newly expanded East Asia team.