The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) announced this week that former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for World Trade Organization and Multilateral Affairs Andrea Durkin is joining the NAM as the new vice president of international policy.
“Andrea brings a wealth of expertise to the job, with more than three decades of service in both the public and private sectors,” NAM President & CEO Jay Timmons said Monday. “As a leader in international trade negotiations, her deep understanding of international policy will enhance the NAM’s strategic objectives significantly as we continue to build off of successful engagements with our counterparts across Europe and the North American continent.
“As manufacturers in America look for new ways to reach global markets and the 95% of customers that live outside the borders of the United States, Andrea is set to lead an ambitious expansion of the NAM’s international policy operation,” Timmons said. “She will work to uphold our commitment to shaping a global trade strategy that opens new markets with our allies and trading partners around the world, which, in turn, will create vast opportunities for manufacturers in the U.S. to create well-paying jobs, innovate and achieve new milestones in improving the quality of life for everyone.”
Durkin is one of the nation’s foremost experts on international policy, drawing from decades of experience serving in Democratic and Republican administrations. As a senior executive in the Office of the President, she led trade negotiations and U.S. policy at the World Trade Organization and was responsible for committees on industrial subsidies, technical barriers to trade, government procurement, trade facilitation, customs and others.
Durkin was also the U.S. senior official for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Trade Committee, G7 and G20 trade tracks.
In years prior, Durkin served in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, where she led a variety of negotiations, including free trade agreements in the Western Hemisphere, sectoral initiatives in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and trade-related aspects of United Nations’ multilateral environment and public health agreements.
An adjunct professor for 17 years, Durkin taught international trade and investment policy at Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Foreign Service program. She is also the founder of Sparkplug, LLC, a consulting firm that specialized in advising corporate affairs teams and think tank leaders on organizational strategy.
