Arun Venkataraman is the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service. He was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 7, 2022, to lead the federal government’s efforts to promote exports abroad and attract inward investment. He was officially sworn in on April 25, 2022.

Venkataraman has over 20 years of experience advising companies, international organizations and the U.S. government on international trade issues. Most recently, he served as Counselor to the Secretary of Commerce, advising the Department of Commerce on trade and other international economic matters. Before joining the Biden-Harris Administration, Arun was a Senior Director at Visa, leading global government engagement strategy on a range of international policy issues including digital economy, trade, tax and sanctions. He also served as Trade & Investment Policy Advisor at Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he counseled multinational firms and other organizations on e-commerce, intellectual property rights and U.S. and foreign trade policies.

During the Obama Administration, Venkataraman served as ITA’s first-ever Director of Policy, where he helped shape the U.S. government’s responses to critical challenges faced by firms in the U.S. and in markets around the world, including China and India. He also served in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) where he led the development and implementation of U.S.-India trade policy, for which he received the agency’s Kelly Award for outstanding performance and extraordinary leadership. He also served as USTR’s Associate General Counsel, representing the United States in litigation before the World Trade Organization and in negotiations on international trade agreements. Prior to USTR, Arun was a Legal Officer at the World Trade Organization, and served as Law Clerk for Judge Jane A. Restani at the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Born in Coimbatore, India, and raised in Houston, Venkataraman holds a juris doctorate from Columbia Law School, a Master of Arts in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a Bachelor of Arts from Tufts University.

Aslihan Gurescier joined Equinix in 2019 as Managing Director for Turkiye. Aslihan has more than 30 years’ experience in the Digital & Data Center industry, including three years at Zenium Data Centers, where she was the Country Manager for Turkiye. Most recently, Aslihan worked as a freelance cloud and data center consultant for various firms, including Tradefive, the exclusive partner of Alibaba Cloud in Turkey, to establish a local cloud presence before joining Equinix.

Prior to Zenium, Aslihan was with the systems integration, data center and technology solutions firm, KoçSistem, where she progressed to Sales Group Manager for more than 20 years with the company.

Aslihan graduated from Bosphorus University with a B.A. in Foreign Languages in 1995 and an MBA  Marmara University in 1999.

Yuri Arthur is currently serving as the Acting Regional Senior Commercial Officer for Southeast Europe and based in Athens, Greece, where she started her tour as Senior Commercial Officer for Greece in 2021. She took on the regional position in August 2023. In Greece, Yuri has overseen the expansion of a previously small office with a renewed mandate on commercial engagement through extensive collaboration with interagency colleagues. Her tour has witnessed successful deals as the result of years of Embassy effort, including the privatization of Elefsina Shipyards in the first project financed by the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Prior to her tour in Greece, Yuri served in Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan. Prior to starting her tour at the embassy in Tokyo, she served as a Mansfield Fellow doing a series of details in both the public and private sector in Japan. Before joining the Foreign Commercial Service in 2011, she worked as a desk officer for the Office of East Asia, U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, DC. She represented the United States in official trade policy dialogues with Japan and was part of the Remediation Mission bringing U.S. firms to Fukushima following the nuclear disaster. Yuri also did a domestic tour at the West Los Angeles U.S. Export Assistance Center. Previously, she was an information officer for the Japanese Embassy in the U.S. and as an account manager for All Nippon Airways.  

Damjan Bencic is the Commercial Section Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb, Croatia. He is responsible for developing and implementing U.S. Commercial Service initiatives aimed at fostering U.S. trade relations with Croatia. Damjan has been working for the U.S. Commercial Service since 1989, when the post in Zagreb was still classified as a Consulate General in Yugoslavia. Prior to joining the Embassy, he worked for the Institute for Tourism in Zagreb. Damjan has an Economics degree from the University of Zagreb.  

As Regional Senior Commercial Officer for Eurasia, based in the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Heather Byrnes manages Commerce’s five offices in Türkiye, Ukraine and Kazakhstan as well as partner post commercial activities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In this role, Heather develops and implements policies, strategies and programs to advance U.S. economic and commercial interests throughout Eurasia and solves market access issues facing U.S. firms seeking to expand or enter the region.

Promoted to the Senior Foreign Service in 2018, Heather’s previous overseas assignments have been as Counselor for Commercial Affairs in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Principal Commercial Officer in the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg, Senior Commercial Officer in the U.S. Embassy in Accra and Commercial Officer in the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg. Heather’s next assignment will be as Deputy Chief of Mission in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, beginning in summer 2024. Prior to joining the Commercial Service, Heather served on the board of directors of one of Europe’s largest market research agencies. Based in Dublin for over a decade, Heather led client account teams servicing both multi-nationals and medium-sized companies. 

Born and raised in Alaska, Heather was a Rhodes Scholarship finalist and received a B.A., cum laude, from Georgetown University. She was a Fulbright Scholar and Lois P. Roth Fellow in Public Administration at the University of Tampere, Finland.

John began his assignment as Commercial Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid in August 2022.  .  He and his team of industry specialists enable U.S. companies to succeed in the Spanish market, coordinating with other U.S. government agencies to strengthen the commercial ties between the United States and Spain.  Prior to his arrival in Madrid, John served as Commercial Counselor in Pakistan, where he led commercial activities in one of the largest missions in the U.S. Foreign Service that includes our embassy and three consulates general.  

From 2017 to 2020 John was Commercial Consul in Istanbul, serving as principal advisor on trade issues in the Turkish business capital.  Prior, he was Senior Commercial Officer in Panama, during which time he helped U.S. firms compete for security and infrastructure projects, including on the expansion of the Panama Canal.  John completed a two-year assignment at the U.S. Commerce Department field office in Chicago, where he helped Illinois manufacturers increase their global sales in key industries, including aerospace & defense, and information technologies, and also served as the Commerce Department liaison to Illinois members of Congress.  His previous diplomatic assignments include the U.S. embassies in London and Tel Aviv.  John began his career with the U.S. Commercial Service in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Originally from California, John speaks Spanish and French.   He completed his studies in California and Spain, as well as additional coursework in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Finola Cunningham is Senior Commercial Representative at the U.S. Commercial Service, United States Embassy Dublin, Ireland. She is responsible for the Embassy’s trade and investment program which promotes American exports overseas, foreign direct investment into the United States, and protects the business interests of American companies in Ireland.

Finola is passionate about strengthening the U.S./Ireland business relationship and is the recipient of numerous government and industry awards. She holds a first-class honors Masters Degree in International Business from University College Dublin’s Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, and is a graduate of the Marketing Institute of Ireland. 

William (Bill) Czajkowski currently serves as the Regional Senior Commercial Officer for Central Europe. Prior to his current assignment, he served at the U.S. Embassy, Ankara, Turkey, as the Regional Senior Commercial Officer for Eurasia. From 2012-2015, he also served as the Regional Senior Commercial Officer covering Poland, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania. Bill was previously the Senior Advisor for the Career Development and Assignments Staff and the Assignments Officer for the U.S. Commercial Service from 2009-2011. The Career Development and Assignments Staff (CDAS) is a service entity within the Commerce Department’s U.S. Commercial Service dedicated to recruiting, competitively selecting and equitably assigning Commercial Officers to both domestic and international postings. Prior to his tenure in the CDAS office, Bill served as Deputy Senior Commercial Officer in Berlin, Germany from 2005 to 2009. Among his widespread duties, he assisted in the management of the Commercial Service’s four offices located throughout Germany. From 2002-2005, Bill was Principal Commercial Officer at the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was responsible for all Commercial Service activity throughout Northwest Russia. Prior to his tour in Russia, Bill was Commercial Attaché at the U.S. Embassy, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Prior to his joining the Kuala Lumpur office, he worked as an International Trade Specialist for the U.S. Commercial Service Chicago office, where he helped American small- to medium-sized enterprises expand their businesses overseas. From 1993 to 1995, Bill worked as an International Trade Analyst for the Department of Commerce’s Import Administration, where he worked on anti-dumping cases in Asia and South America.

Bill received his B.A. from California State University, Sacramento in 1989. He later received his M.A. from The George Washington University in 1991.

Rachel Duran serves as the senior commercial officer in Serbia and supports partner posts in Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She works to strengthen the commercial relationship between the United States and these countries and supports U.S. businesses. Prior to this assignment, she served as a commercial officer at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, where she coordinated various programs to strengthen the U.S-UAE trade relationship and increase investment into the United States, overseeing the advocacy, energy, oil and gas, services, and IT portfolios. From 2015-2017, Rachel served as a commercial officer in New Delhi, assisting U.S. companies in the defense, aerospace, aviation, education and travel and tourism sectors to expand their sales into the Indian market and oversaw the country’s advocacy portfolio. She also worked at the U.S. Commercial Service office in Puerto Rico assisting local firms to expand their exports abroad. Rachel began her work with the Department of Commerce in 2009 in the Standards Liaison office, where she helped develop and implement trade policy related to technical barriers to trade and assisted companies with standards trade issues. Prior to working with the government, Rachel helped private companies, governments and non-profit organizations with business development, economic development and international expansion.  Some of the donors she worked with included the Asian Development Bank, USAID, SIDA, Danida, DFID, MCC, and the World Bank. Rachel graduated with an MBA from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, an MA in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University, and a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.

Laurie Farris is the Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy, London, U.K.  Her previous assignment was as the Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China from August 2021 to May 2023.  Prior to her assignment to China, she was the acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Asia where she led the U.S. Commercial Service in fourteen countries across Asia, and a team of trade experts in headquarters. She is a twenty-seven-year veteran of the Foreign Service.

From 2016 to 2019, Laurie was the Director of the Office of Digital Initiatives for the International Trade Administration.  From 2013 to 2016, she served as the Executive Director for Asia.  Ms. Farris has also served at the U.S. Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Amman, Jordan, Toulouse France and Paris France, as well as U.S. assignments in Chicago and Washington DC.

Laurie holds a B.A. with honors from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School, Tufts University.

Pedro Ferreira serves as the Senior Commercial Specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, and often steps into the role of Acting Head of Section in the absence of the Senior Commercial Officer. Wearing a multifaceted hat, Pedro is responsible for developing and implementing a wide range of programs designed to assist U.S. companies with exporting and business development within Portugal and the broader EU market, while simultaneously fostering foreign direct investment into the United States through the SelectUSA program. His industry focus areas include the dynamic aerospace and defense, energy, and safety and security sectors. Pedro leverages his extensive experience, gained through various roles within the U.S. Commercial Service since 1999. Pedro's career began in 1997 with the U.S. Department of State's Information Center System at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, following his return from living in the United States. Pedro's well-rounded background, combined with his time in law school equips him to tackle complex commercial issues with a strategic and informed approach.

Don is currently the Senior Commercial Officer with the U.S. Commercial Service posted at the U.S. Consulate Almaty. Prior to joining the Commercial Service, he was a patent attorney for the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, as well as a Lead Other Transactions Specialist, with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where his work was focused on vaccines, telemedicine, and surgical devices. From 2020-2021, Don worked on the Operation Warp Speed vaccine development effort, acting as the lead IP attorney negotiating the Pfizer, Moderna and Janssen vaccine contracts, and was awarded the Department of the Army Civilian Service Commendation Medal. From 2012 to 2017, he served as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices’ Regional Intellectual Property Attaché to Russia and the CIS, posted in Moscow, during which time he covered all of the countries of the former Soviet Union, as well as working on cross-border IP issues in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Prior to government service, Don was a practicing patent attorney focused on contracts, licensing and negotiations related to software, chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnical arts, and worked in East Asia, the U.S. and Europe, with his base in Tokyo, Japan. Don has a J.D. with a focus in securities law, a B.S. in chemistry, and an M.S. in biotechnology management.

Jim Lindley began his current assignment as Commercial Counselor to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, in August 2022. In this capacity, he provides leadership and management oversight of the CS Poland Commercial Specialist and Administrative team. He specializes in innovative technologies, advanced manufacturing, cyber, aerospace and defense. 

Previously, Jim served as Commercial Counselor to the U.S. Embassy in London, UK, (2017-2021) where he focused extensively on Brexit implications and advancing the U.S. UK free trade agreement. He served as Senior Commercial Officer in Kyiv, Ukraine, (2014-2017), and led efforts to advise and collaborate with the Ukrainian government on business climate reform. Other assignments include Commercial Officer in the New Orleans Export Assistance Center, Commercial Consul at the U.S. Consulate General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Commercial Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt.

Prior to joining the U.S. Commercial Service in 2010, Jim’s extensive international experience includes service as Deputy Director of International Programs with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) promoting capacity building and good governance among national energy regulatory authorities in Nigeria, Ghana, Jordan, Georgia, Nicaragua and South Eastern Europe. Jim received a unique fellowship opportunity from Alfa Bank Russia in Moscow, where he consulted on transparency, anti-monopoly and counterfeit product legislative issues to multi-national corporate clients, leadership from the European Union, and members of the Russian Duma. In another stage of his career, Jim oversaw international project management roles for State department and USAID portfolios focused on public health and education projects for NGOs and private companies. Additionally, Jim served as U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Western Russia from 1999-2001. 

Jim earned Master of Arts degrees from the University of Texas in Public Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies, and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Southern Methodist University.

Govhar Mammadova has served as a commercial specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Baku since 2009. Her focus is commercial diplomacy, trade promotion and creating commercial links between U.S. and Azerbaijani companies. Earlier she worked at the Embassy’s Defense Threat Reduction Office (DTRO) as a program coordinator. She was engaged in a range of projects on non-proliferation of WMD (specifically biological threat reduction program). While working for DTRA, she received a scholarship from the Civilian Research and Development Fund (CRDF) to study at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California as a visiting fellow in fall of 2008.  Her previous work experience also includes working for the private sector - B&B TV Communications and Silk Road Consulting firms.  Govhar holds a BA in Interpretation/Translation and MA on Linguistics from the University of Languages in Baku. 

Diederik Moreu recently joined as Head of the Foreign Commercial Services section at the U.S. Embassy in the Hague, the Netherlands. In this role, he and his team are responsible for supporting U.S. exports and business interests in the Netherlands. For the last 22 years, before joining the Department of Commerce, Diederik held various commercial roles in the private sector ranging from Sales Director to Commercial Director and General Manager. He has experience with both starting as well as managing companies. He has lived and worked for many years in Asia, the U.S. and Europe an speaks French, German, English and Dutch.   

Veronika Novakova is the Acting Head of Section at the U. S. Commercial Service, U.S. Embassy Prague.  She started her career with U.S. Commercial Service in 2001 and was responsible for healthcare, ICT & cyber, fintech, franchising, and travel & tourism sectors. Prior  to working for the U.S. Commercial Service, Veronika taught English at an elementary school in Prague. She has masters´ degree in international relations from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Charles University in Prague and also holds an MBA from the Czech-French Institute of Management at the University of Economics Prague. Additionally, Veronika spent one year of high school in the United States, in Bixby, Oklahoma.  She has a passion for Czech opera, social media, coding and front-edn developement.

Nathan Seifert serves as the Senior Commercial Officer (SCO) at the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, where he oversees the Department of Commerce’s Foreign Commercial Service programming and personnel. Nathan and his team offer services such as Partner Searches, Single Company Promotions, Advocacy, and oversee Commercial Diplomacy cases to promote and safeguard U.S. business interests in Ukraine and the region. Before joining Mission Ukraine, Nathan served as SCO in Islamabad, Budapest, Karachi, and Algiers. He served as Commercial Attaché in Beijing and was a Commercial Specialist in the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Salt Lake City.  While working in the private sector, Nathan increased international sales for U.S. firms by establishing international distribution channels. Through extensive travel, Nathan vetted and signed resellers in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Including education and work experience, he has lived 7 years in Asia, 4 in the Middle East & Africa, and 10 in Europe. Nathan earned an M.B.A. from the University of Calgary (Czech Campus) and a B.A. in European Studies from BYU. He is comfortable speaking German and has studied Chinese and French.

Tigran Tananyan has served as a Commercial Assistant at the U.S. Embassy since 2014. Prior to this, he spent over seven years working as an economic consultant on various USAID projects, culminating in his role as Workforce and Entrepreneurship Development Team Leader for the Enterprise Development and Market Completeness Project. Tigran's career began in 2002 at the Armenian Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, where he served as a labor economist. Subsequently, he transitioned to a freelance consultant role, collaborating with diverse donor organizations such as the World Bank and EU, while also sharing his expertise as an economics lecturer at Yerevan State College of Informatics. Tigran holds an Economist degree from Yerevan State Institute of National Economics, Public Service degree from Armenian School of Public Administration, and an MBA in Public Service from the University of Birmingham's International Development Department.

Don is currently the Senior Commercial Officer with the U.S. Commercial Service posted at the U.S. Consulate Almaty. Prior to joining the Commercial Service, he was a patent attorney for the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, as well as a Lead Other Transactions Specialist, with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where his work was focused on vaccines, telemedicine, and surgical devices. From 2020-2021, Don worked on the Operation Warp Speed vaccine development effort, acting as the lead IP attorney negotiating the Pfizer, Moderna and Janssen vaccine contracts, and was awarded the Department of the Army Civilian Service Commendation Medal. From 2012 to 2017, he served as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices’ Regional Intellectual Property Attaché to Russia and the CIS, posted in Moscow, during which time he covered all of the countries of the former Soviet Union, as well as working on cross-border IP issues in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Prior to government service, Don was a practicing patent attorney focused on contracts, licensing and negotiations related to software, chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnical arts, and worked in East Asia, the U.S. and Europe, with his base in Tokyo, Japan. Don has a J.D. with a focus in securities law, a B.S. in chemistry, and an M.S. in biotechnology management.

Terri Tyminski serves as the Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki, where her daily objective is to assist U.S. companies in promoting their goods and services outside of the U.S. and facilitate avenues for U.S. inbound investment to create more jobs in the U.S.  She has six years of experience in the Nordics in a variety of industries including security, defense, clean tech and ICT, to name a few. Before Helsinki, she was the senior Commercial Officer at Embassy Stockholm and her three prior posts were all in China.

Terri is a seasoned operating executive with over 25 years of expertise in the international arena with a strong focus on the China market, having worked with both IBM and McDonald’s there.  Before the Foreign Commercial Service, she operated a successful boutique consulting practice, Red Canopy LLC, which helped companies understand and exploit global market opportunities. She also launched Terri T Designs, a high-end cashmere company in the U.S. Terri’s  interest in international business began during her Chinese studies as an undergraduate at Connecticut College and continued while earning her Master of International Management at the American Graduate School of International Management School (Thunderbird).

Ken Walsh has served as Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria since August   2023. In this role he is responsible for promoting U.S commercial interests in Austria and encouraging investment by Austrian firms in the U.S. market. He is also responsible for managing commercial activities in Slovenia via a partner post relationship with the Department of State. Immediately prior to his current role, he was the Senior Commercial Officer in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania managing commercial affairs in this key east African trading partner. He served as Principal Commercial Officer in Dusseldorf, Germany from 2015 to 2020 covering key industrial sectors including the healthcare, manufacturing, and chemicals portfolios. Ken also served in Moscow from 2011 to 2014, where his portfolio of responsibilities included the vital Russian oil and gas and agricultural machinery sectors. Ken began his career with the U.S. Commercial Service in 2008 serving in the St. Louis Export Assistance Center. Prior to the Department of Commerce, Ken spent 13 years in Washington, D.C. as a trade association executive with several major national and international trade associations.