Workforce, Lobbying and Manufacturing Day - Carolyn Lee, NAM’s Manufacturing Institute
Carolyn Lee is Executive Director of The Manufacturing Institute, the non-profit affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the nation’s largest industrial trade association. Carolyn drives an agenda focused on improving the manufacturing industry through its three centers: the Center for the American Workforce, the Center for Manufacturing Research, and the Center for Best Practices.
In her role, Carolyn leads the Institute’s workforce efforts to close the skills gap and inspire all Americans to enter the U.S. manufacturing workforce, focusing on women, youth, and veterans. Carolyn steers the Institute’s initiatives and programs to educate the public on manufacturing careers, improve the quality of manufacturing education, engage, develop and retain key members of the workforce, and identify and document best practices. In addition, Carolyn drives the agenda for the Center for Manufacturing Research, which partners with leading consulting firms in the country. The Institute studies the critical issues facing manufacturing and then applies that research to develop and identify solutions that are implemented by companies, schools, governments, and organizations across the country.
Prior to joining the Institute, Carolyn was Senior Director of Tax Policy at the NAM beginning in 2011, where she was responsible for key portions of the NAM’s tax portfolio representing the manufacturing community on Capitol Hill and in the business community and working closely with the NAM membership. She served as the Director of Legislative and Government Affairs at the Telecommunications Industry Association, Manager of State and Federal Government Affairs for 3M Company, and in various positions on Capitol Hill including as Legislative Director for former US Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and as a senior legislative staff member for former US Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY).
Economic Outlook – Clare Zempel, Zempel Strategic
Clare Zempel is a leading business economist and top investment strategist. He honed his smart, nimble approach to making sense of complex economic and financial issues over more than 30 years as an economist for major national firms. Through Zempel Strategic, Clare brings seasoned common sense to bear on these issues for corporate business clients and major investors. He specializes in customizing applied economics and financial market analysis to meet each client's unique needs. The Zempel practice involves preparing precise presentations and written reports that are relevant and clear. Clients use Clare's recommendations to plan and formulate policies. Client-centered services include project evaluation, budget input, risk assessment, and training sessions for employees, vendors and customers. Clare also speaks on broad economic and investment issues to wider audiences.
Prior to founding Zempel Strategic, Clare served as director of investment policy, chief investment strategist and chief economist for Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, and as chief economist for the First Wisconsin Corporation, now U.S. Bank. He holds degrees from the University of Chicago and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
International Trade and the Wire Industry– Johannes Moenius, University of Redlands
Johannes Moenius is the William R. and S. Sue Johnson Endowed Chair of Spatial Economic Analysis and Regional Planning and the director of International Business Initiatives at the University of Redlands School of Business. He joined the faculty in the fall of 2005, where he teaches courses in international business. Before that he taught at the Kellogg School of Management. He was also a visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo. He is originally from Germany, where he studied Management Science at Bamberg University. Then he studied Economics at the Technical University in Dresden, Queen's University, Canada and the University of California, San Diego, where he received his Ph.D. In his research, he is interested in how domestic and international institutions affect international trade. Besides the effect of legal institutions on trade, he has written several papers on the effects of technical standards on trade flows and the dynamics of comparative advantage, for which he visualized his results in an online atlas using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He recently applied GIS to the analysis of the housing market in Southern California. He has also worked on the dynamics of network effects in platform technologies and competition between political parties. He has presented his work in more than 70 presentations at universities, conferences, and government institutions. His work appeared in, amongst others, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Japan and the World Economy, and the International Journal of Industrial Organization.
Mergers and Acquisitions: What You Need to Know – John O. Johnson, The Spartan Group
John Johnson co-founded TSG and has over 25 years of investment banking experience. John covers the Industrial Growth & Business Services sectors with a focus on areas such as automotive parts and equipment, metals, transportation and logistics, equipment rental, staffing and professional service companies.
Prior to TSG, John was a Managing Director and co-founder of the West Coast Corporate Finance Group of Banc of America Securities in Los Angeles. John joined Banc of America Securities (also known at various times as Banc of America Robertson Stephens and NationsBanc Montgomery Securities) in 1984. Between 1984 and 1989, he specialized in technology sector company coverage. He joined the Asset Based Financing Group in 1989 and focused on leveraged buyouts and leveraged finance, and ultimately became a Group Head. In 1994, he joined the Corporate Finance team in San Francisco and led the Industrial Technology and Business Services sector practices.
John co-founded a public rental services company, General Finance Corporation (GFN), as Chief Operating Officer in 2005. GFN completed and integrated 14 acquisitions totaling nearly $400 million under his direction. John holds a B.A. from the University of California, Davis.
Legislative and Election Update – Janet Kopenhaver, AWPA Director of Government Relations
Janet Kopenhaver, President of Eye on Washington, has over twenty five years experience in the public policy and government relations field. She founded her consulting firm – Eye on Washington – with the aim of creating a highly efficient and results-oriented company to assist organizations in ways specially designed to fit their needs.
Throughout her career, she has developed numerous contacts both on Capitol Hill and in U.S. Federal Government Agencies, including the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Labor, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and U.S. Department of State. Among her many areas of expertise are: lobbying of legislators and Administration officials; grassroots development and management; public policy strategic planning; drafting newsletters, background papers, action alerts, and other materials; monitoring and analyzing legislative and regulatory developments; arranging and preparing attendees for meetings with Members of Congress and Administration officials; and writing public policy releases.
Janet has been serving as the Washington Representative and Chief Lobbyist for a number of trade and professional organizations since founding Eye on Washington. She also serves as a regulatory consultant to an organization involved in the alternative fuel and energy sector.
Prior to starting Eye on Washington, Janet served as Vice President for International Trade and Government Relations for a manufacturers' trade association, and concurrently as Executive Director of an affiliated Canadian organization of manufacturers. In these roles, she organized and directed the association's government relations and grassroots programs.
AWPA Priorities and Insights from Leadership in the Wire Industry
Kimberly Korbel has served the American Wire Producers Association (AWPA) since 1984 when she began her career in association management. In 1991, she was promoted to Executive Director, by an overwhelming majority of the Board of Directors, in response to her dedication to the industry and association programs.
In 2016, the ENFORCE Act, advanced by a coalition of AWPA member wire producers, was passed as part of The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015. AWPA and the coalition worked on passage of the legislation for over 6 years.
Kimberly has coordinated the efforts of the AWPA, as an interested party, in multiple trade cases addressing the imports of both carbon and stainless steel wire rod. Cases include antidumping and countervailing duty, Section 201, Section 312, Sunset Reviews, and recently the Section 232 investigation of steel imports. AWPA member companies have been/are petitioners in cases addressing the imports of wire and wire products, primarily from China.
Kimberly serves on the Board of Directors of the Council of Manufacturing Associations (CMA) on behalf of the AWPA and is currently the First Vice Chair of the CMA Board.
Kimberly served as the initial Chair of the Board of Directors of Generation Hope, a charitable organization supporting teen parents seeking a college degree. She mentored one of the scholars in the program who graduated in December of 2016 with a degree in Criminal Justice.
Ms. Korbel resides in Alexandria, VA; has survived raising a daughter; has a granddaughter and grandson; is a mediocre but enthusiastic golfer; and is a passionate fan of the Washington Mystics and the Washington Wizards.