Start Date: 11/2/2022 12:00 PM EDT
End Date: 11/2/2022 1:00 PM EDT
Venue Name: Virtual
Organization Name:
WIIT
Contact:
The recently launched Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) promised to deliver game-changing projects to close the infrastructure gap in developing countries, strengthen the global economy and supply chains, and advance U.S. national security. Together with G7 partners, the U.S. will mobilize $600 billion by 2027 in global infrastructure investments. This will only be the beginning as G7 countries will seek to mobilize additional capital from multilateral banks to sovereign wealth funds.
Is PGII G7’s answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)? Join us for an insightful discussion with Gabriela Castillo Madrid, Orit Frenkel and Elizabeth Losos. We will cover some of the benefits and challenges of BRI, where private sector funds have effectively been channeled and where gaps remain, and how the new G7 initiative will play a role in infrastructure development in the region.
Speakers:
- Gabriela Castillo Madrid, Director of the Office of Industry Engagement at U.S. Department of Commerce
- Dr. Orit Frenkel, CEO, American Leadership Initiative
- Elizabeth Losos, Ph.D., Executive in Residence, Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Duke University
Moderator: Charlotte Serage, Manager of Global Engagement, World Trade Center Utah
Bios:
Gabriela Castillo is Director of the Office of Industry Engagement for the International Trade Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce. She brings vast experience in public affairs, government relations, and strategic partnerships to her role. Before joining the Department of Commerce as Director of the Office of Public Affairs, Gabriela served as Deputy State Director for President Joe Biden’s campaign in Florida.
In her previous role as Vice President at Mercury Public Affairs, she specialized in strategic communications, government and media relations, issue advocacy, and digital strategy in both English and Spanish.
Gabriela was formerly the Communications Director for City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and served as a senior advisor, while managing all internal and external communication strategies and public relations for the Mayor’s Office. She was also Communications Director for Mayor Suarez’s 2017 mayoral campaign and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s reelection campaign in 2016.
Prior to entering the fast-paced political campaign world, Gabriela focused her legal practice on all phases of the government procurement process, including identifying contracting opportunities and assisting with proposal preparation and compliance. She led and supported public affairs and advocacy communication campaigns for companies and non-profit organizations in the transit, aviation, technology, construction, health services, and hospitality industries. Gabriela also advised clients on grassroots campaigns, crisis management, and community outreach efforts.
Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Gabriela graduated from Florida International University College of Law. Before law school, Gabriela was an Account Executive at a public affairs and public relations firm, where she implemented and managed bilingual campaigns for their healthcare, non-profit, and federal government clients.
After earning her B.S. in communications from Florida International University, Gabriela was a Booking Producer for Maria Elvira Live, a Spanish-language, nightly news program hosted by Maria Elvira Salazar. There, she built strong relationships with producers and reporters, as well as commentators, political analysts, and leading figures in national politics and foreign policy.
Dr. Orit Frenkel is the co-founder of the American Leadership Initiative where she leads all aspects of ALI’s programs and policy development. She has 39 years of experience working on Asia, trade, and foreign policy issues, with a special emphasis on the challenges facing U.S. manufacturing companies.
Prior to founding ALI, Orit was a senior executive with General Electric Company for 26 years. In that position, she was responsible for supporting GE’s international sales, policy objectives, government relations, and corporate social responsibility initiatives. Orit’s extensive work with US and foreign governments, as well as with a variety of stakeholders, resulted in billions of dollars of GE sales.
Orit worked to support GE’s global transactions, advising on investment and sourcing decisions, and working with U.S. and multilateral financing institutions to obtain financing for GE’s transactions.
She led GE’s policy and transactions in China over 26 years, working to develop a response to challenges such as China’s indigenous innovation policies, and its Belt and Road strategy.
She led GE’s advocacy on a range of trade policy issues, including TPP, KORUS, WTO, and coordinated GE’s policy, strategy development, coordination and consensus building among stakeholders in GE, the broader business community and external stakeholders.
Orit worked to develop policy positions for GE on issues such as renewable energy and digital trade.
Dr. Frenkel started her career in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative where she was the Director for Trade in High Technology Products and Deputy Director for Trade with Japan, and spent a detail working for Congressman Lee Hamilton during his time as Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Dr. Frenkel is also the President of Frenkel Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in Asia policy, market access issues and international trade. She is a member of APCO’s International Advisory Committee, and a Senior Advisor with Asia Group Advisors.
She is the author of numerous published articles on trade and foreign policy issues, as well as a book on the negotiation of the US-Israel Free Trade Area. She is an Adjunct Fellow with the Center on Strategic and International Studies, and has served on the board of numerous trade associations and on Department of Commerce and State Advisory panels.
Ms. Frenkel received a Ph.D.in International Economics from The Johns Hopkins University, an M.P.P. from the University of Michigan, and a B.A. in Economics with honors from University of Maryland (Phi Beta Kappa).
Elizabeth Losos is a Executive in Residence at the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University. She explores policies and programs to mitigate the climate, environment and social risks from large-scale infrastructure projects in the transportation and energy sectors. Dr. Losos and her colleagues at Duke University and the UN Environment Program are leading the Sustainable Infrastructure Community of Learners (SI-CoL), an international network of individuals and organizations dedicated to building capacity development for sustainable infrastructure development.
Dr. Losos formerly was president and CEO of the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), a global consortium of universities and research institutes promoting education, research, and the responsible use of natural resources in the tropics. She was also the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Tropical Forest Science, a global network of large-scale forest research plots.
Dr. Losos holds a Ph.D. in biology and a master’s degree in public administration and international affairs from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.
