Chicago Advisory Board

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GC Chicago Advisory Board

Global Chamber® Chicago Advisory Board consists of insightful business leaders expert on strategies to help companies grow globally.  The board functions as a Global Business Development Coalition (the Coalition) which serves as the first step to improving accessibility and education for businesses looking to expand internationally through coordinated programs and services.  

Thank you to our advisory board for your leadership and support! 

Advisory Board Members

Bethany Bennick

International Trade Specialist at U.S. Commercial Service

Bethany joined the U.S. Commercial Service as an International Trade Specialist in the Chicago field office. Her portfolio of work includes advancing export promotion for Chicagoland companies in the energy, environmental technology, and travel/tourism sectors. She also covers regional trends in the Middle East and Africa for the local team. 

Prior to joining the U.S. Commercial Service, Bethany Bennick served as the Director of International Affairs at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC), the region’s economic development organization. She was responsible for implementing the foreign direct investment strategy and leading the organization’s burgeoning commercial diplomacy efforts, often working alongside partners such as SelectUSA, the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service, and the trade and investment teams of target markets. Bethany previously served as GPEC’s Senior Manager of Domestic & International Engagement launching the Global Envoy advocacy program, and as Manager of Investor Engagement, where she designed and executed over 50 high-level economic development panels and topical webcasts for 2,500 industry leaders representing 22 cities and towns and 200+ private companies.

Bethany has called Arizona, France and Switzerland home. She has managed several award-winning public diplomacy programs at Phoenix Sister Cities and Global Ties Arizona, curating the exchange of 469 citizen diplomats and dignitaries from over 70 countries, including 35 delegations for the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program. For most, it was their first encounter with Arizona. Bethany’s global mindset led to her enthusiastic involvement in Greater Phoenix’s growing international community, including as a graduate fellow with the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations and Vice Chair at Global Ties Arizona, her former employer. In 2020, she began volunteer coordinating monthly virtual discussions of the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions series. In 2021, she co-founded the Worldly Women Collective, an initiative uniting globally-minded women of Greater Phoenix. In 2022, Bethany was selected as a Next Gen Global Leader with the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. Bethany also served as the former Curator of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Phoenix Hub, a board member at Alliance Française of Greater Phoenix, and an advisory member with Global Chamber - Phoenix. Bethany is also deeply passionate about young talent attraction and retention.

Bethany holds an M.A. in Global Affairs & Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, dual B.A. in International Relations and French from Pepperdine University, and an undergraduate law certificate in conflict resolution from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. While at Pepperdine, she worked for the Nootbaar Institute’s Global Justice Program researching international adoption law and the Palmer Center for Micro-Enterprise aiding homeless aspiring entrepreneurs. In 2019, Bethany traveled to India for a State Department-sponsored Good Governance & Society Fellowship. In 2017, Bethany graduated from the citizens academies of both the FBI-Phoenix Division and the Scottsdale Police Department. Prior to moving to Chicago, IL, Bethany routinely volunteered as a decoy to train TSA K-9 units and most recently participated in Phoenix Sky Harbor’s Aviation Academy. Bethany has certified professional proficiency in French with hopes to expand to more languages. She is an avid outdoor enthusiast, often spending weekends kayaking, hiking, or camping. In addition to travel, she loves listening to podcasts, hosting gatherings, and fostering dogs. 

Brian Butler

Business Development Manager of LatAm at API Heat Transfer Company

Past Director Illinois International Trade Center

Global Sales and Business Development Professional fluent in Spanish and Portuguese with proven success in growing revenues in international markets. Has done business with 60+ countries which has included extensive travel as well as local assignments while living in Costa Rica, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Colombia. Expertise includes the set up and management of global distributor and sales agent networks, joint ventures, acquisitions, forecasting, budgeting, pricing, export documentation and logistics as well as the development of multilingual marketing and technical materials. Has done business with Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia.

Chuck Lay

Technology Consultant for Africa

Chuck is helping companies doing business in Africa. Focusing on the Tech sector. He will be attending the US Africa business summit in Gaborone Botswana from 7/9 - 7/14 and then visit Johannesburg. His complete bio will be available soon.

Demitrus Evans

Principal and Managing Attorney at The Evans International Law Firms

Demitrus began her legal career as Ralph J. Bunche Fellow for the Midwest region with the NGO Amnesty International, worked in several Chicago based law firms before going in house with the National Railway Company focusing on international sales and distributorships.

Prior to starting The Evans International Law Firms LLC (“TEIL Firms”) in 2009, classified as a minority and Women Owned Business with the County, City and State, she was a civil rights lawyer with Willis & Associates, a trial attorney panel lawyer for the Northern District of Illinois and a partner at Jones & Collins. At TEIL firms she is the managing Attorney and focus on corporate transactional work, litigation and Intellectual Property in the federal and state courts. In addition she arbitrates and speaks on international contractual issues nationally.

Attorney Evans holds licenses in the Illinois Appellate and Supreme Court as well as maintains license in the Northern District Trial Bar, United States Supreme Court, and the Federal Circuit and the International Court of Trade. She earned her BA from Denison University,  her J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in Miami, Florida, where she worked on Asylum applications for Hattian, Guantanamo Bay refugees, utilizing her French and studied International Constitutional Law at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. Her International Trade Law LLM, with a Finance concentration, was earned from John Marshall Law School, Chicago and her Entrepreneurial Studies Certificate from the Joseph School of Business, Forest Park, Illinois.

She is the founder of the non-profit, The Evans Exoneration Project, teaches business law and lectures and advocates for International Busienss trade and expansion on several Busienss focused boards.  Demitrus and TEIL Firms received The Joseph Business School’s Global Entrepreneur of the Year, were nominated for Nasbite’s Global Award, and was one of Diversity MBA Magazine’s Top 100 Executives under 50. 

Dwight Winkler 

Accomplished and cross-culturally experienced global executive who has lived and worked in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Middle East. Proven track record with Fortune 500 US Multinationals and non-US companies.

Negotiated $1B contracts in Kuwait, managed a $200M annual budget, implemented Procure to Pay (P2P), arranged $150M Eximbank supported term loan to Thailand, negotiated a $200M financing for India Telcos, and managed a $1.5B trade finance pipeline.

Dwight holds a master's degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Ernie Watts

President, TRC Chicago; Global Advisor at Global Chamber®

Ernie’s entrepreneurial and international experience includes staff and management positions in both industrial markets and consumer hard goods. He has been directly responsible for strategic planning, sales and marketing, P&L and ROCE targets, investment analysis, strategic alliances, M&A, contract negotiations and the development of cohesive, high performance teams.

Ernie has worked in corporate environments including Fortune 50, publicly traded global companies as well as small, privately owned domestic businesses. Internationally, Ernie has traveled and sold extensively in every major world market with significant experience in the emerging markets of Asia, Latin America and Africa. In each case he has demonstrated a unique ability to focus on critical success factors and make the necessary connections between strategy and tactics to exceed profitability targets.

As President of TRC Chicago, an international management services company, Ernie works closely with client companies to enhance their performance and maximize their growth and profitability.

Ernie holds a business and marketing degree from Marquette University and earned his MBA in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He spent four years living in Mexico City and is a fluent, non-native Spanish speaker with a working knowledge of Portuguese. More: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erniewatts/

Gunjan Bagla  

Founder and CEO at Amritt

Gunjan Bagla is founder and CEO of Amritt, Inc a management consultancy with a 20 year record of building business with India. Amritt and its team helps with sourcing from India, selling to India, building engineering center and outsourced relationships with India.

Based in the the Los Angeles area, Gunjan has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Fortune Magazine, Business Week, Los Angeles and has appeared on BBC TV, BBC Radio, Fox Business TV, National Public Radio and Bloomberg TV for his expertise on international business with India. He writes about India for many publications including the Harvard Business Review and is author of "Doing Business in 21st Century India" published by Hachette. He is a frequent speaker at major business events across the USA and internationally. Companies such as Boeing, Bose, Clorox, Digikey, Hanson Research. Medtronic, Roche, Wonderful and  hundreds of SMEs have benefitted from Amritt's work and knowledge.

Juan A Garcia

 

Kevin Brown

 

Managing Director, Commercial Banking at BMO

Kevin is a seasoned commercial banker who brings more than 30 years of experience to BMO Commercial Banking Team.  He re-joined BMO (one of the Top 10 commercial lenders in North America -- with offices in 25 states and global reach via BMO Capital Markets) in 2010, after spending several years here earlier in his career.  In his current role as a Managing Director of Commercial Banking, Kevin leads a team of commercial banking professionals that is focused on delivering customized banking solutions to privately held companies and non-profit organizations located throughout the Chicago Metropolitan Area (and BMO’s U.S. footprint) – helping these clients to expand their businesses, improve working capital efficiencies, enhance their bottom lines, and increase shareholder value.

With a consultative, relationship-oriented approach and a wide array of industry contacts, Kevin serves as a trusted advisor to his clients in the areas of C&I Lending, Treasury & Payment Solutions, International Banking / Trade Finance Services, Capital Markets Solutions, and Leasing.  Current and past clients include manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, importers / exporters, professional service firms, contractors, transportation & logistics providers, and non-profit organizations.

Kevin holds a Bachelor’s degree with majors in Finance and Marketing from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he was a recipient of a full athletic scholarship for football.  He is also active in the community, having served as a past member of several local chambers of commerce, the school board and finance committee for a local private school, and the City of Geneva’s Master Plan Committee.  He has also served as a youth basketball and football coach, and as a volunteer assistant football coach for North Central College (Naperville, IL).    

 

Lothar Soliwon

CEO of ZG Worldwide Consultants

Lothar Ernst Soliwon is CEO and President of ZG Worldwide: Business Consultants- Software Development - Subject Matter Experts. We provide a single source for solutions in technology, business, healthcare and marketing. Hundreds of businesses have engaged our CIOs, A.I., management consultants, risk strategists, data analytics, software developers, MDs, engineers, coaches, writers, marketers, lawyers & more. Former Fortune 500 company C-suite IT leaders are available on short notice as interim executives. 

Michael Stone

Senior International Business Developer


Michael is a seasoned trilingual business development specialist with a proven track record of driving market entry and growth strategies worldwide. He has established a global network of business relationships across six continents and diverse industries, including Healthcare, Telecommunications, Hospitality & Foodservice, Fitness & Wellness, Commercial HVAC, and Mining & Construction.

For over a decade, Michael has been a key contributor at E.M. Wasylik Associates, an international business development firm that provides market research, go-to-market planning, distribution network expansion, and business development execution for early-stage and established exporters and importers.

Renée Meyer

Intercultural Mediator and Consultant

Renée MEYER is an American and Swiss citizen, having grown-up in Ohio, and currently living in Strasbourg France. Renée has worked and lived in Europe, and North and South America. She speaks English, French, German and Spanish.

Renée works independently as an intercultural mediator, combining her skills in intercultural communication, sustainability and finance. Her current activities are linking the French (mainly the Grand Est region) and the U.S. (mainly Midwest) markets. She concentrates on creating the bridge between actors in different cultures, so that the client can focus on adapting their product or service offering to the export market. She is currently specialized in the medtech area.

Renée began her career as an internal auditor for Owens-Illinois in Toledo Ohio. She has finance and controlling experience in Life Sciences, having worked in the Swiss pharmaceutical industry for 15 years. Her former employers include for-profit and non-profit organizations. Renée completed her higher education in the U.S. with a Master of International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Sophia Leaguedi

Founder and President of Ameroc Export Inc

Sophia Leaguedi is Founder and President of Ameroc Export Inc., located in Chicago, U.S.A. She is Moroccan born and began her career at the Ministry of the Finance in Morocco. In 2001, Sophia came to the United States determined to make a name for herself under no illusion that her entrepreneurial spirit and her skills in 4 languages will play a crucial role in her challenge. She owned and managed the only female operating Franchise Mobile Auto Body in Los Angeles area. 

When the United States and Morocco signed a free Trade Agreement in 2006, Sophia shifted her focus in concentrating in importing and exporting between the two countries. In 2010 Ameroc Export moved to Illinois as an international Trade Company helping US manufacturers to gain access to foreign markets in today‘s global economy. Specializing in exporting American made heavy equipment, industrial tires, oil lubricants and automotive accessories across international borders. Ameroc is exporting to Africa, Middle East, Central America and Caribbean.

Under the leadership of Sophia, Ameroc Export received the following Awards:

• “Outstanding Exporter Award 2020” by the International Trade Center - Missouri
• "OCP Moroccan American Trade and Investment Award 2017" by the American Chamber Casablanca/Morocco
• "Illinois Exporter Of The Year Award 2016" by the US Dep. of Commerce - Chicago/Illinois
• "Export Achievement Certificate Award 2016" by the US Commercial Service - Chicago/Illinois

Sophia was honoree of "Athena Leadership Award 2017" by Athena International - Chicago, IL, "Enterprising Woman Of The Year Award 2016" by the Enterprising Women Magazine - Miami, FL and "Influential Woman in Business Award 2014" by the Daily Herald Business Ledger - Chicago.

Theresa Mueller

Zach Selch

VP Global Sales at PharmaJet. 

Zach is the VP of global sales for a medical device company, and has served as VP Sales for 3 startups, headed international sales for a midmarket company that sold for close to $400 million, has been MVP 4 times for a Fortune 1000 multinational. Zach Selch has more than 30 years’ experience building and running international sales organizations, selling in more than 130 markets around the world and driving >1000% growth multiple times. His master class is focused on how we can get results faster as a company expands into new international markets.

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