Presenter

Joan M. McEntee

Chairman, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz

Joan M. McEntee is Chairman of the International Group of the prestigious law firm of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz. Drawing on her previous high level experience in the U.S. Government, Ms. McEntee currently assists companies in meeting challenges in emerging and developed countries around the world. She advises a number of U.S. multinational firms with their business activities in China, where she has visited seventy-five times, as well as western Europe, Latin America and other parts of Asia. She also manages several domestic, legislative and executive initiatives which demand constant interaction with members of Congress, the Administration and the White House. Efforts on behalf of clients have also required her leadership of several communication strategies on significant and sensitive issues. Ms. McEntee previously served for eight years in a number of senior international trade positions at the U.S. Department of Commerce. As Deputy and then Acting Under Secretary for International Trade, appointed in the George H. Bush administration, Ms. McEntee served as a key policy advisor to the Secretary of Commerce on a wide range of trade issues which focused on removing foreign barriers to U. S. technology from a variety of EU countries. She repeatedly represented the interests of U.S. consumers in negotiations with Japanese trade officials on various products. She managed a departmental budget of $175 million, a foreign and domestic staff of 2,500 and was the chief administrator of personnel, public and legislative affairs. She appeared numerous times both in public fora as well as testified before Congressional committees. As Under Secretary for Export Administration, she headed a staff of over 500 employees and managed a departmental budget of $75 million. She was the senior policy official at the Department of Commerce representing the commercial sector on all strategic technology transfer issues. Many of these matters concerned extremely sensitive technology areas including telecommunication, semiconductors, machine tools, aircraft engines and chemical products. Ms. McEntee was the Department of Commerce’s senior representative in sensitive intergovernmental committee meetings and she was also the lead U.S. negotiator on the U.S.-Japan FSX fighter aircraft and other technological transfer issues as well. She directed an integrated communication/media strategy which supported these accomplishments. Prior to her service at the Department of Commerce, Ms. McEntee served in the White House as Deputy to the Chief of Staff for Vice President of the United States George H. Bush. Previously, she spent eight years on Capitol Hill as Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. As such, she headed a staff of 144, managed a $2.3 million budget, and managed the transition of the political transfer in the Senate Committee. She also served in several other governmental positions in Office of Management and Budget, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and as a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ms. McEntee is a member of the American and District of Columbia Bar Associations. She received her B.A. from Marymount College in New York, her M.A. in Government and Public Administration from The American University, and her J.D. from the Washington College of Law at The American University. She serves on the boards of St. Lawrence Cement Company, the Atlantic Council and the Forum for International Policy. Ms. McEntee has been recognized for her contributions in the area of sustainable development by being appointed the Governor’s Development Advisor to China’s Yunnan Province (approx. population of 42 million) and to the Mayor of Kunming (approx. population of 3.89 million).

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