This journey began when my family was transferred by the DuPont Company to Frankfurt, Germany, I was 7 years old.

Living in another country and visiting behind the iron curtain, broadened my perspectives, and helped me to develop skills to be able to adjust to different environments, bridge understanding and embrace “new” and “different” things.

My first sport was soccer, not baseball. Both of my adult sons were NCAA scholarship soccer athletes, with one becoming a professional soccer player and 1st round MLS draft pick.

My professional journey began in the private sector as an export traffic manager for a steamship agency shipping chemicals around the world., followed by selling consumer electronics (video game accessories) to major mass merchants in Europe as international marketing manager for a small consumer electronics company; and later turning a profit as a small business owner international distribution business.

Public sector experience - led the State of California’s export trade program for more than a decade, serving thousands of companies and creating hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact, receiving several accolades and awards.

Latest venture was with Alibaba/Ant Group in the fintech/ cross-border e-commerce space.

Accustomed to operating in multiple time-zones, and traveling internationally for extended periods of time.

Highly developed cross-cultural awareness and communication skills, gained through direct working experience in different international corporate, small business, and international locations.

Comfortable dealing with ambiguity.

Agility - think critically and take action.