Kira Yevtukhova Archives

USCIB Launches Video Highlighting Business for 2030 Initiatives

Published on November 30, 2017

USCIB held its annual international leadership award gala on November 28th in New York at the United Nations headquarters to honor Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga. The event also served to showcase the private sector’s efforts to align its activities with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including via a new video, “Business Makes It Happen: The Private Sector and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.” The piece spotlights a number of USCIB member companies, for the Business for 2030 web platform launched by USCIB two years ago.

The video showcases select USCIB member initiatives including those from AT&T-DIRECTV, Bechtel, Deloitte, Mastercard, Novozymes and Walmart.

Please visit www.Businessfor2030.org to learn more about what companies are doing to achieve the SDGs.

Fall/Winter 2017 Issue of International Business Now Live

Published on November 29, 2017

USCIB’s “International Business” Fall/Winter 2017 issue is now live!

The Fall/Winter 2017 issue features USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson‘s column on “The Global Goals: a blueprint for partnership and action” as well as articles on developments in the UN General Assembly, NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, plus news from our global network–Business at OECD, the International Organization of Employers and the International Chamber of Commerce.

“International Business,” USCIB’s quarterly journal, provides essential insight into major trade and investment topics, a high-level overview of USCIB policy advocacy and services, USCIB member news and updates from our global business network.

Subscribe to USCIB’s International Business Magazine

Subscriptions to “International Business” are available free upon request to representatives of USCIB member organizations. Contact us to subscribe.

Non-members may subscribe to “International Business” and other USCIB print publications at an annual rate of $50 (U.S.) for domestic delivery, or $75 for overseas delivery. Contact us to subscribe. USCIB’s annual report, studies from the United States Council Foundation and related publications are included with your paid subscription.

Our free electronic newsletter, “International Business Weekly,” provides regular updates on USCIB’s major activities and priorities. Click here to view a sample issue. Click here to subscribe.

We welcome outside submissions and inquiries regarding our publications – send them to news@uscib.org.

We welcome advertising in International Business magazine — special discounted rates for USCIB member organizations! Contact Kira Yevtukhova (kyevtukhova@uscib.org) for more information.

Business at OECD Publishes 2017 Annual Report

Published on November 6, 2017

Business at OECD (BIAC) has recently launched its 2017 Annual Report, which offers a comprehensive account of BIAC’s activities this year and outline ways for engagement in 2018 and beyond.

In addition, this Annual Report gives an overview of:

  • BIAC high-level policy dialogue with OECD Ambassadors, the Secretary General, Ministers from 35 OECD countries and key partners, as well as G20 and B20 activities
  • The work across BIAC and OECD committees in BIAC’s quest for policies that allow people participation into open economies
  • BIAC’s work with members in Paris and abroad

Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga to Be Honored by USCIB at Annual Gala

Published on October 26, 2017

New York, N.Y., October 26, 2017 – Ajay Banga, president and chief executive officer of Mastercard, will be honored by the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which represents America’s leading global companies. Banga will receive USCIB’s International Leadership Award at a gala dinner on November 28 at United Nations headquarters in New York, in recognition of Mastercard’s ongoing leadership to extend the benefits of an expanding economy to all segments of society.

“Ajay Banga and Mastercard were among the first to recognize that financial inclusion can set in motion a virtuous cycle of equitable economic growth,” said USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw, chairman emeritus of McGraw Hill Financial (now S&P Global). “As we saw during last month’s UN General Assembly opening, many companies have now joined this movement to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Mastercard was one of the first supporters when the global goals were launched in 2015, and the company has been working with the public and private sectors to use its technology and expertise to help address issues such as poverty, hunger and gender equality.”

McGraw added that the November 28 gala would provide a platform to underscore ongoing American and global business support for the SDGs, policies that promote more open cross-border trade and investment, and robust U.S. engagement with the UN and other international bodies.

Mastercard has connected more than 300 million people around the world to the formal economy, providing critical access to services that allow them to live and work with greater efficiency, security and dignity. Through innovative products such as Mastercard Aid Network, which is helping NGOs improve the delivery of humanitarian aid so that people can get back on their feet after a disaster, and Masterpass QR, which gives small businesses a low-cost way to accept digital payments, Mastercard is making progress towards the SDGs as well as advancing its mission to create a more inclusive economy.

Banga is a member of the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, and is a founding trustee of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum. He is a member of the U.S.-India CEO Forum, co-chairs the board of directors of the American India Foundation, and served as a member of President Obama’s Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity.

Banga serves on the executive committees of the Business Roundtable and the Financial Services Roundtable, and is vice chairman of the Business Council. He is a member of the board of overseers of the Weill Cornell Medical College and the board of governors of the American Red Cross. He also serves on the board of directors of The Dow Chemical Company.

Prior to Mastercard, Banga was chief executive officer of Citigroup Asia Pacific. He began his career at Nestlé in India and also spent two years with PepsiCo in India. He is a graduate of Delhi University and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Established in 1980, USCIB’s International Leadership Award is presented annually to a leading CEO, international figure or institution, recognizing outstanding contributions to global trade, finance and investment, and to improving the global competitive framework in which American business operates. Recent recipients have included Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO of AT&T, and Roberto Azevedo, director general of the World Trade Organization. More information on the event is available at www.uscibgala.com.

About USCIB:
USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world, generating $5 trillion in annual revenues and employing over 11 million people worldwide. As the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Organization of Employers and Business at OECD, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More information is available at www.uscib.org.

Contact:
Jonathan Huneke, USCIB
+1 212.703.5043, jhuneke@uscib.org

Communicators Meet in Ireland for 2nd Business at OECD Roundtable

Published on October 16, 2017

Last week, in Dublin and Cork, Ireland, Business at OECD welcomed more than 20 representatives from member federations and companies to its annual Heads of Communication Roundtable, jointly organized with its Irish member federation IBEC. Jonathan Huneke, USCIB’s vice president for communications and public affairs, represented USCIB alongside several representatives of USCIB member companies.

“This was a valuable series of meetings,” said Huneke. “We discussed the challenges, in the current international environment, of communicating the views and priorities of the globally oriented business community to governments and the public at large. We also explored ways to support our fellow federations’ activities, and to learn from one another, in a communications and policy environment that only seems to get more fast-paced and unpredictable every year.”

High-level speakers at the roundtable included Irish Ambassador to OECD Dermot Nolan, IBEC President Edel Creely and CEO Danny McCoy, and Irish experts who had helped “move the needle” on contentious public debates over economic development and marriage equality.

“The meetings also showcased some of the substantive factors Ireland brings to the table for companies when they make location decisions, Huneke added. “Hence the decision to visit the country’s high-tech hub of Cork.” The communicators held site visits and discussions with Cathy Kearney (CEO, Apple Ireland), Donal O’Sullivan (CEO, Johnson Controls) and Kyran Johnson (General Manager, Janssen, a unit of Johnson & Johnson).

Huneke said he made sure to remind all three companies of their USCIB membership, and offered to support their efforts in whatever way possible.

Thevenin Joins USCIB as General Counsel

Published on October 11, 2017
Nancy Thevenin

New York, N.Y., October 11, 2017 – Nancy M. Thevenin has joined the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which represents America’s leading global companies, as general counsel. USCIB serves as the U.S. affiliate of several global business bodies, including the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the world business organization whose International Court of Arbitration is the world’s leading forum for the settlement of cross-border commercial disputes.

Thevenin’s portfolio will include supporting USCIB’s Arbitration Committee and coordinating the work of the U.S. Nominations Committee to the ICC Court. Additionally, she will coordinate amicus requests and responses from USCIB members and other interested parties. Further, Thevenin will work closely with USCIB’s business development team to ensure more comprehensive membership recruitment outreach to both law firms and corporations.

“Nancy Thevenin brings extensive experience to this important position within USCIB,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson. “Our members, including both companies and law firms, have broad experience and knowledge of global arbitration and other legal matters. I am confident that Nancy will be able to fully leverage those relationships to drive further organizational growth and improved services to members.”

Thevenin previously served as deputy director of the ICC Court’s North American marketing office, which at that time also managed USCIB/ICC-USA’s Arbitration Committee. During her tenure, the group helped launch the ICC International Mediation Competition and developed USCIB’s Young Arbitrators Forum (YAF), which Thevenin helped develop and wrote the proposal to turn into a global organization under the ICC umbrella. She later joined Baker & McKenzie as a special counsel and global coordinator of the firm’s International Arbitration Practice Group. Thevenin left Baker in 2014 to start her own practice as arbitrator and mediator. She is the chair of the International Section of the New York State Bar Association and an adjunct professor of the international commercial arbitration course at St. John’s Law School.

A graduate of Tulane Law School where she obtained certificates in European legal practice and in commercial arbitration, Ms. Thevenin also attended the University of Paris at Panthéon-Assas in France, where she studied the French legal system and European Community law. She is a graduate of Cornell University, where she obtained a double major in history and Spanish literature. While at university, Ms. Thevenin lived in Madrid, Spain and studied international relations, Spanish law and Spanish literature. Thevenin is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is licensed to practice law in New York and Florida.

About USCIB:

USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world. As the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Organization of Employers and Business at OECD, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More information is available at www.uscib.org.

Contact:
Jonathan Huneke, VP communications, USCIB
+1 212.703.5043 or jhuneke@uscib.org

USCIB Welcomes New General Counsel for Arbitration

Published on October 6, 2017
Nancy Thevenin

USCIB welcomed a new staff member last week to lead its work on Arbitration. Nancy M. Thevenin joined on October 2nd as General Counsel, coordinating the work of the U.S. Nominations Committee for the ICC Court of Arbitration. Thevenin’s portfolio will include supporting the USCIB Arbitration Committee. Additionally, she will coordinate amicus requests and responses. Thevenin will work closely with USCIB’s Business Development team in ensuring a more comprehensive policy, legal and arbitration membership outreach to both law firms and corporations.

Thevenin previously served as deputy director of the ICC Court of Arbitration’s North American marketing office. During her tenure, the group helped launch the ICC International Mediation Competition and developed USCIB Young Arbitrators Forum (YAF), with Thevenin drafting the proposal for the ICC to make YAF a global organization. Nancy then joined Baker & McKenzie as a special counsel in and global coordinator of their International Arbitration Practice Group. She left Baker in 2014 to start her own practice as arbitrator and mediator and continues to teach the spring semester international commercial arbitration course at St. John’s Law School.

We hope you join us in welcoming her to the USCIB team!

OECD Business Communicators to Meet in Ireland

Published on September 18, 2017
Dublin’s Samuel Beckett Bridge: The Irish capital will welcome business communicators from across the OECD.

Continuing its efforts to re-frame the global narrative on trade and economic openness, on October 12-13, Business at OECD (BIAC) will hold its 2nd Heads of Communications Roundtable in Dublin and Cork, Ireland, in cooperation with its Irish member Ibec . This is a two-day program for heads of communications from BIAC’s global membership, and USCIB company representatives are encouraged to attend.

“The roundtable will include a series of meetings, company visits, and guest speakers on themes relevant to communications professionals within business federations and individual companies, and will facilitate a solution-based discussion on the challenges we face in the current international socio-political environment,” according to Ali Karami-Ruiz, BIAC’s director of policy and communications. “Through the event, we will showcase the success and substance globalization has brought to Ireland’s economy.”

In the context of a growing populist narrative in some economies, Irish business leaders will address participants on the challenges and opportunities we face in communicating business and open markets. The program will include a number of company visits and inputs from the communications team behind the “Yes Equality” campaign for marriage equality in Ireland, and from the Irish government’s director of strategic communications.

Communications professionals from USCIB member organizations who are interested in participating in the roundtable should contact Jonathan Huneke, USCIB’s vice president for communications and public affairs.

 

Business Makes It Happen: UNGA Week Events Spotlight the Private Sector’s Role in Sustainable Development

Published on September 14, 2017

New York, N.Y., September 13, 2017 – As United Nations members gather in New York to review progress on the UN’s ambitious 2030 Development Agenda, American business is underscoring how much it is doing – and could be doing, provided the proper incentives – in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which represents America’s most innovative and successful global companies, plans a series of events in New York throughout the week of September 18, centered on the theme: “Business makes it happen.”

“This is an important moment for the SDGs and for the UN family,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson. “Throughout the negotiations leading to the SDGs, and now in the period of their execution, we have underscored the need for business to be embedded in the process. This is necessary to leverage all the resources that the private sector can provide through investment, innovation and know-how. With dialogue and the right mix of incentives, business really can make it happen.”

Events the week of September 18 include:

  • Rethinking Collaboration for the SDGs, September 18 at Barclays, 745 Seventh Avenue. USCIB will join forces with Business Fights Poverty to co-host this action-focused half-day event on how business, government and civil society are collaborating to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. USCIB’s Robinson and several USCIB members are among the speakers.
  • Data Analytics for SDGs and National Reports, September 19 at KPMG, 345 Park Avenue. Experts from USCIB member companies will present and discuss private sector frameworks for data analytics on SDG implementation, and consider opportunities for synergy with national reports for more targeted and comprehensive UN discussion and action.
  • Going Further Together for Shared Impact: U.S. Public-Private Partnerships for Sustainable Development, September 21 at Deloitte, 30 Rockefeller Plaza. USCIB member companies and government partners will present and discuss examples of public-private sector partnership to advance the SDGs, with a view to expanding those working relationships and improving and scaling up efforts for shared impact and benefit.
  • USCIB Side Event, Business Makes It Happen, September 22 at Pfizer, 235 East 42nd Street. This wrap-up event will present the main recommendations and initiatives identified during UNGA week, and discuss next steps on the intersection of UN reform and the SDGs, scaling up investment in infrastructure, public-private partnerships and institutional evolution needed to catalyze business involvement to advance SDGs.

In 2015, USCIB launched Business for 2030, an ambitious effort to catalogue and catalyze company efforts to support the SDGs. The site has quickly become a go-to resource for all stakeholders interested in the SDGs to learn about what the global business community is doing to help achieve them. Business for 2030 now showcases 187 initiatives from 49 companies, in over 150 countries, covering 83 of the 169 SDG targets. These encompass both philanthropic corporate responsibility initiatives as well as core business operations that all contribute to achieving one or more of the 17 SDG targets.

“Innovation, infrastructure, economic growth and empowerment and good governance are the four inter-linked cornerstones for all 17 SDGs for business,” stated Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for strategic international engagement, energy and environment. “Therefore, it is crucial to consult with private-sector groups at the national and regional level to develop enabling frameworks for business actions to advance the SDGs.”

The latest list of UNGA week events organized by USCIB is available here.

About USCIB:
USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world. As the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Organization of Employers and Business at OECD, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More information is available at www.uscib.org.

Contact:
Jonathan Huneke, USCIB
Tel: +1 917 420 0039
jhuneke@uscib.org

APEC Workshop Looks to Raise Advertising Standards

Published on August 28, 2017
ICC’s Raelene Martin addressing the advertising standards workshop

USCIB and the International Chamber of Commerce helped organize a well-attended workshop on “APEC Advertising Standards: From Principles to Implementation” at Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings this week in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The workshop served as an important milestone in ongoing APEC discussions, strongly supported by the business community, to advance high standards for marketing and advertising throughout the APEC region. It brought together key government and advertising industry participants from APEC economies to advance the 2014 APEC Action Agenda on Advertising Standards and Practice Development, and to examine how APEC economies can implement these recommendations with key indicators for doing so.

USCIB Vice President Barbara Wanner attended the workshop alongside numerous USCIB member company representatives.

Since the first APEC advertising standards meeting in 2012, APEC economies have sought to promote the adoption and effective implementation of advertising standards consistent with international best practice. Five years on, the aim of this workshop was to address APEC ministers’ instructions in 2016 with regard to “promoting the alignment of advertising standards and reducing the cost of doing business across the region” and to “prepare a five year implementation strategy.”

“The ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising is committed to working with industry and other key stakeholders to help advocate the benefits of advertising self-regulation and the alignment of advertising standards at international level,” said Raelene Martin, ICC’s project manager for marketing and advertising. “This year’s APEC conference provided an ideal forum to re-state this commitment and advance together towards the shared goal of greater public trust in marketing and advertising.”

The Consolidated ICC Code of Advertising and Marketing Communications Practice, developed by the ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising, is the gold standard for the most nationally applied self-regulation around the world. The ICC Code, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, has served as the foundation and building block for self-regulatory structures around the world, and offers a globally consistent baseline for economies developing advertising principles while, also providing flexibility for local laws and culture to be reflected in a local code. It is a recognized and trusted rule-setting tool for the marketing and advertising industry, and at the same time is noted for its adaptability to local market and policy conditions. View the ICC Code here.