Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1413164
Meet The New Members Keith Schneller – Senior Specialist, Trade Policy Let's talk about your extensive trade policy background. You have held several positions in the area. I grew up on a grain farm in northeast Colorado, but we lost our farm in the mid- 80's when interest rates went sky high and crop prices plummeted. My brothers and I had to put ourselves through college. One of my professors at Colorado State University suggested I forget about a PhD and go to work for USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and work overseas as an Agricultural Attache promoting US agricultural exports. After that great suggestion, that's what I did for over twenty years. Of my 24-year career at FAS, we spent nearly 2/3 of our time overseas between eastern Europe and greater China. I worked on a multitude of issues covering many U.S. commodities. So you may be new to the ABC team, but you have been working with them for years? While working overseas, I was introduced to many importers, processors and retailers of U.S. agricultural products. I also worked directly with U.S. agricultural/food exporters and various agricultural trade associations including ABC. While I was stationed in Shanghai from 2010-2014, I was very familiar with the almond name issue that took place in China regarding the "badamu" vs "daxingren" issue. At that time, I helped keep FAS leadership apprised of what was happening on the ground in eastern China related to the name change issue. Give me an example/instance of something you worked on in your USTR tenure that you are especially proud of or challenging? In 2018, I joined a very elite team at USTR working on the Agri-Chapter of the US-China Phase One Agreement. It was a very challenging time due to the up and down political relationship between our two countries, but I was amazed at how much China was willing to give us as far as structural changes in providing enhanced access to their agricultural markets. The purchases agreement was mostly political, but the real success was found in the various structural changes offered by China in the agreement. I hope that China will continue to open in the future and continue its path of raising millions of its citizens out of poverty and bringing them into the 21st century of developed nations. I firmly believe we can still work together in making the world a better place, but the Chinese government certainly needs to be more responsible and respect international standards and the rule of law to become a true world leader. Is it true you were once a commercial diver? At one point, we had two airplanes on our farm, so I got my pilot's license when I was 16. Right after losing our farm (including our Cessnas), one of my brothers and I moved to San Pedro, CA and took a six month long commercial diving course that teaches divers how to use mixed gas/saturation diving mainly to work on offshore oil rigs. However, when interest rates took off in the '80s, oil prices also tanked. Therefore, it was difficult to find a job as a commercial diver. I ended up going back to Colorado for more schooling. Principal Analyst, Regulatory/Environmental Affairs Jesse Roseman Focus: Domestic, environmental issues Experience: 10+ years at The Nature Conservancy and other environmental positions Senior Trade Policy Specialist Keith Schneller Focus: Foreign trade, Asia-Pacific Experience: Two years at USTR, 10+ years at various foreign USDA offices Principal Abhijeet Kulkarni Focus: Certification programs, international trade Experience: 8+ years California Walnut Board, 10+ years at SCS Global Services AROUND THE WORLD Continued from page 12 13