If you are part of the international marketplace—or want to be—you may want to consider doing business with Brazil.  With the largest Latin American economy and the eighth largest economy in the world, there would seem to be an unlimited potential market. 

So what are the keys to being successful in Brazil?  What role does the Brazilian government play in growing business in Brazil and what do you need to know about area’s culture before you jump into negotiations with this growing Latin American neighbor?

Join us for a special keynote presentation by Lorrie Fussell, Brazil Desk Officer for the US Department of Commerce, as she shares her expertise and answers your questions about the business climate in Brazil.

As the Brazil Desk Officer, Ms. Fussell works to ensure that Brazil provides market access to U.S. companies and complies with trade obligations with the United States.  Ms. Fussell also is engaged in a wide range of economic and commercial analysis of the Brazilian market and advises senior officials on U.S.-Brazil trade policy, market access and trade agreements compliance.  She assists in advancing policy issues under the U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue and is the lead for the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum, a joint White House and Commerce initiative that brings together business leaders to identify ways to strengthen the economic relationship.  Based at the U.S. Department of Commerce headquarters in Washington D.C., Ms. Fussell maintains close liaison with other U.S. government agencies, business organizations, and Brazilian government entities.

At the Department of Commerce, Ms. Fussell has also worked on issues related to Cuba’s economy and completed a five-week fact finding mission to Angola to assess the viability of opening a Foreign Commercial Service Office at the U.S. Embassy in Luanda.  She originally joined the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2006 as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Market Access and Compliance division of the International Trade Administration (ITA). 

Before joining the Department of Commerce, Ms. Fussell worked at Kissinger McLarty Associates (KMA), a strategic international advisory firm headed by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty III, formerly President Clinton’s Chief of Staff and later Special Envoy for the Americas.  At KMA, Ms. Fussell assisted the President and Managing Partner in counseling U.S. companies on market access, strategic planning, corporate communications, and political and economic risk issues throughout Latin America.

Ms. Fussell has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Arts Degree in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University.  Ms. Fussell is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Come for the buffet breakfast and stay to network after the program.