North Carolina World Trade Association forms new Southeast Chapter for Fayetteville, Wilmington, Greenville areas

By Staff Report, posted Aug 22, 2022 on BizFayetteville.com

The North Carolina World Trade Association will be coming to the greater Wilmington, Fayetteville and Greenville areas with the formation of a new Southeast Chapter.

Their mission is to encourage growth of trade between North Carolina and the world by providing opportunities for networking, education, and advocacy.

The president of the newly formed chapter is Tom Guthrie from the NC State Ports Authority. “This is a perfect time, post-Covid to engage the international businesses in our region. By providing education and networking opportunities we hope to understand and build local capabilities, share global best practices and increase international opportunities for our community,” said Guthrie in a press release.

International Business Development Counselor Paige O’Neill shared the reason for starting this new chapter: “There wasn’t enough collaboration between international business people across the area. We felt that there would be good networking opportunities to share best practices in Fayetteville, Wilmington and Greenville.”

The inaugural Board of Directors is composed of individuals from the local business community, the Small Business Technology Development Center and UNCW. Members include:

President: Tom Guthrie NC Port Authority
President Elect: Jay Schach UNCW Adjunct Professor, Int’l Business
Treasurer: Lauren Fuhrer Michael Best
Secretary: Paige O’Neill SBTDC International Business
Advising Director: Drew Brown A.R.C.Transit Logistics
Advising Director: Byron Carroll Carroll International
Advising Director: Steve Janz Flow Sciences

“We want to be able to do some matchmaking between people who have international loan opportunities, bankers and accountants, and legal staff that they may not be aware of now as well as grants from North Carolina and the US government,” added O’Neill.

The Chapter will be launching their first event in September. It will be a meet and greet centered around gaining feedback from members as to what types of educational opportunities they would like to explore in the first year.

The membership drive is now open. To join, visit https://ncworldtrade.org/chapters/southeast-chapter/

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