Celeste Drake, who often opposed trade agreements in her eight years leading trade and globalization policy at the AFL-CIO, was named Made in America director, a new job at the Office of Management and Budget. Most recently, she was a top lobbyist at the Directors Guild of America. The Biden administration said Drake “will shape and implement Federal procurement and financial management policy to help carry out the President’s vision of a future made in all of America by all of America’s workers -- including minority entrepreneurs and small businesses in every region in our country.”

The Coalition for a Prosperous America hired Amanda Mayoral as an economist and Robby Smith as a national security adviser, the trade group said in an April 21 news release. "Mayoral will work with the Economics Team on building CPA’s resources of original research and analysis to demonstrate the effectiveness of aggressive policies for trade, industry, and economic growth," said CPA. "Smith will work with the Government Relations Team to continue to expand CPA’s presence in Washington, including on Capitol Hill and in the administration, with a special emphasis on China policy, national security, and human rights." Mayoral previously worked at the World Bank and U.S. Institute of Peace. Smith joins from the United Nations.

The U.S. Council of International Business hired Alice Slayton Clark, previously a senior government relations adviser at Jacobs Global Trade & Compliance, as director for Investment, Trade and China policy, the USCIB said in an April 21 news release.

Eugene Laney, previously the head of international government affairs for DHL Express, will be the president and CEO of the American Association of Exporters and Importers, the AAEI said in an April 19 news release. Laney's first day will be April 26. Marianne Rowden, the previous CEO, left the trade group at the end of March (see 2101050054).

Beth Baltzan, a former Democratic trade counsel at the House Ways and Means Committee and career staffer in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, has been named a senior advisor to USTR Katherine Tai. “She understands the connective tissues in our economy and I look forward to leaning on her expertise and guidance as we shape a worker-centric trade policy,” Tai said in a statement announcing the appointment. Baltzan has testified before Congress that the World Trade Organization hobbled trade remedies (see 1905220038) and has been critical of the impulse to lower tariffs as the primary approach of trade policy (see 1905220038).

The chief trade counsel for the Democratic majority on the Senate Finance Committee, and Joe Biden's former head of economic and domestic policy when he was vice president have been nominated as deputy U.S. trade representatives. Sarah Bianchi, who works at Evercore ISI, and senate staffer Jayme White were named by the White House on April 16. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., White's boss, called both “top-notch” choices, adding, “I am excited to see these nominations move forward as soon as possible.”

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois Shoba Pillay joined Jenner & Block's Chicago office, the firm announced in an April 13 press release. Pillay specializes in fraud, cybercrime, data privacy, export control and sanctions, trade secrets and intellectual property cases, and will bring that experience to both the investigations, compliance and defense practice and data privacy and cybersecurity practice, where she will be a partner.

Rufus Yerxa, the leader of the National Foreign Trade Council, will be retiring in September, he told us. Yerxa, who will be 70 at the time of his exit, does plan to continue consulting or do other part-time work. He said he expects the NFTC board to have selected a replacement by its July meeting.

Lam Research Corp. added a semiconductor industry official and a former Bureau of Industry and Security official to its government affairs team, according to Rich Ashooh, the company's vice president of global government affairs. Lam hired Chantal Lakatos de Alcantara, BIS’s former director of nonproliferation policy, who will serve as its senior director for regulatory affairs, Ashooh said in an April 5 LinkedIn post. The company also hired Taylor Sholler, a former government affairs director with Applied Materials, who will serve as Lam’s senior director for legislative affairs. Ashooh left his senior role at BIS last year (see 2007210016).

Bloomberg News is reporting that Sarah Bianchi, a senior managing director at Evercore ISI International, is being considered for deputy U.S. trade representative, according to anonymous sources. Bianchi, who once served as director of policy for Vice President Joe Biden, is still being vetted, the sources said. The story did not say which deputy job Bianchi would be put in, but a commissioner for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission tweeted that she would be in charge of China.