Meeting/Event Information

• 9:00 am CT: Welcome Remarks: Andrew Pidgorsky, Partner & Vice Chair of Corporate Practice, Lewis Brisbois
• 9:05 am CT: Opening Remarks: Jason Wilson, Director, U.S. Commercial Service Houston
• 9:10 am CT: Türkiye – Market Overview and Best Prospects: Daniel Pint, Commercial Officer, U.S. Commercial Service Istanbul, Türkiye
• 9:30 am CT: Kazakhstan – Market Overview, Trade Leads: Andrew Glass, Senior Commercial Officer, U.S. Commercial Service Almaty, Kazakhstan
• 9:40 am CT: Working with Commerce & State Partnership Posts: Jimmy Church, Commercial Officer, Commercial Service Ankara, Türkiye
• 9:45 am CT: Uzbekistan Overview and Best Prospects: Dan Hall, Economic-Commercial Team Lead, & Makhmud Abduasaratov – Commercial Specialist, U.S. Embassy Uzbekistan
• 10:00 am CT: Overview of Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan: Garret Mitchell, Senior Central Asia Desk Officer, International Trade Administration, Washington, DC
• 10:05 am CT: Legal Considerations for Working in Eurasia: Griffen Thorne, Partner, Lewis Brisbois
• 10:15 am CT: Pursuing Opportunities in EBRD-Funded Projects: Dennis Simmons, Senior Commercial Officer, U.S. Commercial Service EBRD, London
• 10:20 am CT: ITA's Advocacy Center – Helping U.S. Companies with Foreign Government Procurement: Jason Capehart, Defense Sector Lead & Regional Manager, Advocacy Center

• 10:30 am CT: Questions and Answers, Closing Remarks

SPEAKERS: 

Daniel Pint is a Commercial Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, Türkiye. Prior to this role, Daniel was the U.S. Commercial Service lead for the Energy, SelectUSA, ICT, and Smart Cities sectors at the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Before this, Daniel worked at the U.S. Export Assistance Center in New York City where he worked closely with the Ambassador for Management and Reform at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, advocating for U.S. commercial interests at the United Nations.

Before joining the U.S. Commercial Service, Daniel worked in vendor relationship and contract management at the U.S. General Services Administration and later at New York City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. He was also Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso focusing on sustainable agricultural practices. Daniel received a master’s degree in Consumer Affairs from the Technical University of Munich in Germany and holds a bachelor’s degree in international economics from the University of Florida.

Jimmy Church is an experienced professional with a background in government and the private sector. He has worked for three years at the International Trade Administration (ITA), previously serving as the Ukraine Desk Officer and Central Asia and Caucasus Desk Officer and is now currently the Partner Post Manager based in Ankara, Türkiye. Prior to his government service, Jimmy spent 15 years in the private sector, gaining experience in start-ups, small businesses, manufacturing companies, and industry associations. He holds an M.A. in International Economics from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Washington. Jimmy is happily married with two young sons and has language proficiency in Swahili, Korean, and Turkish.

Andrew Glass will assume the SCO role in Almaty in July 2024. Previously, he served as commercial attaché and Eurasia partner post manager within U.S. Mission Türkiye. During his tour in Türkiye, he worked to engage the CS Eurasia partner post markets—comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—to become the highest performing partner post region in the world.  

Before joining Mission Türkiye, Andrew served at the Baltimore U.S. Export Assistance Center. Prior to joining the Department of Commerce, Andrew worked for Georgetown University in communications, external relations, and business development, concluding his tenure as senior director for communications and external relations within the School of Continuing Studies.  

Andrew holds an MBA, B.A. in government and Spanish, and certificate in teaching English as a foreign language from Georgetown University. 

Makhmud Abdusatarov joined the U.S. Embassy Tashkent as a commercial specialist in October 2019. Prior to that he worked for 2.5 years in KOTRA (Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency), Commercial Section of Korean Embassy in Tashkent. Makhmud helped to develop business and trade relations between Korean and Uzbek companies. Makhmud also has work experience in equity trading, banking and hospitality industries. Makhmud is fluent in English, Russian and Uzbek. He holds BSc in Economics from Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT) and MBA from Seoul National University (SNU) in Korea. He passed CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) program level 1 and 2 exams.

Dan Hall joined U.S. Embassy Tashkent in July 2022 as Economic and Commercial Team Lead.  In his previous assignment, Dan led the Ukraine-Economic/Moldova/Belarus team in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs’ Eastern Europe office at the U.S. Department of State in Washington DC.  Prior to that (2016-2019), Dan served as the U.S. Consul in Bordeaux, France, the oldest permanent U.S. diplomatic representation.  His other postings have included the U.S. Consulate General in Basrah, Iraq and the U.S. Embassies in Warsaw, Poland and Moscow, Russia. 

Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 2004, Dan served in Poland as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer and trainer, as well as working as an advisor at USAID Warsaw and as a business consultant.  Dan holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Thunderbird and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the College of William and Mary.  Dan speaks French, Polish, and Russian, and is currently studying Uzbek.

Dennis Simmons is a career Foreign Service Officer and Commercial Diplomat with the U.S. Department of Commerce. He joined the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) in 1997 and became a Foreign Service Officer in 2003.  Mr. Simmons serves as the Senior Board Advisor (Commercial) to the U.S. Director at the EBRD.  In this capacity, he advises on and promotes U.S. business engagement with the EBRD.  He has a proven track record in commercial diplomacy and team building including promoting CAFTA-DR to the Dominican and U.S. business communities, supporting multiple trade delegations, advancing access to critical supply chain items from Malaysia during the COVID pandemic and advancing several critical market access barriers for U.S. healthcare firms in China. For the latter, his work with public and multilateral partners was recognized and awarded the Lawrence Payne Memorial Award. 

Most recently, Mr. Simmons served as a Special Advisor to the Director of the Office of Global Talent Management, devising a robust Foreign Service recruitment and Assessment strategy to diversify the Foreign Service Officer corps.  Previously, he served in Commerce Department offices at the U.S. Embassies in Malaysia, China, Egypt, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.  He also worked in the ITA’s headquarters and the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Connecticut.  He speaks Mandarin, Spanish, Russian, and French.  Mr. Simmons is married to U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Specialist Monica Simmons and they have two children.  They maintain residency and a home in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.      

Jason Capehart has been with the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) since December 2019.

In his primary role as Defense Sector Lead within ITA's Advocacy Center, Jason orchestrates inter- and intra-agency reviews and collaborates with key stakeholders from the Department of State, Department of Defense, and the Department of Commerce. His responsibilities include managing the Defense Advocacy Working Group (DAWG) interagency IT database and overseeing Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) memoranda, focusing on ITAR-controlled items.

In his secondary role as Regional Manager, Jason manages an advocacy portfolio that supports U.S. exporters competing against foreign firms for international public contracts across (16) export markets of opportunity in Central Europe and Eurasia.

Prior to his civilian career, Jason served for over 13 years in the United States Air Force (USAF), specializing in rotary- and fixed-wing air and ground operations in direct support of national security objectives.

During his military service, Jason played a critical role in planning and executing preventive maintenance and repair activities on B-2A and B-52H bomber aircraft. As a non-rated enlisted aviator, he applied his technical expertise to conduct visual pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight inspections, accumulating over 1,000 aeronautical flight hours aboard UH-1N/Bell 212 and Mi-17 helicopters, as well as the C-37A/Gulfstream V business jet.

Jason's global experience includes living and working in Afghanistan, Australia, Island of Diego Garcia, Qatar, and Türkiye. He holds a Master of Global Management in International Business Administration from Thunderbird School of Global Management and a Bachelor of Science in Aviation from Arizona State University.

Garret Mitchell has been with the U.S. Department of Commerce since 2015, serving a stint in the ITA Deputy Under Secretary’s office before moving over to cover the Central Asian and South Caucasus portfolio in the Office of Russia, Ukraine & Eurasia.

He graduated from the George Washington University with a master’s degree in Russian, Central European, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and also studied at the Herzen State Pedagogical Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia from 2013-2014. Garret was a Peace Corp volunteer in Kazakhstan, and is a proficient Russian speaker.

Jason Wilson, Director, U.S. Commercial Service, Houston International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce 

Griffen Thorne, Partner, Lewis Brisbols

Tanner Johnson has been Deputy Director of the Office of Russia, Ukraine & Eurasia since 2021, previously serving as the Senior Russia Desk Officer. He oversees a team of Country Desk Officers responsible for working with U.S. companies to address market barriers hindering U.S. exports to Eurasia, and helping U.S. companies navigate an evolving and increasingly complex commercial environment in the region. His office’s portfolio includes Türkiye, Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, and the South Caucasus.

From 2002-2018, Tanner worked with the Commerce Department’s SABIT Program, the International Trade Administration’s in-house technical assistance program primarily focused on Eurasia and South Asia, helping the program facilitate over $1 billion in U.S. exports to Eurasian program alumni. He graduated from Colgate University in 1999 and was awarded a Watson Fellowship for a year of independent study in Russia from 1999-2000.

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