Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has appointed 24 members to the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (PAC-DBIA) to serve a two-year term. The PAC-DBIA was established in 2014 to provide recommendations and analysis to the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, on strengthening commercial engagement between the United States and Africa.  

Over the next two years, the PAC-DBIA will serve as an important source of private sector input helping to advance the Biden Administration’s commitment to expanding and deepening U.S. commercial partnerships in Africa that are grounded in shared interests, support, and mutual respect and responsibility. The PAC-DBIA will advise the President on facilitating U.S. business participation in economic sectors critical to economic recovery from recent global crises and inclusive long-term growth across Africa, creating jobs in the United States and Africa through trade and investment, building the capacity of Africa's youth and entrepreneurs to develop trade and investment ties with partners in the United States, and developing and strengthening partnerships and other mechanisms to increase U.S. public and private sector financing of trade with and investment in Africa. Specifically, the PAC-DBIA will provide insights to inform implementation of Biden Administration priorities, including the Prosper Africa initiative, the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, other sector-specific initiatives as necessary, U.S. government support for the African Continental Free Trade Area, and bilateral memoranda of understanding led by the U.S. Department of Commerce focused on U.S. commercial cooperation with African countries.

For more information on the PAC-DBIA, please visit https://www.trade.gov/pac-dbia/.

The appointed members for the 2022-2024 term of the PAC-DBIA are:

• Franklin Amoo, Founding and Managing Partner, Baylis Emerging Markets
• Jason P.H. Brantley, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Asia and Africa, Agriculture & Turf Division, Deere & Company
• Deepak Chopra, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President, OSI Systems
• Gad Cohen, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, eleQtra Group
• Takreem El-Tohamy, General Manager, Global Strategic Sales, IBM
• Catherine Estrampes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Europe, Middle East and Africa, GE Healthcare
• Bruce Hanson, President & Chief Executive Officer, Credence ID
• Kathryn Karol, Vice President, Global Government and Corporate Affairs, Caterpillar Inc.
• Francine Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy, and Purpose Officer, Cisco Systems, Inc.
• William (Bill) Killeen, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Acrow
• Gerald Mahinda, Managing Director for Sub Saharan Africa, Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey, Kellogg Company
• Sami Mainich, Chair of Dow Africa Steering Committee; Managing Director, North & West Africa, Dow
• John Nevergole, Chief Executive Officer, ABD Group
• Kwabena Osei-Sarpong, President and Chief Executive Officer, RIFE International
• Bruno Pietracci, President, Africa Operating Unit, Coca Cola Africa
• Nicole Poindexter, Chief Executive Officer, Energicity Corp
• Olivier Puech, President and Executive Vice President, EMEA and Latin America, American Tower Corporation
• Justin Siberell, President, Europe, Africa, and Middle East Region, Bechtel Overseas Corporation
• Peter Sullivan, Managing Director and Head of Public Sector for Africa, Citi
• Andrew Torre, President for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Visa Inc.
• Chris Toth, Chief Executive Officer, Varian Medical Systems
• Kate Tulenko, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Corvus Health
• Patrick Van Der Loo, Regional President for Africa and the Middle East, Pfizer

Rahama Wright, Chief Executive Officer, Yeleen Enterprises