Welcome Midwest Hub Interns!
We are happy to have two new fall 2009 interns join our team: Katrina Kotlarik and Nathan Trulsen. Please see their bios below for more details. Email or Call 612-348-1638 if you'd like to have an intern assist you with a project.
Interns have access to: Lotus notes, all databases on the DOC Insider, ITA Ourplace, USITC Dataweb, Global Trade Information Systems databases
-Katrina Kotlarik
Katrina Kotlarik is originally from Chicago and southeastern Wisconsin, and is currently a senior at the University of Minnesota. Her major is Global Studies with a Political Economy and East Asia focus; her minor is Management with a non-profit emphasis. After completing 5 semesters of Mandarin Chinese, Katrina further pursued her long-standing interest in China by studying abroad at the Beijing Foreign Studies University in Beijing during the first half of 2009. Her past work experience as a Banking Sales Representative at TCF Bank and a Marketing Research Assistant at the Carlson School of Management (at the University of Minnesota) has given her a financial and business platform from which, combined with her academic background, she can dive into the intricacies of international trade that have long captivated her. Katrina’s goals for this internship are to learn more about the U.S. government’s role in promoting trade; how trade laws could become more efficient (and why they aren’t); and the current and future state of Asia’s role in international trade.
-Nathan Trulsen
Nathaniel Trulsen is originally from Minnesota, where he is currently pursuing a bachelors of science in business from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. His two majors are in Finance and International Business. His interest in the former was stimulated by his work as a teller at Wells Fargo Bank, where he maintained control over several cash boxes and vaults, sold bank products, and interacted with clients ranging from commercial to affluent. His interest in international business has been accented by his experiences travelling abroad. He is specifically fond of Eastern Europe, where he completed a live consulting case for Cargill Inc. earlier in 2009. Both finance and international business will propel him towards his long-range goal of becoming a strategy consultant, fitting businesses to developing countries in an attempt to pursue transformational nation-building.
Because exporting and global trade are foundational for international business, Nathaniel’s goals for this internship include learning how the U.S. government promotes trade; developing the analytical skills to match problems with solutions from across the globe; interacting with corporate and entrepreneurial leaders that work with trade; and discovering how specific countries and cultures approach globalization and handle international trade. He specifically wants to learn more about foreign direct investment and trade in Eastern Europe.