DILLON BANERJEE
Dillon Banerjee is the Senior Commercial Officer for the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon. He arrived in March 2007 and will remain in that position through 2011. His Lisbon-based staff consists of 4 Commercial Specialists covering the full range of industry and service sectors, plus an Administrative Specialist. Geographic responsibilities include all of mainland Portugal, plus the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores. In addition to managing the U.S. government’s trade promotion programs in Portugal, Dillon represents the Embassy on the Board of Directors for the American Club of Lisbon and the American Chamber of Commerce in Portugal.
Dillon’s last assignment was to Moscow, Russia, where he served as Commercial Officer from 2004 through 2006. Before his assignment to Moscow, Dillon completed a 2-year tour with CS Nigeria in Lagos. Prior to joining the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service, Dillon worked as a Program Officer for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, D.C. and Pretoria, South Africa. He also worked for three years as a Project Officer for the Environmental Protection Agency and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon, West Africa. He received a Master’s Degree in International Development from the School of International Service at The American University. His Bachelor’s Degree is in Government and International Economics from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.
PATRICK D. CRILLEY
Patrick D. Crilley is the Regional Director, Southwest of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank). Located in Houston, the Southwest Regional Office is responsible for all of Ex-Im Bank business development activities in an eight-state region comprising: Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas, with particular emphasis on outreach efforts for the small business exporter community.
Mr. Crilley is a graduate of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University (B.A., 1979) and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Mercer University in Atlanta (1983).
Prior to joining Ex-Im Bank in 1992, Mr. Crilley spent thirteen years in the specialized export credit insurance industry with FCIA Management Co. (formerly known as Foreign Credit Insurance Association), including assignments in Atlanta, New York City, and Houston.
In addition, under Mr. Crilley’s leadership, the Houston Office of Ex-Im Bank has been ranked as one of the national leaders in promoting export finance and export credit insurance.
Mr. Crilley is a Member of the Greater Houston Partnership World Trade Supervisory Board; The Houston Federal Executive Board; the US Department of Commerce Houston District Export Council; the Houston Mayor’s International Affairs and Development Council; and the Houston Committee on Foreign Relations.
MELISSA KELLY-McCABE
Melissa S. Kelly-McCabe, President and CEO of Clear Intent Strategy, Inc., is a strategist, business advisor, and dynamic public speaker. Having worked in industry and with corporate executives for over twenty years, she assists leaders and boards create clarity of strategy, cause positive and lasting change, and realize their visions. Melissa's reach spans hundreds of service and manufacturing companies, non-profit firms, and industrial economic development corporations in 50 states, Canada, and the Caribbean. Prior to forming Clear Intent Strategy, Melissa held positions with WNY Technology Development Center, Inc., Price Waterhouse LLP, and General Motors Corporation, and was a guest lecturer at George Washington University and University at Buffalo. Melissa was an assistant to Dr. W. Edwards Deming for five years, researching thinking processes and teaching groups about Deming management principles. (Dr. Deming is credited with transforming Japanese management principles and causing the quality revolution.)
Melissa holds a Masters of Science in Organization Systems, focusing on Change Processes, from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelors degree in Statistics, minor in Industrial Engineering, from the University at Buffalo. Melissa completed an 18 month certificate in Gestalt therapy from Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, and is pursuing a one year certificate in Gestalt Working with Physical Process. She is a member of the International Coach Federation, International Association of Facilitators, OD Network, and the Gestalt Institute.
At home in the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of New York State, she spends time sculpting, skiing, gardening, and looking for bears in the woods.
JOHN McCASLIN
John McCaslin is currently serving a 3-year tour as Senior Commercial Officer in Warsaw, Poland. He just completed a 4-year tour as Deputy Senior Commercial Officer in Moscow, Russia. Prior to his assignment to Moscow, he was the Principal Commercial Officer in Munich, Germany from 1997 to 2001. He is one of the few Commercial Officers to have spent considerable time working both in the domestic field and overseas. From 1990 to 1997 he was a Trade Specialist and Director of the Cincinnati Export Assistance Center. During that time he opened a branch office in Columbus, Ohio.
McCaslin joined the Commercial Service in 1990 after serving as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State for five years. He was an Economic Officer in Korea, spending time at the U.S. Consulate in Pusan and the Embassy in Seoul. After Korea he worked in Washington at the Economic and Business Affairs Bureau negotiating bilateral trade agreements in the textile sector and then he served briefly on the staff of the Deputy Secretary of State focusing on Eastern Europe. This was during 1989-90, when these formerly Communist states were beginning their transitions to democracy and free market economies. Soon thereafter he transferred to the Commercial Service.
Prior to becoming a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department, he was a social science instructor at a private, independent day school in Dayton, Ohio from 1981 to 1985.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he obtained a B.A. in Russian Studies and German from Colgate University in upstate New York and an M.A. in International Relations from Columbia University in New York City.
EMERSON SMITH
Emerson Smith is a sociologist and president of Metromark Market Research, Inc., with offices in Dallas, Texas and Columbia, South Carolina.
Emerson received a Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta, a M.A. from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, and a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.
He was a Leverhulme Fellow at the University of Exeter in Devon, England.
During his time living in England, he assisted the South Carolina Department of Commerce, then known as the State Development Board, in identifying UK businesses with a potential to invest in manufacturing in South Carolina.
He has led delegations from the US on trade and investment missions in the UK and the Netherlands and leads missions from Europe to the US.
He is a member of the European Association of Development Agencies (EURADA) as well as a member of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), where he is serves on the International Committee.
While Emerson has worked in Western Europe and the Pacific Rim, his primary focus is on Central European countries with a concentration on the Republic of Poland.