Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show Kimberly A Reed - Former EXIM Chairman / President - Stimulating STEM & Securing U.S. High-Tech Economy
Kimberly A. Reed just finished up a 2-year term as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Export- Import Bank of the United States (EXIM - https://www.exim.gov). She was the first woman to lead EXIM in the agency’s 87-year history, was the first recipient of EXIM’s highest honor, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Award, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2019 on a strong bi-partisan basis. EXIM provides loans, guarantees, and export credit insurance for the export of U.S. goods and services from enterprises ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small businesses in a multitude of sectors including infrastructure, power, agriculture, transportation/aviation, health care, commodities, industrial, and technology. Ms. Reed was recognized for successfully navigating Congress to re-open EXIM after four years of dormancy and transforming the mission and impact of the 515-person independent federal agency. Ms. Reed also spearheaded EXIM’s historic, longest-ever Congressional re-authorization of seven years and a significant new mandate, the Program on China and Transformational Exports, which focuses on industries including biomedical sciences, biotechnology, wireless communication (5G), renewable energy, financial technologies, artificial intelligence, and the space industry. Prior to EXIM, Ms. Reed spent her career working at senior levels in both the public and private sectors. Ms. Reed served as President of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation where she worked with multi-national food, agriculture, and nutrition companies to understand consumer insights, communicate the science, and increase U.S. sales and exports. At the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Ms. Reed headed the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, where she oversaw the award of $4 billion in tax credits, loans, and grants to financial institutions and economic development groups investing in distressed communities across the nation. Ms. Reed also served as Senior Advisor to U.S. Treasury Secretaries John Snow and Henry Paulson, as well as counsel to three committees in the U.S. House of Representatives—Ways and Means, Government Reform and Oversight, and Education and the Workforce Committees, where she focused on Congressional investigations, oversight, and reform of federal agencies. She was also Vice President for Financial Markets Policy at Lehman Brothers in New York. Recognized as one of the “100 Women Leaders in STEM,” Washingtonian’s “Most Powerful Women in Washington,” and West Virginia Executive’s “Lawyers and Leaders,“ Ms. Reed previously served on the Boards of the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Impact Movement, American Swiss Foundation, National Coalition for Food and Agriculture Research, Tax Coalition, and West Virginia Wesleyan College. She was the first woman elected as Chair of the Republican National Lawyers Association and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ms. Reed earned her J.D. from West Virginia University College of Law and B.S. in biology from West Virginia Wesleyan College. She is a Certified Association Executive (CAE), earned a Professional Certificate in Finance from the New York Institute of Finance, and, with a passion for travel, she has visited more than one hundred countries.