The University of Oklahoma
College of Law
in conjunction with the
International Intertribal Trade and Investment Organization
is pleased to offer the fifth of a monthly free educational lecture series on Indigenous Law and Policy
Want to Take Your Business outside the domestic market and make International Sales?
Get Your Skills Ready for International Trade
Featuring
Caroline Tompkins, CAE, CITP
President and CEO, Forum for International Trade Training
and
Dr. James Collard, CITP/FIBP, FM
Director of Economic Development, Citizen Potawatomi Nation
and
Special Host-Expert
Michael Woods
Senior Partner and
International Trade Law Expert, Woods LaFortune LLP
Discussion Date: Thursday September 30, 2021 Noon (Central Time)
Register for FREE at this Link:
https://oklahoma.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Pu5knSBhRSGqS-0ljYVtIQ
PANELISTS
Caroline Tompkins, CAE, CITP
President and CEO, Forum for International Trade Training
Caroline Tompkins is the President & CEO of the Forum for International Trade Training (FITT), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to building the proficiency of businesses, professionals, and students, to access global markets, reduce and manage risks of international trade, and enable profitable competition. Caroline has experience in both the public and private sectors. Her experience in the educational sector began at Simon Fraser University with the Public Policy Programs division in the Consulting Education department. She is steadfast in her commitment to the continued growth of FITT as a thriving organization for international trade professionals and has cultivated relationships with the many industry and government partners fundamental to its success.
Caroline combines a solid understanding of training with an acute business sense, and was recognized as a notable Canadian woman in the 1999/00 edition of Chatelaine’s Who’s Who of Canadian Women and is listed in the Canadian Who’s Who publications. In 1999, Caroline was the recipient of the Peter Bentley Scholarship for the University of British Columbia’s Residential Programme for Executive Development and has since fulfilled the rigorous requirements for the Certified Association Executives (CAE), and the Certified International Trade Professional (CITP) designations. In 2012, Caroline was presented the Queen Elizabeth 11 Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Dr. James Collard, CITP/FIBP, FM
Director of Economic Development, Citizen Potawatomi Nation
Dr. Collard is the Director of Planning and Economic Development for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation (CPN). In this capacity he evaluates and facilitates business development proposals and tribal franchise opportunities. He also compiled and manages the CPN Economic Development Strategy. He is currently developing Iron Horse, a rail-anchored industrial park that serves as a destination for Foreign Direct Investment and Import/Export Center for U.S. domestic companies. Dr. Collard has initiated and packaged numerous economic development projects and agreements between multiple governmental entities and businesses. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the International Economic Development Council. He is also on the Executive Committee of the International Inter-tribal Trade & Investment Organization (IITO). Dr. Collard is the Past Chair of the OK Governor’s International Team and is a member of the Oklahoma District Export Council. Dr. Collard has traveled extensively internationally on business and as a participant on trade missions and diplomatic delegations. He is also the co-founder and chair of the Tribal-Municipal Dialogue, a group dedicated to increasing cooperation between tribal & local governments. He is currently working with the University of Oklahoma – College of Law on Indigenous Human Rights issues.
Special Host-Expert
Michael Woods
Senior Partner &
International Trade Law Expert
Woods LaFortune LLP, International Trade Law
Michael Woods is a founding partner of Woods, LaFortune LLP and has broad experience in international business with special expertise in all aspects of international trade litigation. He brings a special “problem-solving” approach to client matters, drawing on a wide range of skills and knowledge in international transactions of all kinds. His practice includes international trade and cross-border litigation, import and export controls, regulatory law, information technology and knowledge management, government procurement and contracting, and government relations. Mr. Woods has been recognized as a leading practitioner in the area of International Trade/WTO since 2008 by Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business. In June 2013, he was awarded the Ontario Bar Association Award for Excellence in International Law.
Mr. Woods began his career in trial and appellate litigation. In 1981, he joined Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), serving as a trade lawyer, a trade negotiator at HQ as with the Canadian Embassies in Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Korea. After 21 years in government, he joined a Gottlieb & Pearson – an international trade law boutique in Montreal where he specialized in trade remedies and regulatory matters. He joined Heenan Blaikie, a large national and international firm, as a partner in 2007. He managed the Ottawa office’s international trade work and was lead counsel in several international investment disputes. In 2014 he co-founded Woods, LaFortune LLP, an international trade law boutique based in Ottawa.
Mr. Woods is able to draw on his wide range of knowledge and experience in international trade. While with the DFAIT, he was counsel on a series landmark NAFTA, WTO, FTA, and GATT disputes on matters that ranged from market access to complex subsidy and anti-dumping issues. As a trade negotiator, Mr. Woods played a key role in multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations. Since returning to the private sector, Mr. Woods has been lead counsel in two NAFTA Chapter 11 challenges, as well as in arbitrations under Canada’s Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA). The WTO’s Advisory Centre on World Trade Law (ACWL) has recognized Mr. Woods as an expert in international dispute settlement. Mr. Woods has appeared in numerous trade remedies cases as counsel before the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) and the Federal Court of Canada. He also maintains an active government relations practice focused on international domestic trade. Mr. Woods has a global practice and represents clients, international and domestic and at all levels of government in Canada. He has played a lead role in putting together private trade missions and is particularly active in Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Brazil.
As a founding member of the International Inter-Tribal Trade and Investment Organization (IITIO), Mr. Woods is committed to the promotion of Indigenous participation in international trade and the study of the interrelation of Aboriginal Law and International Trade and Economic Law and is a frequent speaker on the subject. He is an active member of the Government of Canada’s Indigenous Working Group (IWG).
Actively involved in legal education, he has served as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Group of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information Studies from 1998 to 2002. He was awarded the Abor Award in 2001 for his work on the Canada-U.S. Border Portal. Mr. Woods has lectured at the American University in Washington D.C., HEC Montréal, Queen’s University, the University of Western Ontario, and the University of Ottawa. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Canada-Arab Business Council (CABC), the Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association (CERBA), and the Forum for International Trade Training (FITT).
