Changing Trade Alliances
This presentation is part of the CME Group Foundation Symposium of the Yeutter Institute “Changing Governments, Changing Trade: Impacts from Global to Local." The symposium is supported by the CME Group Foundation and Smithfield.
Kirsten Hillman
Kirsten Hillman was appointed Canada’s Ambassador to the United States of America in Washington D.C. in March 2020, the first woman to serve in this position.
As Deputy Ambassador from August 2017 to August 2019, Ambassador Hillman was deeply involved in the negotiations to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Prior to joining the Embassy, Ambassador Hillman held the position of Assistant Deputy Minister of the Trade Agreements and Negotiations Branch at Global Affairs Canada, overseeing all of Canada’s trade policy and trade negotiations. She also served as Canada’s Chief Negotiator for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), one of the most visionary and progressive trade agreements implemented to date.
Through her twenty-five-year career with the Government of Canada, Ambassador Hillman has held various positions both at home and abroad. She served for many years as senior trade counsel, representing Canada in NAFTA investor-state dispute settlement and at the World Trade Organization (WTO), and served as Senior Legal Adviser at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the WTO in Geneva.
Before joining Global Affairs Canada, Ambassador Hillman practised law in Montréal and at the Department of Justice in Ottawa.
Ambassador Hillman grew up in Calgary and Winnipeg and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelor of Civil Law as well as a Bachelor of Common Law from McGill University.
Darci Vetter
Ambassador Darci Vetter is general manager for public affairs and vice chair for food, agriculture and trade at Edelman, where she supports clients in the commodities, supply chain, agribusiness and global trade arenas.
From 2014-2017, Ambassador Vetter served as chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative a Senate-confirmed Presidential Appointment with the rank of ambassador. In this role, she was responsible for bilateral and multilateral negotiations, including the Trans Pacific Partnership agricultural package, and significant bilateral negotiations with Japan, China, Brazil and other countries.
Ms. Vetter was the deputy under secretary of agriculture from 2010-2014, where she oversaw the Foreign Agricultural Service, led the department’s international trade negotiating team, directed USDA’s export assistance programs, and coordinated USDA's role in international food aid and trade capacity building.
Jill O'Donnell
O’Donnell is the Haggart-Work Director of the Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance and a professor of practice at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is also the creator and host of "Trade Matters," a podcast of the Yeutter Institute. Jill leads the effort to build and grow the Yeutter Institute across its mission areas of education, research, and public engagement. Her prior experience in the international relations and U.S. foreign policy arena spans Capitol Hill, international organizations, research entities, and the private sector. She is a graduate of Washington and Lee University and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).