About Us
GlobalWorks Team
Claude Fontheim, Chairman and Co-founder
Over thirty years of experience in international trade and economic policy; Former service on the President’s Advisory Committee for International Trade Policy and Negotiations and on the Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (ACIEP); Currently serving on USTR’s Trade Advisory Committee on Africa (TACA); As CEO of Fontheim International, LLC, advises international companies concerning various matters of international trade, corporate social responsibility and public policy; Chairman, Democratic Leadership Council’s Project on the New Global Economy; Executive Committee member of: Alliance to End Hunger; Advisory Board member of: Harvard University Public Diplomacy Collaborative, and the U.S.-Bangladesh Advisory Council.
D. Holly Hammonds, Co-founder, Member of the Board, Senior Advisor
Over twenty five years experience in international trade and economic policy, and related labor, human rights and environmental issues; Private, government and non-governmental sectors; Former Special Assistant to the President of the United States; Senior Director for international economic policy and trade, National Security Council and National Economic Council; Trade lawyer; Extensive work negotiating and implementing the GATT/WTO and bilateral and regional trade agreements with Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa; Boards of numerous business and nonprofit organizations; Fellowships at Progressive Policy Institute, World Resources Institute, Council on Foreign Relations; Previously presidential appointee, Board of Conciliators, World Bank Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes; Member Council on Foreign Relations.
Leslie C. Griffin, Executive Director
Leslie Griffin is Executive Director of GlobalWorks Foundation. Ms. Griffin most recently served as Vice President of International Governmental Affairs for New York Life Insurance Company, where she represented the company's interests on international policy and financial services issues before domestic and foreign government officials. She previously served as Chief of Staff to the Chairman and CEO of New York Life International. Prior to joining New York Life, Ms. Griffin was Managing Director for Asian Affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce, where she worked with member companies across multiple sectors on trade policy priorities. While at the Chamber, she also held the roles of Executive Director of the US-Korea Business Council and the Hong Kong-US Business Council. Earlier roles include analyst positions with the American Petroleum Institute and the Congressional Budget Office. Ms. Griffin taught and studied in Nanjing, China and is a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations. She is proficient in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.
Edward Gresser, Director, ProgressiveEconomy Project
Edward Gresser's 18 years of experience in trade policy includes five years as senior Senate staffer for Senator Max Baucus(D-MT), then three as Policy Advisor to US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky from 1998 to 2001, where he was twice awarded USTR's Special Achievement Award for contribution to passage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act and to China's accession to the WTO. From 2001 until joining GlobalWorks to launch ProgressiveEconomy in 2011, he led the Trade and Global Markets Project for the Progressive Policy Institute and Democratic Leadership Council, where his research on US tariff policy, trade relations with the Muslim world, and 2007 book "Freedom from Want: American Liberalism and Global Economy" drew worldwide notice and invitations to testify before several Senate Committees. Outside ProgressiveEconomy, Gresser teaches graduate courses in trade policy and economic diplomacy at Johns Hopkins University, and volunteers as an essay-writing instructor for Asian-American high school students on weekends.