Western Washington University’s College of Business and Economics’ Center for Economic Vitality (CEV) has added Neal Ambrose as the export program manager for the new export initiative, Jump Start Washington Exports, which will serve businesses in Washington State interested in exporting or expanding exports.
Ambrose brings more than 10 years of export market development experience working with start-ups, small-to-medium businesses and Fortune 500 companies. He has worked in shipping and logistics, trade finance, import-export operations and global supply chain integration. For more than five years Ambrose has been responsible for global marketing and distribution operations based in Switzerland, Hong Kong and the United States.
Ambrose earned an M.B.A. in international management from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Puget Sound. He has a Six Sigma Green Belt and speaks French and some Mandarin Chinese.
“You don’t need to be a multi-million-dollar company to export today,” Ambrose said in a press release. “Technology, logistics, and trade finance make exporting possible in ways that would not have been possible for small-to-medium businesses 15 years ago. The timing of this initiative could not be better. The question, to my mind, is not whether a business should export, but can it afford not to consider it?”
The export program is part of the state’s special export initiative that is funded by the Washington Department of Commerce. Part of the CEV’s export services now include no-cost confidential business counseling and match-making activities connecting foreign buyers directly with Washington producers, with special emphasis on Canadian connections.
Businesses in agriculture, forest products, information and communication technology and manufacturing are especially encouraged to contact the CEV to get more information.
For more information, go to www.cevforbusiness.com or call 360-733-4014.