OREANDA-NEWS. The Coalition of Services Industries (CSI) announced today that Laura Lane, UPS President of Global Public Affairs, has been elected Chairman of CSI’s Board of Directors.

"I look forward to working alongside new CSI President Christine Bliss as she brings new energy and ideas to our shared mission of promoting services liberalization,” said Lane.  “We will continue to work with the Administration, Congress and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) partners to ensure we maximize the agreement’s commercial benefits and enable Congressional approval of TPP. We also aim to achieve a high-standard agreement in the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) as well as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. These trade deals are important opportunities for us to open new markets to U.S. services, a segment in which America is highly competitive."

CSI’s President Christine Bliss said, “We are thrilled to have the benefit of Laura’s leadership and experience and look forward to building an even stronger more effective CSI under her guidance.”

Lane, a public affairs executive with extensive government and corporate experience, leads a global team of more than 90 employees with responsibility for all UPS policy and government relations in more than 220 countries and territories.

Prior to joining UPS, Laura was the head of International Government Affairs at Citigroup and before joining Citi, Lane was VP for Global Public Policy with Time Warner. In her government career, Lane served as a trade negotiator in the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office (USTR). In this role, she negotiated market access commitments on trade in services with China as part of its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and served as U.S. negotiator on the first ever WTO Financial Services Agreement.

Before joining USTR, Lane served in the U.S. Foreign Service in the State Department's 24-Hour Watch and in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs where she was part of the U.S. negotiating team on basic telecommunications service. In her overseas assignments, Lane was the economic and political-military affairs officer at the American Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda.  She led the evacuation effort of American citizens from Rwanda during the genocide and returned later as political advisor to U.S. forces providing humanitarian relief to Rwandan refugees. Lane also served as economic and consular officer in Bogota, Colombia for two years. In her state department career, she was the recipient of two Superior Honor awards and a Meritorious Honor award.

Lane serves as Vice President of the Board of the German American Business Council and as a member of the Board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital. She has also served as Corporate Chair of the Global Partnership Initiative for Refugees International.

About CSI

The Coalition of Services Industries is the leading industry association devoted exclusively to promoting the international objectives of service sectors. We produce tangible, commercially meaningful results by advocating for international rules, modernized customs processes, market access commitments, and regulatory systems that ensure fair competition for all service industries. CSI represents the broad array of U.S.-based entities that provide services domestically and internationally, including but not limited to, digital trade and technology, telecommunications, media and entertainment, express delivery and logistics, retail and wholesale services, banking, insurance, and other services.

About UPS

UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including transporting packages and freight; facilitating international trade, and deploying advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Headquartered in Atlanta, UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide.