The Messenger 04.02.08

Dean Peterson, director of the Nashville Export Assistance Center, U.S. Commercial Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, will speak at the University of Tennessee at Martin Tuesday as part of the International Lecture Series.
The event is set for 1 p.m. in Room 206AB of Boling University Center.
Peterson’s topic will be “China and the Asian Century — Implications for the United States.” The lecture is free and open to the public.
In his role as director, Peterson is responsible for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s export promotion activities in Tennessee, including export assistance centers in Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville. He brings to his position more than 30 years of international business experience in trade policy, trade promotion, consulting, teaching and senior management.
Peterson was named director in October 2000, following tours as the senior U.S. commercial officer at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London and as principal commercial officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. From 1992 through 1995, he served as director of the Detroit Export Assistance Center with responsibility for U.S. trade promotion activities in Michigan.
Peterson has spent most of his professional career in the private sector, including 16 years as director of economics and senior planner with the RJR/Nabisco Corporation and its predecessor companies (Nabisco and Nabisco Brands Inc.). Prior to joining Nabisco, he was a founding partner of the International Business and Economic Research Corporation, a leading Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm specializing in research and advocacy on trade policy and foreign direct investment issues on behalf of a broad spectrum of domestic and foreign clients.
From August 1990 through August 1992, he served as president of Global Market Strategies in Atlanta.
He has written extensively, particularly on international competitiveness issues and on the economic implications of multinational corporations and foreign direct investment on both the investing and host economies.