EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES + + + + + ADVISORY COMMITTEES & COUNCILS JOINT MEETING + + + + + MONDAY DECEMBER 12, 2022 + + + + + The Joint Meeting convened in the Palladian Ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert Street NW, Washington, D.C., at 2:00 p.m. EST, Reta Jo Lewis, President and Chair, presiding. BOARD OF DIRECTORS RETA JO LEWIS, President and Chair JUDITH DELZOPPO PRYOR, Vice Chair SPENCER BACHUS, Member OWEN HERRNSTADT, Member ADVISORY COMMITTEES/COUNCILS CHAIRS BOB DREISEWERD, Co-Chair, Council on Small Business NICOLE ELAM, Co-Chair, Council on Advancing Women in Business RODNEY FERGUSON, Co-Chair, Council on Climate HEIDI HEITKAMP, Chair, Advisory Committee NANCY FLAKE JOHNSON, Co-Chair, Council on Small Business JUDE KEARNEY, Chair, Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee RACHEL KYTE, Co-Chair, Council on Climate ADM. GARY ROUGHEAD, Chair, Council on China Competition LEZLEE WESTINE, Co-Chair, Council on Advancing Women in Business STAFF PRESENT JIM BURROWS, Acting Chief Banking Officer JIM CRUSE, Senior Vice President, Office of Policy Analysis and International Relations UFO ERIC-ATUANYA, Senior Vice President, Global Business Development and Senior Advisor on Africa ADAM FROST, Senior Vice President, China and Transformational Exports Program TAMMY MAXWELL, Acting Senior Vice President, Office of Small Business DAVID SENA, Senior Vice President, Office of Board Authorized Finance LISA TERRY, Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics Officer DANIEL TOBIN, Managing Director, Power & Environmental Exports CONTENTS Opening Remarks 4 Board of Directors Welcome 6 Advisory Committee Chair Remarks 13 Ethics Briefing 30 EXIM Financing Overview: Short-Term and Medium- and Long-Term Programs 39 Sub-Saharan Africa Overview 54 China and Transformational Exports Program Overview 61 Climate and Renewable Energy Overview 68 EXIM Competitiveness Report 72 Closing Remarks 84 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2:04 p.m. CHAIR LEWIS: I don't know whether it's the excitement in the air about the holiday season or it's excitement about EXIM Bank. Let's say it's excitement about EXIM Bank. Thank you all for being here. Let's give you all a great round of applause. (Applause.) You know, when I look out and I see all of you and I look here to my left and my right and I see our chairs and I see our directors, as they say, I know as we close the season we have all a lot to be thankful for, and we are just ecstatic. When I look around and I see people who have come from across town, Europe, New York, Boston, I mean, Carolina, I mean, you know, I could start naming out the states. I'm not going to name the people because that would be really dangerous. But I always like to start out by saying -- you know, I like to do it on the front end -- I want the EXIM staff to stand up and raise their hand -- stand up, and give them a round of applause for what is about to happen here today. (Applause.) Over the next -- over the next couple of days, today and tomorrow, you're going to get a chance to meet so many of them -- a number of them are going to be making presentations today -- and it will be an opportunity. We have a conference that is at capacity. You cannot register for the first in-person and hybrid event of EXIM Bank, and I'll give that up to the staff of EXIM. (Applause.) And, you know, to be able to welcome all of you here in our first -- the first joint meeting, this is the first time we have attempted this and I -- as I sit and listen and hear and meet, see many old friends, meet new friends, meet new acquaintances, meet our awardees, it just lets me know that having this joint meeting was truly the right idea, and I'm going to give that up to our Office of Communications and External Affairs. Where are they right now? Please raise your hand -- Lee, Nikki, Stephanie, all of you. Courtney, India -- it's a whole slew of them. (Applause.) You're going to meet them because they came and said if we're going to have the conference what would you think about having this meeting before that, and I said that is a brilliant idea. Too bad I didn't think of it. No, just kidding. But I said it was a brilliant idea because it gives all of you an opportunity to see firsthand EXIM Bank and to meet the staff of EXIM Bank and to hear more about the products and services that we have to offer. But, today, let's turn to the fact that we are here with our chairs of our Statutory Committee. Senator Heitkamp is going to be joining us. She is our advisory chair. We have Jude Kearney, who is our advisory chair -- which is also statutorily driven -- of Sub-Saharan Africa. And then we have our other chairs. Where are they? Two on climate. Dean Kyte. Where are you, Dean Kyte? Where's Dean Kyte? Dean Kyte. Or do I know her very well. She keeps me out of trouble. Dean Kyte. Rodney Ferguson is the co-chair of our Climate. Admiral Roughead, is he here? And there he is -- of China -- and our transformational export. And then of our two new committees, where is Lezlee Westine? Right here. And where's Nicole? Is Nicole here? Nicole -- these are our two co-chairs of our Advancing Women in Business, the first time we're having this particular committee. (Applause.) And then our co-chairs of Small Business. Where's our co-chairs of Small Business? Yes, right here. Nancy Flake. Yes, we are so -- our co-chair is right here. We are so excited that this too is the first time of a chair's Committee on Small Business, and how remiss would we be when Congress has called on us to make over 30 percent more financing available of EXIM's $135 billion authorization available for small businesses? They said, well, they have them on the committee. They're on every committee. I said no, when you deal with Small Business it's not about small business. It's about the advice and counsel that all of you will be able to give us across the board about how we can make EXIM better. And then to be joined on the stage by my vice chair, Judith Pryor, and to our director, Spencer Bachus, and our Director Herrnstadt. Let's give them a round of applause because they make the work you do very well each and every day. (Applause.) But to be here with the committee members and the council members this afternoon, to see your dedication and support for U.S. exporters, you cannot realize how invaluable that is for us and how much we deeply appreciate it. You know, we want to make sure -- we know tomorrow we're going to be hosting our conference. We're going to start off with a brighter future. That's the theme -- a brighter future through exporting -- and it's going to highlight the importance of U.S. manufacturing, supply chains, the global energy transition, and economic security through partnerships. So we're going to be taking the time today and tomorrow to remind everyone that with the full support of the Biden/Harris administration, EXIM is back at the table and ready to unlock capital for U.S. exports that supports the important economic goals our government and other like-minded nations are working towards. I can tell you that this year we're going to be shining a spotlight on diversity, equity, and inclusion in exporting with a focus on, of course, small, minority, women-owned, veterans, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, and on Native Americans and others. We're looking for the insight that you all have to be able -- it's crucial for us to be able to bring this level of talent in a room to -- we are seeking your advice. We're seeking your counsel. But, more importantly, we're seeking -- and you're going to keep hearing me say -- we're seeking you to continue to be the ambassadors that you have been for EXIM Bank. You know, we know -- and I'm sure you're going to be hearing it with the different panels that are going to be coming on -- we have a congressional mandate in our 2019 reauthorization. There were four prime areas they wanted to make sure we focused on: making more financing available in our China and transformational export area; making more financing available, again, in small business; making more financing available in renewables; and then, of course, making more financing available in Sub-Saharan Africa. Now, if all of you are watching any of the news you know that tomorrow and Wednesday and Thursday that the President of the United States and the Vice President are going to be hosting the African Leaders Summit and that is the second summit. And EXIM is all over it all day. I've already started on this morning with our partners at USTDA and the Department of Treasury. We were there meeting with a number of the multilateral institutions in Africa who were there whose job it is is to lay out and help unlock the capital on the continent. And we're very proud to say that having the ability to be with our government partners and with the African leaders just, basically, says we know we're in the right space and being in the right space we know that when you're talking about making more financing available around renewables, energy efficiency, energy storage, all things climate, what you probably have seen is that EXIM -- in less than one year we increased the amount of financing we made available in the renewable energy space last year from $11 million to $175 million. Is that enough? Not nearly enough, but it is way better than anything we have ever done. Next year Secretary Kerry has called on us to do even more. So you will be hearing a lot more of that when we get to those committees. So one of the things that I have really been proud and to be able to see here today is to welcome all of you and to say that we are continuing to reset. We're continuing to renew and we're continuing to rebuild the Export-Import Bank and to further demonstrate our dedication to our exporters medium, small, and large. So it is your leadership that we also need. It is your advice. It is your voice. Now, I do know that this room is not a group of shy and retiring types. I think you can see that when you -- by the energy in this room. So we have an expectation for you just like we know you have an expectation for us, and we intend to deliver. So, with that, I'm going to ask my directors, who are appointed and Senate confirmed by the President, all four of us, we have a fully functioning board at the Export-Import Bank that has been there by President Joe Biden. (Applause.) And with that, I'm going to turn to our First Vice President and Vice Chair, Judith Pryor, for few comments, and then the -- then the congressman and then Director Herrnstadt. VICE CHAIR PRYOR: Thank you, Chair Lewis, and welcome, everybody. Allow me to add my warm welcome to the chair's. It's great to see this room so full of people. It's just packed. It's wonderful. So I'm very much looking forward to today's conversations, including our breakout sessions, and I'm also really grateful to those of you who plan to stay for our annual conference tomorrow. I hope you'll have a chance to visit with some of our customers and hear directly how EXIM helps these businesses export with confidence. You know, no one likes the unknown. EXIM and its sister economic agencies are responsible not only for reducing the risk of these unknowns for America's businesses but in assisting them in tapping new double-digit growth markets. The knowledge, expertise, and business know-how that you bring will be invaluable to EXIM as we grow our exports and as we modernize our policies to better assist American businesses, both large and small, as they export new markets and compete on the international stage. American industry brings high-quality innovative products, services, and solutions to address the challenges we face globally today, whether it's health care sector opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa or renewable energy and storage technologies for Europe, and when partnered with EXIM there is greater transparency, and high environmental, engineering, and social standards are applied. We can also help businesses navigate and win by leveling the playing field when faced with unfair competition, China, or unsteady supply chains through our new domestic finance initiative. So your participation and input are truly critically important and we're going to call on you to help us do the very best that we can for American manufacturing and exporters. So thank you in advance for your service and for making EXIM a more efficient and effective partner to the business community. I'm really excited for the conversation. CHAIR LEWIS: Congressman? DIRECTOR BACHUS: Thank you, Chair. Our communications team has done a wonderful job of updating our website, and I don't want you all to miss something that they've published. It'll be in your packet and it's the EXIM Advisory Ambassador packet. Let me tell you, if you get -- when you go back to your room tonight before tomorrow take a look at it, and almost every question that you will be asked or almost everything you want to know maybe that you don't know because you're on one committee, not on another, you can find in here. It talks about who we are, our three main programs, our minority and women outreach. One of our members is here today -- her textile company. Some great information on Sub-Saharan Africa and four of our programs there. They're really great. Let me pause right here and say we're getting some push back from some groups because of our extending potable water and electricity to places in Africa, and things we enjoy and take for granted that changed our lives and those of our grandparents and great grandparents, when all of a sudden they didn't have to go a mile for water. They didn't have to chop wood to cook. We're making people in Africa -- we're letting -- we're bringing them into what we have enjoyed and taken -- really, just not even had a thought about how wonderful it is. But some people are saying it increases our CO2, you know, discharges. Well, you know, but to me, that's so hypocritical. You know, I would say to them, well, unplug your electricity and turn off your water and let's talk about it. But this is the one -- I was in Cleveland this week and Solar Energy is there -- Solar -- and they're featured on one of these pages. But this is the one that I was asked most about and this is also the one that I knew least about and that's More -- Make More in America Initiative. Now, I don't know -- you know, I really wasn't able to talk about it before I reviewed this page and some information, and it's a real concise one-pager on Made in America. You're probably going to be asked about that because they're going to find out you're on an advisory committee or you're on the staff. Take a look at that. It'll answer your questions. You're going to have some presentation from the China and Transformational Exports Program. One thing that I was asked in Cleveland was what are the transformational export areas. There are 10 of them. I don't know if you can name them. I couldn't name them. But here they are. Here are the 10 different areas. I won't even go over what they are. This is First Solar. This is a page on First Solar. We just completed a project with them, an incredible project. Then we have got -- we have got our regional directors and some of them are here today. But let me tell you, a lot of the work -- and Congress, one thing they've said to me is we need more people in the field. We're understaffed. You know, we have got 60 or 80 positions we could fill. But here are our eastern region. These people are here. Here's our central region. I was with Mark Klein this week. Get to know who these people are. Visit their office, the western division. And I said let's just take a look at that. That's my advice to you if you want to really come up to speed. And thank you very much. I appreciate all of you. And Denny and I talked earlier. We were in Congress at a time when people worked together, and that's what people want now. You know, I -- everywhere I go, even in my district, they say, why can't y'all get -- why can't you get along? Why can't you get along? And Denny and I, we were nostalgic about some of the ways that we used to work together, and I see that coming back. I think it's a transitional period and I think people have had enough of this name calling. So thank you very much for being here. (Applause.) CHAIR LEWIS: Thank you. Director Herrnstadt? DIRECTOR HERRNSTADT: Thank you, Chair. Your advice to EXIM, obviously, comes at a critical time. Intensified global competition, continued offshoring of U.S. manufacturing and jobs, severe disruptions to vital supply chains, unrelenting assaults to human rights, and a narrowing window to effectively addressing escalating environmental dangers are just some of the difficult challenges we all face. EXIM's mission supporting U.S. jobs by supporting U.S. exports serves as a critical tool in our nation's efforts to meet these and other pressing challenges. Given my own time on the Advisory Committee -- and I was trying to figure out exactly how long that was but I think it's in excess of 20 years, although nobody quote me on that -- I actually know from experience how much effort you put into your work on the committee, and I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to be with us today and for all of the insights, concerns, and suggestions you have already made, will be making today, and will make throughout your terms of service. Again, thank you for being with us today. (Applause.) CHAIR LEWIS: So if you don't -- if you don't mind, we're going to have to take just a quick moment because we will not all be together and ask our chairs and co-chairs to come up for a quick photo, and then I'm going to turn it over to one of the biggest champions of EXIM is Senator Heidi Heitkamp. So, Senator Heitkamp, will you please join us? Jude Kearney, will you please join us up here on stage? Admiral Roughead, Rodney, Rachel, Bob, Nancy Flake, Nicole, and Lezlee. Hope I didn't leave anybody out. Can y'all come on up? We're going to take a quick photo and then I'm going to turn this meeting over to the Senator. (Photographs are taken.) CHAIR LEWIS: You know, first of all, I just cannot say thank you enough to those who will be serving as our chairs and co-chairs. You're going to get a chance to work with them. You're going to get a chance to meet with them. They're going to be doing a lot of introductions when we break out into the separate sessions. But, you know, now this is the opportunity for the Advisory Committee that is being here jointly and is led by our champion, Senator Heidi Heitkamp. And so now, Senator, I want to say publicly again thank you so much for your service last year. We really -- thank you so much for your service this year and I'll turn the meeting over to you. Thank you, Senator. AC CHAIR HEITKAMP: Thank you so much. Look around this room and think about the incredible level of expertise that's in this room and then think about how it's being volunteered and how it's being utilized by our great chairs who drive this effort for the Advisory Committees. And you think about why is it that you're all in this room willing to donate your time, willing to donate your efforts, willing to lend your expertise to the EXIM Bank, an organization that if you went downtown to the mall in Fargo, North Dakota, and said, I'm on the advisory board for the EXIM Bank, they would say, good for you. I don't know what that is but good for you. I mean, those of us who have been fighting for the viability of the EXIM Bank for a lot of years right now understand how critical this infrastructure is to promoting American business, to promoting not just our exports but to have language and have support of the greatest challenges that we have right now in America, whether it is the foreign policy challenge of China and being competitive, whether it is looking at climate and being competitive, whether it's looking at governance and inclusivity as a major initiative not just for this country but to export the ideals of that across the globe. And you think about how this group here really reflects the interests and the broad, you know, kind of story of America, and it is absolutely with great pleasure I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the work that you're doing for the EXIM Bank but the work you're doing for the American economy. You know, and my friends in the Native American community always say, don't think about today. Your obligation is to make decisions today that work for the -- for the seventh generation -- not the second generation, not the third generation, but what do we need going into the future in this country. You know, I always tell people -- people say, well, you know, America first. Well, that's good. Should never be America alone. And I say a country of 330 to 350 million people will not be successful in the future when you look at Sub-Sahara Africa, when you look at the growth in other parts of the world, and you realize that if we're not exporting we're not thriving, and that's true. If we're not innovating and exporting the innovation that we can do in clean energy we will not save this planet. We are going to be the leader in technology. We are going to be the leader in governance. We're going to be the leader in all of the things that make American capitalism unique. But if we don't have the infrastructure at the EXIM Bank we will fall further and further behind. Most of you, if you do know my work with the EXIM Bank, know that I was probably one of the most aggressive people on Capitol Hill trying to prevent, first, the shutdown of the EXIM Bank and then working so hard to get it working again and reauthorized against insurmountable odds. And the one thing I would ask people if they say, well, this is -- it was always pretty funny because they would say, well, aren't -- doesn't it concern you that the people and that the government runs the bank? And I'd say, well, I come from North Dakota where we own a bank called the Bank of North Dakota that works so well as we -- as we think about development of the economy of our state. So no, it does not bother me. But I will tell you one of the things on the EXIM Bank Denny and I have been probably most aggressive on is not being shy, and by that I mean not just in telling the story and not just making sure that we are participating as volunteers but that we are aggressively telling the story of how essential this infrastructure is to the future of American capitalism, to the export of not only our great economy and products and services but exporting the American ideal. And if we don't -- if we let this happen again, we're further behind and it was -- you know, when we were doing the competitiveness report, I said, you're not bold enough. You need to be -- you know, the one thing that we can do that is very hard for the staff and for the chair and for the folks who are maybe more aligned institutionally with the EXIM Bank, the one thing that we can do is be more aggressive. And so I want to thank all of you for the enormous work, those of you who participated. Last year when I was able to chair the advisory board, I want to thank you. I know that as I sat through a lot of the discussion and read a lot of the reports, I thought these are amazing documents -- a think tank in this country. Think about that. Think tanks in this country who get paid thousands of dollars to produce this quality of work. This quality of work is produced by volunteers under great and enormously important leadership. And so as we embark on the next year of this work, I want you to think even more boldly. I think -- I want you to think even more aggressively about what the bank can do, and I don't want those reports to sit on shelves. They have to get off the shelf. They have to get to the decision makers. We -- you know, just a moment because I can do this because I'm a volunteer, two of the most aggressive -- I wouldn't say anti-bank but, you know, questioning the role of the bank -- have left. They've retired from the Senate. The real opportunity that we have now is to -- we have an opportunity to reintroduce the bank against maybe on a more neutral political background. Let's do that. Let's be true volunteers. But the number-one hat that we wear is advocacy in this important piece of infrastructure. It's not just about the bank. It's about the future of American industrial capitalism. It is about the future of American competition. And so remember the big picture. Be bold and continue to do the incredible quality of work. For those of you who are new to the Advisory Committee, those of you who haven't participated maybe more directly with the bank, this is the best kept secret. The quality of this organization is the best kept secret in Washington. And so I want you to be proud of the work that we're doing, I want you to be bold, and I want you to be aggressive. Thanks so much for letting me have just a few minutes. (Applause.) CHAIR LEWIS: And we are moving right on time. Senator, I'm going to turn it over to you and ask Lisa to come on up and give our first briefing and then, Senator, you can take it from there. All the EXIM staff, please be ready to move expeditiously because we really want to save that time for the people to -- for all of our stakeholders in this room to get into your private sessions. All right. Lisa, go forward. MS. TERRY: Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Chair Lewis, Vice Chair Pryor, our board members, chairs of our committees, and co-chairs of our council. My name is Lisa Terry and I serve as EXIM's chief ethics officer and I am here to give you an overview of the ethical principles that apply to you while you serve on behalf of EXIM. Is there a clicker up here? Is this the clicker? CHAIR LEWIS: Technology, you can help? Who has it? MS. TERRY: I'll just -- I'll proceed. No, that wasn't it. Okay, let's see. I'm just going to proceed if that's okay with you, Chair. CHAIR LEWIS: Please. MS. TERRY: Okay. Thank you. So the first thing I would like for you to know while you are serving on a committee or council is that you are not employees of the United States government, as you know. But the implication of that is that you are not -- CHAIR LEWIS: And be glad of it. MS. TERRY: I'm sorry? CHAIR LEWIS: And they're probably glad of it. (Laughter.) MS. TERRY: You are not -- therefore, you're not subject to the broader ethics rules that apply to government employees. We have a vast array of statutes and regulations that apply to us. They do not apply to you because you're not employees. That means that you are not required to file financial disclosure statements. Seventy-five percent of our staff, our workforce, are required to file financial disclosure statements in order to prevent conflicts of interests. You do not have to and you are not limited in the types of assets that you may own. Next slide, please. You are, however, in a position of public trust, so as Advisory Committee and council members you must avoid any actions that are either unethical or appear to be unethical. And as I hope most of you know, appearances of an ethical violation can be as damaging to an institution as an actual violation. So we take appearances at EXIM very, very seriously. Therefore, when acting in your personal or professional capacity do not use your position on the committee or council for private gain either for yourself or for others. Next slide, please. Because there are no specific rules that apply to you, I'm going to go over some general ethical principles that should guide you as you serve on the Advisory Committee or council. First, you should not take advantage of any nonpublic information that you may learn as an Advisory Committee member or council. Obviously, you may come into information that is not public and that is sensitive, either business confidential or deliberative EXIM material, and you should -- you are required to keep that information confidential. Therefore, for example, if you learn that a company is about to receive EXIM financing for a substantial export contract that will double its revenues you may not disclose that information to others or use it for your advantage. Obviously, there could be even bigger implications on a criminal level due to such action. Next slide, please. Second, you should not use your position on the committee or council to induce another to provide a benefit to you or to another. Therefore, if you are an EXIM customer or you know someone who has an application pending with EXIM, you may not use your position on the committee or council to gain special access for yourself or for another. That would be a misuse of your position. You may not identify yourself as a member and request expedited processing for any pending applications. However, you may, of course, make use of any processes and procedures that are available to the public in the ordinary course of business. Also, you should not use your position on the committee or council in a manner that could imply that EXIM sanctions endorses another particular private entity's business activities or even your own. You should refrain from making statements about potential deals or commitments on behalf of EXIM without proper approval. We have a communications office that can handle that or our external affairs, so you should contact them if there's a statement you think would be appropriate for you to make. We also ask that you not broker any meetings on behalf of EXIM. We have a dedicated staff for that. So please reach out to whoever your contact is if you would like to assist in brokering a meeting. That should be deferred to our team. And then, lastly, if a commercial banker you know is promoting an innovative trade financing initiative, the banker can use your name but not your EXIM title in his or her marketing materials. Your EXIM title is on loan to you for official EXIM purposes only. And then, lastly, a note about advocacy. This is a tricky area of the law. But you may advocate on behalf of EXIM in your personal or private professional capacity. But because of the anti-lobbying restrictions applicable to federal employees, you may not engage in advocacy on behalf of EXIM in your official capacity as a council member individually or as a group. In your personal capacity, you may not identify yourself as a member of committee when engaging in advocacy about EXIM. Next slide, please. And that ends my presentation. I'd be happy to take any questions. I guess the biggest takeaway I would say is to if you have questions please contact me before you take any action. It's hard to clean up a mess after it's already occurred. So thank you. (Applause.) CHAIR LEWIS: Thank you, Lisa. MR. BURROWS: Good afternoon. I'm Jim Burrows. I'm the acting chief banking officer here at EXIM and I wanted to thank everybody for being brand ambassadors. It's such an important work that we do here at EXIM. We wanted to take you over a brief -- go over a brief overview of our programs. I'm just going to open it up and then I'm going to turn it over to Tammy Maxwell, who is our acting senior vice president in the Office of Small Business, and then she's going to turn it over to David Sena, who's our senior vice president in the Office of Board Authorized Trade Finance. We will go over the short, medium, and long-term programs for the bank. If we can advance the slide, please. Next slide, please. So banking is a people business. I wanted to put some names and faces. Again, I'm Jim Burrows. I'm the acting chief banking officer. I have the privilege of working with about 180 trade finance specialist professionals in the bank and we work with exporters and our multipliers on a daily basis. I mentioned Tammy Maxwell. She's our senior vice president in the Office of Small Business. She handles our short-term programs, and she'll go over those in a minute. And then David Sena, who is our senior vice president, again, in the Office of Board Authorized Finance. He handles our medium- and long-term programs at the bank. So EXIM has been around for, roughly, 88 years, almost 90 years. We were created or established in 1934 and we're the official credit agency of the United States government. We help level the playing field through trade finance products and we fill in the gap where the private sector can't or is not able to support American exporters, and we level the playing field so U.S. companies can compete and win overseas in markets. We are in a number of -- a variety of industries and we listed some of them here. We can't discriminate on sector so we're open in all sectors but manufacturing, power energy, renewables, ag, retail, wholesale, we're available and standed to help American exporters win. Small business is a huge focus, as the chair mentioned earlier, of our $135 billion lending cap. Thirty percent of that needs to be earmarked for small business. Tammy Maxwell is going to take you through our short-term products today, and so with that, I'll invite her up to the stage. Thanks. MS. MAXWELL: Thanks, Jim, and thank you all for being here today. As Jim mentioned, I am Tammy Maxwell. I'm the acting senior vice president of the Office of Small Business. But prior to that, I was the vice president of Minority and Women-Owned Business. So I really want to thank those two committees, which will fall under me, the Advancing Women and the Small Business Committee. And thank you, Chair Lewis, for adding them this year. As you can see, it's very important to EXIM Bank. So I'll continue on with our small business programs, which, as Jim mentioned, 90 percent of what EXIM does is for small business. You probably hear a lot of times about we're Boeing's bank -- we do the large transactions. But that's because the smaller ones don't make it into the news. They don't consider them sexy, but we do. So 90 percent of what we do is for small business. No company or transaction is too small for EXIM Bank. So we want to make sure that all the businesses that are out there that are looking to export come to EXIM. EXIM, we have -- I have seen transactions as small as a few thousand dollars that are being exported that EXIM has supported. So nothing is too small for us. And what do we do? Our small business programs, it levels the playing field. It allows our U.S. businesses to be able to compete in the market against some of those other countries. So our programs really level the playing field. We minimize the risk. We take that on so the small businesses don't have to, and we supplement commercial financing. Next slide. So our programs cover the spectrum. Our preexport financing, which includes our working capital guarantee, which I'll get into in a second, and then we have our post-export financing, which is our insurance and our guarantees. So our working capital guarantee that's one of the divisions that is within OSB and what that does is it is where a business needs the financing in order to meet the needs or meet the needs of a contract. They need to be able to purchase material, equipment supplies. They can even use it to pay the export portion of their light bills. That's our working capital guarantee. It allows businesses to be able to do all of that. We provide 90 percent guarantee of repayment to the lenders. We have a list of delegated authority lenders that work directly with us. We also can receive applications in house and process them and then assign a lender. It's more -- they receive more attractive advanced rates when conventional financing -- than conventional financing. So we have seen that if they have a working capital guarantee the banks will increase the lending rates. So it's definitely a benefit to use EXIM Bank for the working capital guarantee. So this slide just kind of gives you a little bit of how it works. So if you're a business as I see it -- as I said earlier, you want to grow your sales or you need financing, export account receivable and inventory destined for export you come to EXIM. You apply for our working capital guarantee, as I said, directly with us or with one of our delegated authority lenders. The lenders -- if the lender has delegated authority they process the working capital loan under the established EXIM criteria. They know all of our criteria, and then your lender loans the money and they're covered by EXIM Bank. Next slide. Our export credit insurance is probably our largest or our number-one program that is used by small businesses. This is something that we talk to businesses about every single day because they should not be going into market lending terms without utilizing EXIM. What it does is it gives the small business the ability to offer terms to their buyers. When they're going out there and competing, other companies are offering terms in other countries and their ECAs are assisting and helping them. So we want to make sure that our U.S. businesses are utilizing the same and have the same opportunity to be able to offer terms. We take away the risk. So, essentially, if they receive a policy from EXIM, the buyer doesn't pay. Then we, in turn -- they file a claim to EXIM and we will pay. We also tell businesses that it will help them if they are looking to export to use it as a marketing tool to be able to get into new markets because if they can offer terms in those new markets it makes them more competitive. Next slide. This is just a breakdown of how the insurance works. The exporter identifies the buyer. They receive -- obtain an export credit insurance policy. You offer the terms. Your buyer accepts the terms. You ship and then -- you ship your product and invoice the buyer. The next step is probably the most important step that businesses need to do, which is you report your shipments and you pay your premium. (Laughter.) That is the most important, but, believe it or not, that is the number-one reason why we don't pay claims is because they don't report and they don't pay the premium. So that is something that is critical for them to do. If the buyer doesn't pay, you file a claim to EXIM and then we pay that claim. So now I'm going to turn it over to David Sena, who's going to talk to you about the medium- and long-term programs. Thank you. (Applause.) MR. SENA: Thanks, Tammy. Thank you, Jim. So a couple of comments that I wanted to make, and yes, that picture was of me. I forgot to shave this morning. So this is where I'm at today. I wanted to talk a little bit -- I was in a bank meeting -- and then I'll get to this -- the slides this morning. And one of the things I started with is about relationships. This is what EXIM Bank is about. It's about relationships and how important that is, and that's the relationship with you, relationships with our customers, relationship with our exporters, throughout because that's how we're successful. And, you know, the chair made the comment, you know, EXIM Bank, we're back at the table. Senator Heitkamp made the comment about best kept secret in Washington, D.C. That's absolutely true. It is. We are. And it's really a testament to the staff at EXIM Bank and the work that they do every day. And it's been a challenge because, you know, back -- you know, EXIM Bank back at the table, we were shut down for the medium and long term for four and a half, five years, and so we had to rebuild. You don't -- you don't disappear for that long and then just come back in. And so that's one of our challenges and with the leadership that we have had we have been able to start rebuilding for EXIM Bank and we are back at the table. Last year -- I'll talk a little bit about some numbers -- last year for -- I'll talk about medium and long term. So last year, we did $1.4 billion in long-term transactions. Very low for us. But it's, like, a lot of the work that we have been doing over the past two to three years in terms of rebuilding are starting to see the transactions that we have been working on come to the table. And so through the end of this quarter, so December, the first quarter of the new fiscal year, we have -- the board has authorized on the board agenda more than $1.4 billion in transactions and long-term transactions to date. In terms of medium term, we're making a major commitment on medium-term transactions, and I'll touch base on that in a second because I'd like to highlight a little bit of the -- of the effort of EXIM Bank in terms of renewable energy and climate change. So it's a -- it's a big priority of EXIM Bank, a big priority of the administration, and I'm not going to talk much in detail because Dan Tobin is going to talk a little bit later about that this afternoon. But we have a weekly meeting with the chair and the senior leaders of EXIM Bank where we're working together as an institution, as an EXIM Bank, one EXIM Bank to support our transactions in this field. But it's the same thing that we're trying to do for all of our transactions. So that it's not my job. It's not Jim's job. It's all of our jobs to support it and so that's kind of where we're going in this transaction in terms of EXIM Bank. And the other piece to it is that it's not just EXIM Bank. It's the whole of government. I've been in -- at EXIM Bank 20-plus years. I've been in the U.S. government 30-plus years. I've never seen the coordination that I'm seeing with State, with Commerce, with Department of Energy, Department of Defense, in terms of helping each other out. I've never -- now, there's room for improvement. But this is where -- you know, I think, where Senator Heitkamp talked about being more aggressive. We can bring a lot to the table to help you. So our -- you have our commitment to work with you to help you to be more aggressive for us. You know, this is some of the stuff that we do today. We do letters of interest. We do preliminary commitments. We do final commitments. Those are all designed to help -- you know, the first two are designed to help our exporters win their sales. But we can do more than that and we do more than that. So as you're working with us we can share a lot of the -- a lot of the things that we're doing to help our exporters, to work together as one government, to pull all the resources of the U.S. government to support our exporters. And we have seen a lot of that with one of our major transactions in the renewable field that Dan will talk about a little bit later where we work with the embassy in Honduras, we work with our partners in the U.S. government, we work with our lender in that particular transaction to help us translate documents from Spanish to English. It was so much that we were working together and we knew that we can accomplish more together. So if we can go to the next slide, I'll talk a little bit about Make More in America. So this is a new -- oh, I'm sorry. We have got that little -- on the screen here. I don't have to look over. So this is a new initiative approved by the bank and so we're working very hard and diligently on this. We're moving to operationalize this new program. We love this. We have a couple applications in house already. One of the things that we're working on right now is to build a business plan strategy, incorporating a lot of the feedback that we're getting from our partners as we look to build upon this program. Again, it's basically taken -- you know, there has to be a nexus to U.S. exports. But it's taken what we do today, the expertise that we have today, and applying it to domestic financing. So we're really excited about this initiative. Next slide, please. So the other thing that we have is we have what's called a country limitation schedule. So that tells us what kind of markets that we're opening. It's all public. It's all on our website. All of our countries are rated and the board approves that country's limitation schedule that says that we're open in this market or if it's maybe too risky we're closed in that market. So all of that stuff just kind of like girds what we -- what we're doing right now. Next slide. Oh, I always like this slide because I looked a little -- crossed out a few restrictions. So, obviously, you guys know we have some content requirements. We don't do defense or military activity, and then we support -- must support, you know, merit and U.S. shipping. So but, you know, I'm going to say this is, like, with this board and with the chair that we're committed to innovation and we're committed to working with our partners on how we can do things better, faster, more efficient to support our exporters and to support what we do. So next slide, I think, is the last one where Jim, myself, and Tammy are happy to answer any questions. Thank you. (Applause.) MR. BURROWS: So I just wanted to let everybody know we are actually staffing one-on-one consultations in our deal room tomorrow. We'll be staffed in the morning and in the afternoon. So if you have questions or have any things that you'd really like to sit down with us, we'll be staffed to about 35 EXIM trade finance specialists. Please join us in the morning or the evening. Thank you. (Applause.) CHAIR LEWIS: Ufo, and then Adam, you're next. MR. ERIC-ATUANYA: Chair Lewis, First Vice Chair Pryor, Director Bachus, Director Herrnstadt, Chair Heitkamp, Chair Kearney, members of our Advisory Committee, and our partners in general, my name is Ufo Eric-Atuanya and I'm the senior vice president for Global Business Development and also the senior advisor for Africa to the chair and president of the EXIM Bank. I'm honored to be here today to present the overview for Sub-Saharan Africa, and the first slide. The first slide presents the Sub-Saharan Africa's mandate. The original Sub-Sahara Africa mandate was integrated into the EXIM charter in 1997. It has since been reauthorized and our last reauthorization in 2019 set forth language to promote expansion of the bank's financial commitments in Sub-Saharan Africa. Next slide. The next slide gives -- I'm just giving an overview because we'll hand out a package of the slides to the Advisory Committees later. So I'm just giving an overview of everything here. The next -- this slide gives -- it's a snapshot of EXIM's engagement in Africa. The first transaction in Sub-Saharan Africa was in 1942 in Portuguese West Africa, what is currently known as Angola, and, you know, it shows you that -- I already talked about the congressional mandates -- original mandate in 1997 and then I want to let you know that the current commitment -- current commitment EXIM has to Africa is at $7 billion. It's one of the highest in the history of the agency -- $7 billion and, of course, you know, you go through our EXIM policies, the cover, the contents, the credits, additionality on all of those. But one of the things that I wanted to highlight on this is the credit. You know, a lot of people -- I cannot overemphasize that how EXIM does business is that we must have a reasonable assurance of repayment. You know, we do not provide grants. In my short time here I think one of the things I've heard most from the chair is that we are an Export Credit Agency. We are an Export Credit Agency. We do not provide grants. In fact, I think I may have heard it in my sleep a couple of times. So if I've learned anything from Chair Lewis, I have learned that. The next slide. The next slide gives you an overview of the U.S. exports in calendar year 2021 and I wanted to point out here that the total U.S. exports were $1.8 trillion. Now, the exports to south -- to Africa was $27 billion. To Sub-Saharan Africa it was $16.5 billion. Now, six markets -- six markets make up the exports to Sub-Saharan Africa. It's South Africa. It's Nigeria. It's Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Angola. Now, herein lies our challenge as a bank when it comes to Sub-Saharan Africa. I want to -- I put up this slide here because I wanted to show you that our exports are nominal to Sub-Saharan Africa. So the challenge we have as a bank is how do we do more to export to Sub-Saharan Africa and, of course, that is what I hope we would rely on the Council of Advisory Committees to advise us on how we can do more because, like I said, South Africa and Nigeria really represent about 60 percent and, you know, the exports to Sub-Saharan Africa is really 1 percent of the total exports to the world -- to the globe. So it's important that we hone in on those figures. Next slide. Our next slide is our strategy, what we hope to do with Sub-Saharan Africa as a bank. Of course, again, we're relying on Advisory Committees to help, advise us, and shape, recommend what kind of policies we can do. But I'll say that currently the EXIM strategy is founded on partnerships -- you know, partnerships with U.S. corporates, diaspora, African entities or like-minded individuals. There are really three pillars where we founded this on. It's partnerships -- you know, partnerships to identify the pipelines. Again, you know, Chair Lewis always goes it's all about the business. It's all about the business. Give me those pipelines. It's all about the business. And so we need to identify the partnerships, to identify our pipelines and expand our pipelines. Outreach, because EXIM still remains one of the best kept secrets in the U.S. government. People don't really understand the intricacies of how to do business with EXIM. And it's not that complicated but we have to become our own ambassadors and go out there and explain it to people. And then financing, of course, because we have to find innovative ways to get to yes. We do have to figure out how we can, you know, work with our partners and our collaborators on figuring out methods to get our partners to yes. And, you know, working on this strategy Chair Lewis has formed the -- an internal Africa working group which is mandated with, of course, coming up with methods and keeping up to date on current trends and how to move with advancing work with Africa, and she took on her first trip to Africa as chair of the EXIM Bank. She recently visited the continent where she visited Egypt and attended the 27th Conference of Parties to the U.N. -- COP 27. At that conference, she presented two letters of interest in support of U.S. exports for a nuclear power project, you know, and she also announced that EXIM has provided $175 million in support for climate finance in FY 2022. In Kigali, she addressed the annual general meeting of the Berne Union, a conference of global Export Credit Agency heads, where she reiterated EXIM's commitment to deepening engagements in Africa by advancing partnerships and opportunities that create shared prosperity for both the U.S. and African nations. And while in Cote d'Ivoire she signed a $500 million memorandum of understanding at a ceremony hosted by Prime Minister Achi, and Prime Minister Achi was the first foreign leader that Chair Lewis met with after she assumed office. She made a commitment and she kept the commitment. So she's not just talking the talk but walking the talk, and that's what many of us who are following her leadership are trying to do. So we're excited -- you know, we're excited that we are part of an internal EXIM administration and the greater Biden/Harris administration, which is working with the U.S. strategy towards Sub-Saharan Africa. So last slide. Well, that talks about the chair's slide. But I will be remiss if I don't conclude by saying that I, personally, am very proud because being a person of the diaspora and being given such an opportunity to advance U.S. businesses and help create jobs -- help create jobs in Africa and in the U.S. because the chair always tells me it's about U.S. It's about U.S. jobs -- U.S. jobs. We're very happy that Africa is at the forefront and I would also say, finally, we're very happy that the EXIM Annual Conference is going to have the opening scene setter with two African presidents and four CEOs of multilateral divisions who are going to open the EXIM African -- EXIM Annual Conference. So, again, it's my pleasure to present and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. (Applause.) MR. FROST: Good afternoon, everyone. If I could ask, can we stay on this slide for just a minute? It's a pleasure talking to you, Advisory Committee Chair Lewis, Vice Chair Pryor, Director, Senator. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the Advisory Committee, all of them, today. My name is Adam Frost. I'm a senior vice president at EXIM for the China and Transformational Exports Program. So what I'd like to do is give you a brief one-on-one and then answer the question I get asked all the time, which is how you're doing. You saw the little preview slide. The big reveal was revealed. Anyway, so for those who aren't familiar, when EXIM was reauthorized in December of 2019 we got handed a two-part mandate. Congress told us to stand up a program on China and Transformational Exports and it had two requirements: part one, for U.S. exporters in any industry if they're facing competition from the PRC, EXIM's job is to the extent practicable do our best to level the playing field so that the foreign buyer is making their decision on quality and price and not just price. Secondly, they gave us what they call 10 transformational export areas. These are industries and sectors you would be familiar with that have to do with America's future, prosperity, and security and they want to assure America's comparative leadership over the PRC up and into the future. And what's really important about when they -- when Congress put this into EXIM's charter in 2019 was it was a clarion call for the Export Credit Agency to come off the bench and be serious about the role of competition in the 21st century and great power competition. And what it means is that under this chair, Chair Lewis, and this board, they are very serious about how we engage in this competition. So the question I always get asked is, how are you doing. So I'll keep this brief so we can move on to the rest of the Advisory Committee. So if we go to the next slide, which there was a brief sneak peek at, I'd like you to think about EXIM's competition and the great power competition game in two ways. The first is, obviously, when we talk about transactions and deals, and so over the life of the last part of the program, right, positive to say we have a positive pro-growth story to say -- to show. We are making serious progress under Chair Lewis over the last year over the year prior. We're showing serious growth. And if I could, I'd like to take a moment to give a round of applause to my colleagues of the Board Authorized Financing Small Business for doing precisely the kind of innovation that David mentioned and doing what we can to bring transactions to the board for consideration and demonstrate that EXIM is going to help America compete. So if I could impose on you for just a minute. (Applause.) And, cumulatively, what we're doing is we are growing a competition -- growing our portfolio in China competition that shows we're serious and you can see just a few examples on the screen of how we are helping U.S. exporters compete for real in overseas markets against PRC competition and to promote the growth in our transformational export areas. But the other area I'd like to point out is that EXIM -- to the comments earlier about EXIM integration to the whole of government, it is real and it is very serious. The chair is at the deputies and the principals committee. We are spending more time than I care to admit staffing interagency policy committees at the White House and engaging with our friends at State, DOD, Commerce, et cetera. And what's happening from that is you're having a more of a whole of government approach towards how we help the United States in general compete strategically against the PRC now and into the future. One example of that would be in the beginning of -- in Q1 of FY '22 so in the October, November, December time frame, when our NATO ally was being economically coerced by the PRC for their sovereign decision to open a Taiwan relations office in Vilnius and reciprocate in Taipei, they were being squeezed in a way from the PRC that nobody had seen before. There were direct sanctions and then there were indirect sanctions that emerged, and it was EXIM Bank that raised its hand with the State Department and could be part of the whole of government strategy to find a way to say no, no, no, no. If China is going to be short on the Lithuanian economy, we're long. And what it provided was enough of a ballast at that period of time to help the Lithuanian government stay the course to believe that America was behind them and, as a result, they are able -- free and able to make the decisions they make at the time. And second of all, I'd say Chair Lewis just this fall -- we bookended our year -- when she joined the Secretary of State at the U.N. General Assembly for Mineral Securities Partnership, because this bank understands how serious the competition is for the critical minerals that will provide -- that are the foundation for our prosperity and security in the 21st century. So we are deeply involved with our friends at the State Department but, of course, with our Department of Energy colleagues and all our allies and partners -- Australia, Canada, et cetera -- doing our best to make sure that EXIM has a positive role to play, ensuring America's access to -- resilient access to the minerals it will provide for the future. So my message to you all today is we're making progress and we're doing well but where we need your help, we need the help of Admiral Roughead -- thank you again, sir, for chairing the C4, for all my C4 colleagues out there today -- is we need your help and advice for what we could be doing in '23 and '24 and beyond to make EXIM even more competitive into the 21st century, to ensure that America does maintain our comparative leadership in the transformational export areas and that our exporters have the freedom and the ability to compete on a fair level playing field for overseas market share that helps grow America's security and prosperity. So I'll pause it. Of course, are available for any questions and, ma'am, standing by for anything we can do to help. Thank you. (Applause.) CHAIR LEWIS: Dan Tobin? MR. TOBIN: Thank you, Adam. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Dan Tobin, managing director of the Power Group and Environmental Experts Group. Our team focuses primarily in the climate change and renewable energy sector. Most of our deals are in that sector and we do focus primarily in wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, and what is it -- batteries energy storage. So anyways, good to be here. Okay. Okay. So the Biden/Harris administration has a very aggressive goal. They're looking to invest up to $11 billion into climate change projects over the coming decade and right now EXIM is very focused on and the chair is very focused -- Chair Lewis is very focused on ensuring that we are investing and providing debt financing to large renewable energy and energy storage power projects. So right now, the FY '22 target goal was $100 million at the low end. We blew through that this past year, up to $175 million. We supported $175 million of climate-related projects in this past year. Of that, $53 million was provided to renewable energy power projects. Just to give you a highlight of some of the transactions that we did in the past year, highlighting some of the successes we had, we authorized -- the board authorized the Banco Atlantida deal, which was a solar power transaction in Honduras, and this provided financing to build a large complex solar power project which also includes solar tracking systems. The solar panels are going to be using First Solar solar panels, tracking systems will be coming from Nextracker, and other solar equipment and EPC services are coming from Shoals. In addition, we also were responsible for this past year financing the Sapele deal in Nigeria, and this finance support to export batteries that are going to be used in an energy warehouse project in Nigeria. We have a very aggressive goal over the next year. The next year we are really trying to really bump it up a lot. We're going to go up to $650 million. That's our goal. Right now we have three long-term transactions in our pipeline that we're working on very diligently. We're working on a renewable biofuels deal. We have a solar rural electrification and water supply deal and we have a micro grids deal. We're also kind of bringing in some other potential opportunities as well. Over the next decade -- and we're working very diligently in trying to expand the pipeline of potential projects and renewable energy and climate change projects that can come into the bank -- we have a lot of interest in renewable fuels. A lot of it is taking renewable feedstocks, turning them into renewable diesel through gasification processes and other mechanisms. We have green hydrogen and ammonia production, which we have seen a tremendous amount of interest in the past year. We have up to three to four potential projects in this space. We have been seeing district heating, compressed air energy storage, one potential opportunity in hydropower, a very exciting project in solar, an intercontinental transmission link between Asia and Australia, and a significant amount of interest in nuclear and SMRs. Refurbishments, new builds, a whole series of different projects in Eastern Europe, Brazil, and primarily even -- and, potentially, even in the Ukraine. After the war, potentially, we could get involved. And then we have interest in onshore and offshore wind projects. So we're looking at those two. But we're always looking to build a pipeline. We're constantly going out into the -- to speak with industry to see if there's opportunities and different deals that they're doing. But we're really looking for bankable deals and so we're very excited to have the Advisory Committee here, look for opportunities to help us build up this pipeline, and I'm open to answer any questions that you may have later this afternoon. Thank you. (Applause.) MR. CRUSE: Hello, my name is Jim Cruse. I'm the senior vice president for international and policy analysis or policy analysis international -- OPAIR, however it comes out. Had that job for a few years and the main course of it is to do the Competitiveness Report, and even I have trouble pronouncing that word clearly. I've only typed it maybe 5 million times. This presentation is not about what we do but about what we're going to do that you can help us with. I'm not really concerned about the slides -- you'll get a copy of those so I'm not going to tell him to go on -- as much as I'm simply going to say that what we normally do is we do the report and it goes to the Advisory Committee to get your view as to whether we have accurately described the situation in the world today. Have we identified the right key competitors? Have we identified the right key programs, et cetera? This year, we're going to add to that by doing the pivot that the administration and the chair have asked for to look at focusing on transformational exports, on Sub-Saharan Africa, on renewable, on climate, on various areas that are part of our mandate. And one of the things that I'm going to suggest is that the various committees could help us do our job this year by identifying, for example, what countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are best ready for EXIM Bank activity support, what sectors in the transformational or climate areas would be the ones that we could do the most work in the quickest, what has China done in the past six months that perhaps nobody else knows about. In other words, instead of just looking at our report after we have done it and telling us how we could have done it better, I'm giving you a hint as what we're going to be trying to do and welcoming your suggestions on how we can do it up front, all right -- an opportunity to partake in the exercise and then you can share in the credit or the blame. All right. Your choice. Anyway, the point here is to say that by looking at this in advance you have the opportunity to contribute to the value of the product that is one of the best read documents outside of the United States. It doesn't get much attention inside the United States. All right. But every time a foreign visitor comes to the U.S., he compliments us and says we can't wait to read your Competitiveness Report and see what all of us have been doing. All right. But there doesn't seem to be much interest in that inside the United States. So it goes up to the Hill and it lands with a pretty big thud. In fact, a prior chairman called it a great doorstopper, okay, and to some extent, domestically it is. But, anyway, the opportunity is there. We'll be glad to give you more idea of what's going to be going on. But each of the committees could contribute suggestions and ideas that we'll be working on this year. You'll have another meeting or two before we get it done and we're always available, even for ad hoc in between suggestions. Thank you. (Applause.) AC CHAIR HEITKAMP: Now comes the fun part. You all get to go into individual meetings. But before we do that, I want to just spend just a second acknowledging our chairs. So if you're lost looking for your meeting follow these guys, right. First off, I want to introduce Jude Kearney, who is the head of Sub-Sahara Africa, and that has a unique position, actually, as one of our key advisory boards, and I think you saw a great presentation on how critical it is that we really think about the role of the EXIM Bank and advancing that role. Under his able leadership we will, hopefully, get some great ideas and see those ideas implemented and executed on. The second chair -- and if you guys could just stand when I introduce you. I can't see because I'm blind without my glasses, Admiral. But returning for a second stint, Admiral Gary Roughead. (Applause.) And I will tell you this. The report that he did and his team did and his Advisory Committee did on the People's Republic of China and the challenges that we have is it should be must reading for every policymaker in China on the Hill, and as people get more and more focused politically on China and you see it now with the push back against TikTok, you see it with CHIPS Act passing, wide bipartisan support, we can play a real intellectual as well as practical role. And so, Admiral, such great work. I am so proud of the work that was done by your subcommittee. We expect there's going to be 2.0 even better. Rodney Ferguson -- Rodney, if you'd stand. You got to stand, you know, when getting introduced. (Applause.) Not only runs a great company but runs a great committee on climate and, you know, as we look at the challenges of climate, one of the things that we know is American exports are essential to meeting climate goals. But we have got to figure out, you know, where those things can be deployed. I work a lot in this space and one of the things that I say is no one's going to convert from coal, no one's going to convert from something else, unless it's economic and unless they get some support to do it, and that is not just support in financing but how we look at employment in those areas that are deploying. Rachel -- is Rachel here? Oh, there you are. Sorry, Rachel. I'm trying to do this thing. Yeah. Again, another co-chair on Climate. These two are incredibly knowledgeable and very able to lead this effort. Is Bob here or is he going to -- oh, there you are over here. Bob is our co-chair on Small Business. This is important not only because we know -- when we study the American economy we know that small business is the backbone of productivity and growth. But, more importantly, building out our work in small business is essential for political stability for the bank. We have got to be able to tell those stories, got to have the great ability to talk about it and you saw a great presentation on small business. Where's Nancy? Oh, there you are, Nancy. Nancy is also the co-chair on Small Business. I think it's just such a critical piece of what we're doing -- Nancy Flake Johnson. Nicole -- Nicole Elam. There you are, Nicole. Co-chair on the Council Advancing Women in Business. And, Lezlee, where are you? Lezlee Westine. There you are, Lezlee. I want to just mention something about why it's so important that our groups actually talk about women in business. As we look at what's happening in Iran, we look across the world on issues of human rights and equality, one of the things that women across the world will tell us is, we watch what's happening in the United States and when the United States takes a step backwards women globally take a step backwards. And we know that one of the fastest growing areas in those developing nations is entrepreneurship for women and we can lead the way. But we can't lead the way if we're not supporting women here in our country, and so I think Lee or somebody is going to know where the rooms are. They didn't give me the list. CHAIR LEWIS: Yeah, we got it. AC CHAIR HEITCAMP: Oh, yeah, Reta's got them -- to get the hook. But I want to turn it over to Chair Lewis for final comments. But, again, if I didn't say it enough, I want to thank you for the volunteering that you do, especially the chairs, because the chairs take on a huge amount of responsibility to produce reports and to carry the message from your subcommittee. So be really nice to them. Be really engaged with them and step up. Step up with good ideas. Thanks so much. I'll turn it over to Chair Lewis. (Applause.) CHAIR LEWIS: I'm going to have Jim come up, our Acting Chief Banking Officer. MR. BURROWS: Thank you, Chair. Just wanted to directionally let everyone know where the individual meetings will take place. The Advisory Committee, Forum room. Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee will be in the Council room. Council on Climate, the Embassy room, Council on China Competition, Senate room, Council on Small Business Congressional A, and Council on Advancing Women in Business will be in Congressional B. CHAIR LEWIS: And just -- and just in case you can't remember that volunteers are outside. Well, first of all, this has been a great meeting and I really like meetings, especially when they end on time and they give you some extra time not only to get to your room but also to continue to network with each other. But I want to also continue to thank our team from External Affairs, who actually was the one that produced this meeting along with our Office of Communications. And so let's give a round of applause to our presenters. (Applause.) And as I was saying where people were from, you know, we got people in here from Africa and we got people in here from Europe. So thank you. You all came a very long way and we're really glad to see that, you know, those of us who only had to come down the street or from Maryland or Virginia or Delaware or whatever, for you all to be here -- California, you name it -- that's important. Many of you have already been dealing with a number of the team already with Rebecca Webb, who is our chief of staff. Hazeen Ashby -- will you all please stand up? Jim Burrows, our EXIM Chief Banking Officer. You're going to meet our -- we have a national security adviser. You're going to meet her later today, Margaret Mullins. And we have Chris Organ, who you see, is my confidential assistant. Laly Perez. I know many of you -- because all of you who are trying to get meetings Laly is the first line of defense right there. Jonathan Feigelson is -- will be joining us tomorrow. He's our General Counsel. I know Lark is here, our Deputy General Counsel. David, Tony. Where is Coco? Many of you I know met Coco over these last many months, and Lone and Rose, who is also people who I think you all have met. You know, let me also ask our regionals who are in this room to please also stand up. Let's give them a round of applause, regional teams -- if you're here. (Applause.) And I saw two over here. Come right here. Yes, and thank you for our team. And just some very closing comments. You know, when I went over to the first launch of the Africa Leaders Summit meeting at USTDA today, one of the multilaterals said to me -- he said, you know, I really like the vive of EXIM Bank, and I had to actually think about it for a minute and I was, like, I kind of like that. That might be a nice little subtext. And the reason why I think that's important is because EXIM is trying to be the EXIM of yes, not the EXIM of no, and the only way we're going to be able to do that is to work with all of you to help us get those bankable deals in our pipeline. So when I sit out and I see people like Chenelo (phonetic) from Africa and I see Nancy from Europe and the dean and all these folks who really, just like you, have a deep understanding of what it means to get in our -- get deals in our pipeline. You know, when I made the call out and our teams made the call out to people like Blue Star Families and having people like Kathy Roth and people you're going to meet, like, our Betsy Myers, and I mean, I could just go on and on. I'm not -- I know I'm now getting in big trouble. But the reason why I've singled them out -- expert on veterans, experts on women -- and that is why we are trying to be as all-inclusive as we can and that's why we have asked a new person to become the senior -- the senior advisor to the chair, Renata Penn, who will be starting tomorrow as the senior advisor to the chair for DEIA. It lets you know that we are serious about the work that the President has asked us to do. And then, finally, as so many of you said, each day, every day, all day, for me, it's about an American exporter. It is about American business. It's about an American business owner, woman or man, organizations who want to do business in the United States. It's about those foreign buyers, for me, who want to export and come into the U.S. for our goods and our products and our services. So when I sit around and I look at the bankers and the lawyers and as they say, I got the lawyers, I got the experts, I got the -- all of these great minds, the elected officials, I mean, the Denny Hecks of the world who was with us fighting every day, every day, to make sure that EXIM could be back. And I will tell you, when we planted the flag in Portugal in February we said EXIM is back and we're back with this full support of the administration. I don't say that lightly. How can I say that? Because when you get that press release from the National Security Adviser, the National Economic Adviser, and when you get the Secretary of State, the Department of Energy, you get Secretary Kerry that says, I want to work, we all have to work together. And you see -- people around the world see -- they can see visibly that America is taking our exporters seriously. They're taking the work that we have done with our legacy companies and with companies that now will move us into the future on the work that we need to do in stiff competition with our competitors, and we will be continuing to work with our friends and our allies and you're going to see many, many of them tomorrow. Tonight, after this session, you're going to be going -- also we invite all of you. I think you got that invitation for a VIP reception that's going to be moving -- we're going to move very expeditiously from 5:30 on, and then we hope to see so many of you tomorrow. But, as Jim said, we're doing one on one counseling tomorrow. They're doing one on one counseling today. We have many, many EXIM employees that are here, our loan officers and all of our deal people, our small business teams, that are ready to answer your questions as well as the thousand people that we have registered for the Export-Import Bank. And with all of that, I give a testament to the team and I give a testament to all of you for being able to be here with us, and I look forward to joining and stopping in for a few minutes in each room today. Thank you all for coming and we look forward to seeing you later tonight. (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter concluded at 3:35 p.m.) 85 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com