Export Stories Podcast

It would have been easy to chat with Rich for hours and hours, given the rich (no pun intended) business experiences he has had from China to Saudi Arabia to Montana (and places in between).  However, we were able to conduct the most amazing discussion in under an hour.  So here is the episode; and I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed participating. Afterwards, we’d love to get a conver...

Blessing  joined us from Benin-City, Nigeria.  She has a fascinating and diverse background in fashion, costume design, agriculture, tourism, and business development.  She is a leader in a number of commercial and civic organizations in Nigeria, and, also, has some wonderful stories to share about her experience as a “Nollywood” actress, film producer, costume designer, and script writer.   We’d...

Steve is a partner with Mercator International LLC and joined us from Kirkland Washington. Mercator is a management consulting firm specializing in freight, logistics and infrastructure. Steve shared stories from a diverse portfolio of projects with which he has been involved. We’d love to get a conversation going about this episode as well as more general discussions about exporting. This is an i...

RM Metals, a family business that has been around since 1986, specializes in exports of stainless steel and metal scrap all over the world. Sam and Chait describe a tumultuous time for trading these essential commodities.  As they work with markets all over the globe, you can imagine the colorful stories they were able to share with us. We’d love to get a conversation going about this episode or e...

Some of you may remember Grapette – including the cool animal syrup bottles, the historic jingles and ads.  What you may not have realized is that Grapette became a very successful U.S. export and continues to sell into many foreign markets today.   For more information about Grapette International, you can visit their website at: http://grapette.com/ .  Take a few minutes to read about their fasc...

The story of WCCO Belting is a family story as well as a story about industrial success in the U.S. Heartland.   With deep export experience, Tom shares some marvelous stories with us. And as the recipient of numerous export awards, including the highest honor, the President’s E –Star Award, Tom has led his company to enormous growth in international trade.   For more information about WCCO Beltin...

Did you realize that education is an important export?  It turns out that it is the 5th largest export from the U.S.!  Daniel explains how he has developed the program for The Falcons of West Hills College Coalinga and shares some fascinating stories along the way. For more information about the International Student program at West Hills College Coalinga, you can visit their website (check out th...

Who knew that trade associations could use help growing their industries in export markets?  Well, Jerry Hingle figured that out many years ago.  He had the perfect background and skills to offer such a specialized service, particularly to agricultural and forest products trade associations. Jerry shares some great stories about his doing this work all over the world.   For more information about...

You are going to hear about how Craig and Hydratrek, a manufacturer of heavy-duty rugged amphibious vehicles, began and cultivated a vibrant export program in just ten short years. They now export to more than 20 countries, and Craig has some fascinating stories to tell about the wild ride that it has been developing an export program from scratch. And it all began with a great recreational vehicl...

Music & culture expert; publicity & marketing professional; entrepreneur; instructor; producer; moderator; and ‘sound diplomat’ – these are all terms that describe Elizabeth’s career. We had a lively conversation about her fascinating experience with many aspects of the music industry. Thank you for listening. We welcome your comments via Twitter at exportstoriespodcast @exportstoriesp1, a...

Listening to Bill talk about how he started up his export business is like a mini-master class in how commodity exporting works. We had a great, and sometimes provocative conversation about current markets, which I happily encouraged. For example, issues affecting trade between the U.S. and China hold a position that is front and center in today’s news and affect all of us. It was a natural subjec...

Leigh joined me in the studio and graciously shared stories about what is and has been a fascinating career spent building the international sales and operations for Drexel. Given that they have a broad, global customer base, her stories are as varied as the places where they do business. Leigh has a marvelous sense of humor, which comes through as she recounts some of her ‘exploits’; and hearing...

During his career, C.J. has held senior management positions and represented large, global ocean shipping companies, directly and through agents, including U.S. Lines, Hapag Lloyd, Senator Lines, and United Arab Shipping Company. Today he serves as Senior Partner of Intermodal Cargo Management. C.J. has an amazing historical perspective of the ocean shipping business from the dynamic 1980’s to tod...

Join us for the 3rd episode of Export Stories with our guest, Mary Michel. We are delighted to chat with Mary, who retired in 2015 as a Senior Vice President and Advisory Leader in the Phoenix office of the global insurance broker Marsh & McLennan. What Mary knows about international insurance, insurance brokerage, and risk management is enormous. Mary shares with us some of her favorite expor...

Join us for our second podcast with our guest, the Rev. David Spann. As a Director of several Department of Commerce Export Assistance Centers across the U.S., David has some fascinating stories to tell about a diverse array of common and not-so-common U.S. export products. David is an authority on the ins and outs of opening global markets for small- to medium-sized U.S. companies. I should know;...

Join us for our inaugural podcast with our guest, David Radiloff. David leads us on a personal journey from the late 1970’s, when modern international sales and trading was in a pioneer phase, to the present. David was an early exporter to China, the Soviet Union and the Eastern Block, and to many Middle Eastern markets. He has the adventure stories to prove it! David currently serves as the Vice...