Kati Suominen

Kati Suominen is an adjunct fellow with the CSIS Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program; founder and CEO of the data and research firm Nextrade Group, which helps multilateral development banks, governments, and Fortune 500s optimize public policies and investments in driving trade and e-commerce worldwide; founder of TradeUp Capital Fund, a platform for globalizing small to medium-sized enterprises; and founder of Business for eTrade Development, a global coalition of leading companies driving e-commerce development. She is the idea-woman behind such global initiatives as eTrade for All, a global multidonor initiative to accelerate the adoption of e-commerce worldwide; Alliance for eTrade Development, a public-private partnership among major digital companies and the U.S. Agency for International Development to fuel e-commerce development; and RTA Exchange, a new global forum on trade agreements sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank and International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development. She has authored over 100 articles and written 9 books, and she is now working on her 10th, Making Trade Great Again: How Disruptive Technologies Open Opportunity for All (Stanford University Press, forthcoming 2018). She has provided commentary in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, BBC, CSPAN, CNN, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Politico, USA Today, Time, Economist Intelligence Unit, and U.S. News and World Report. Dr. Suominen holds a B.A. from the University of Arkansas, an M.A. from Boston University, an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.