The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety: Capacity-Building in the Bangladesh Garment Sector

The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety was founded by a group of North American apparel companies and retailers and brands following the recent tragedies in that country. The companies have developed and launched the Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative, a binding, five-year undertaking to improve safety in Bangladeshi ready-made garment (RMG) factories. Collectively, these Alliance members represent the overwhelming majority of North American imports of RMG from Bangladesh, produced at more than 580 factories.

Join OWIT on Friday, December 19, 2014, at 12 NOON EST, to learn about the formation and goals of the Alliance and the progress of its capacity-building efforts in Bangladesh.

 

Presenters:

 

 

 Mara M. Burr is a Senior Vice President at Albright Stonebridge Group, LLC, where she assists clients in India and other South Asian markets.

Based in Washington, D.C., Ms. Burr brings more than 18 years of experience in international trade and investment issues to the firm.  Prior to joining, Ms. Burr served as Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative for South and Central Asian Affairs.  In this position Ms. Burr was responsible for negotiating trade, investment, and economic policy issues for the 14 countries of South Asia and Central Asia.  Ms. Burr led the effort to conclude both the United States-Afghanistan and the United States-Pakistan Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Efforts to Enable the Economic Empowerment of Women and to Promote Women’s Entrepreneurship.  Ms. Burr served as the lead U.S. official for both MOUs.  Ms. Burr was also responsible for concluding and implementing the United States-Bangladesh Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA).  

From 2004 to 2010, Ms. Burr served as the Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative for Environmental and Natural Resources, where she was the lead environment negotiator for the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, the United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement, and the U.S. implementation work on the environment chapter of the United States-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).  Ms. Burr was also the lead environment negotiator during the free trade agreement negotiations with Malaysia (2005-2007).  She was responsible for implementation of the environmental provisions of the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement, and all the U.S. free trade agreements in the Middle East.

Prior to her government service, Ms. Burr practiced international trade law in Washington, D.C., covering a broad scope of law including, trade rules, customs issues, investment, services, and other commercial issues.  Ms. Burr also served as international trade counsel for a large non-governmental organization.

Ms. Burr is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, (LL.M., international and comparative law), Hamline University School of Law (J.D.), and the University of St. Thomas (B.A.).  She received the Dean’s Certificate from Georgetown and the Distinguished Alumna award from Hamline University School of Law.

 

Angela Marshall Hofmann is Vice President, Global Business Support, Walmart International Corporate Affairs. Angela brings over a decade of Walmart experience to this position. She joined Walmart in 2002 in the Federal Government Affairs office in Washington, D.C., as Director – International Trade. There she was responsible for the company’s international trade and agricultural issues. During this time she participated in legislative initiatives and trade negotiations (both regional and WTO) that affected Wal-Mart’s retail and distribution rights overseas, as well Wal-Mart sourcing impacted by import and export tariff/non-tariff barriers. She also directed the food agenda which included partnering with U.S. production agriculture to advance policy initiatives related to exports, food safety, and nutrition.

In 2006, Angela moved to Bentonville as Senior Director – International Corporate Affairs, where she was responsible for government and media relations for the Americas, in addition to global strategy and public policy, public-private partnerships in supply chain capacity building, women’s empowerment, and global economic development. She previously served as Vice President, Global Integrated Sourcing and Trade, which integrated the Global Sourcing functions related to the sourcing of Goods Not for Resale, Technology Enabled Sourcing as well as Global Trade, Commodity Insight and Supplier Development. Prior to that position, Angela served as Senior Director, Global Trade Strategy for Global Sourcing responsible for coordinating Walmart’s sourcing and international trade activities including market access and supply chain trade facilitation.

Prior to Wal-Mart (1989-1999), Angela worked for U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) as a congressional liaison and later legislative counsel for a variety of issues including international trade and agriculture. From 2000-2002, she served as international trade counsel to Senator Baucus in his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Angela currently represents Wal-Mart on the U.S. Department of Commerce Industry Trade Advisory Committee for Retail and Distribution; she is the Immediate Past President of the Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT); and serves on the board of the Arkansas World Trade Center.

She received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Montana (1997) and Bachelor of Education degree from Montana State University-Billings (1993). She also served as a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of Lyon III in Lyon, France (1993-1994).

 

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Cost:

 

Members:  $25

 

Non-Members:  $40

 

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