Tim Bennett, Director-General

Mr. Bennett joined the Transatlantic Business Council (TBC) as Director-General on January 1, 2013. He has held senior positions in the US Government, including serving as the first US Trade Attaché in Brussels, and Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative leading the US-Mexico trade negotiations during NAFTA. He also worked in the private sector as a senior executive in both large and small trade organizations.

For the last few years, Mr. Bennett has provided an array of consulting services in government affairs, association management, and international trade and investment. Before launching his own consulting company, Mr. Bennett served as President of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA), with offices in Washington and Brussels, until it successfully merged into Tech America. He has also served as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of the American Electronics Association (AeA), as a Trustee on AeA's Education Foundation Board and AeA's Insurance Trust Board, and also as AeA’s Senior Vice President International, managing the organization's D.C. policy team and AeA's offices in Beijing, Brussels and Tokyo. Prior to these positions, Mr. Bennett worked in New York City in international public relations with Hill and Knowlton and Fleishman Hillard. In his last role in Washington before moving to New York, he was Of Counsel to Steptoe & Johnson, a Washington, DC-based international law firm where he served as Vice President of Steptoe’s international trade and investment consulting arm.

In his government service, Mr. Bennett worked at the Office of the US Trade Representative as a Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative, serving as the chief US trade negotiator with Mexico and as one of the ”Lead” US negotiators for the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations of the GATT. He also served with the US Department of State as the first US Trade Attaché to the European Union. During Mr. Bennett's career, he has spoken at over 200 conferences, seminars and industry groups in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and China; he has testified several times before the US Congress, co-authored three books and had numerous articles published, and appeared on numerous occasions on radio and television to comment on matters of international political economy and cybersecurity.