James is a global trade practitioner with extensive experience in the areas of Foreign Trade Zones (FTZ), duty and tariff mitigation strategies, general U.S. customs compliance and global trade function assessments. He provides regulatory and strategic guidance to small companies, complex multinational corporations and local government entities.
James assists his clients in all aspects of the FTZ program, including preparing strategic feasibility analyses, managing all federal and local implementation steps, conducting customized training, developing inventory control and operational procedures, responding to government agency inquiries and building compliance programs. For grantees and economic development groups, he has built and executed tailored marketing plans designed to drive increased FTZ utilization in those regions.
James has built a strong reputation in the FTZ community through his engagement with the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones (NAFTZ). Since 2015, he has served on the Board of Directors and currently serves as an Officer within the Executive Committee. He has also chaired several committees, working groups and task forces for the association. His network of professional relationships includes many operators/users, grantees, service provider colleagues and officials within the FTZ Board and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
In addition to his FTZ expertise, James works with companies to evaluate and periodically review their participation in other CBP partnership programs, including the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) program, the Importer Self-Assessment (ISA) program (i.e., CTPAT Trade Compliance) and other AEO-modeled voluntary programs. He has designed testing processes for these programs and assisted companies navigate periodic reviews from the customs authorities.
James also has unique experience assisting companies examine the structure and effectiveness of their global trade function. Whether through an internal audit lens or through the trade group directly, he has helped companies conduct reviews of the structure, location and success of a company’s trade-related personnel, procedures and technology. These customized reviews typically generate escalation procedures, identify inherent risks and savings opportunities and benchmark against global leading practices.
