Staff
 Anthony Hemstad President and CEO Email: ahemstad@wtcta.org |
Anthony combines local roots with diverse international experience. Born and raised in Washington State he worked for three U.S. Senators in Washington, D.C. – including Washington’s own Dan Evans and Slade Gorton. He worked on trade and foreign relations issues for Senator Evans.
Anthony lived in Europe from 1990 – 2002. He was one of the founding faculty members and taught politics & government courses for the first private college in post-Communist Czechoslovakia. He later founded his own consultancy that grew to be one of the largest public affairs firms in Central Europe, having over 40 staff in four countries. His firm’s clients included many leading international companies as well as local firms, non-profits and government ministries.
After returning to Washington, Anthony served as Maple Valley’s City Manager prior to joining the World Trade Center in spring 2009. He is also an elected Hospital Commissioner in King County and was named “Public Official of the Year” for 2008 in the Maple Valley, Black Diamond and Covington area.
Anthony earned a BA in Asian Studies from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. There he was part of the Pacific Rim program studying in nine different Asian countries. He also holds an MA from the University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies and the London School of Economics) where he studied Japanese Political Economy. Most recently he earned an International MBA from the University of Chicago (Barcelona program).
Anthony has traveled extensively in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. He currently resides in South King County with his Czech wife and two young children.
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 Sandra Forero Bush Vice President and COO Email:sfbush@wtcta.org |
In her role as Vice President and COO of the World Trade Center Tacoma, Sandra brings together her background in the private sector with her passion and background in International Affairs. With over 15 years experience in both the private and non-profit sectors in operational, business administration and project management roles, Sandra is excited to support the growth and expansion of the WTC Tacoma.
A native of Colombia, she has lived in Tacoma for 10 years, where she worked for Russell Investments until she transitioned to the WTC in the Fall of 2010. Sandra also teaches Business and Management at Annie Wright School in Tacoma, an opportunity which allows her to help shape future women business leaders. Previous to Russell, Sandra worked for the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C., where she worked closely with the Andean Development Corporation and others on inter-American trade policy conferences. Sandra has taught Spanish and worked with the United Nations and the Organization of American States.
Sandra recently stepped down from the Board of the World Trade Center Tacoma, serves as an ex-officio Board Member of the World Affairs Council Tacoma and has served on the alumni board of the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies and as a community service leader for Reaches-Out, a program supporting orphanages in Tijuana, Mexico. She has a B.A. in International Relations and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies from Brown University and a Masters in Pacific International Affairs with a concentration in International Management from the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) at UC San Diego.
Sandra is fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese, is proficient in French and has a working knowledge of Italian.
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 Mariam AndersonMembership Development and Events Manager Email: manderson@wtcta.org |
As Membership Development and Events Manager, Mariam joined the World Trade Center Tacoma with strong project and organizational management skills from profit and non-profit organizations. She brings over ten years experience of organizing events and training seminars.
Originally from the Republic of Georgia, Mariam received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Iv. Djavakhishvili State University in the Republic of Georgia and a BBA from Pacific Lutheran University with a concentration in international business and a minor in Spanish. Mariam speaks Georgian (native), Russian, English, and Spanish.
Mariam served as a board member of Goodwill Physicians, PLU Business Network and president of PLU Young Entrepreneurs Club. She is actively involved with the World Affairs Council Tacoma, Sister Cities International, and Tacoma Rotary Club International.
Mariam lives with her husband and son in Tacoma, Washington.
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 Annie Zhou Molina China Desk Specialist / Office Manager Email: azhou@wtcta.org |
Annie joined the World Trade Center Tacoma as an intern in 2006. During her internship she gained great experience in event planning, trade researching, and membership developing. Today, Annie serves as China Desk Specialist and Office Manager for the WTC Tacoma. She works closely with Michael Fowler on the Tacoma-Fuzhou Trade Project and is the lead for all incoming and outgoing delegations to China for the WTC Tacoma, additionally, Annie assists in designing trade-related programs and providing trade research to our members, manages the WTC Intern program and assists in operational and management reporting. Annie has very strong organization and language skills. She helped organize and host countless inbound and outbound delegations. She was also involved with the establishment of several sister cities between Washington State and China. In 2006, she traveled with former Mayor Gerald Gehring of University Place to Jiangyou, China to sign an official agreement to establish a sister city relationship between the two cities. In 2009, she travelled with Secretary of Washington State Sam Reed and Lt. Governor Brad Owen on two separate trips to China promoting trade and friendship between the two countries. She performed duties as an interpreter during the trips and assisted both Mr. Reed and Mr. Owen in several high officials meetings. Annie received her bachelor’s degree from Pacific Lutheran University with a concentration in International Business and Chinese Studies. She earned her master’s degree from City University with a Project Management major and International Study minor. Annie still has many family connections in Qingdao and Hong Kong, China, and Lima, Peru. |
 Mike Fowler Director, Fuzhou Trade Project Email: mfowler@wtcta.org |
Mike Fowler is Director of the World Trade Center Tacoma’s Fuzhou Trade Project. Mike has extensive experience working as a trade consultant for U.S. business activities with Japanese and Chinese firms. He is fluent in Chinese and Japanese and served as Chair of the Pacific Northwest International Trade Alliance. He is a former senior editor of Business Tokyo magazine and holds a master’s degree in international relations with China and Japan business/economics emphasis from Sophia University in Tokyo and a bachelor’s degree in Chinese from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. |
 Soojin Chung Senior Research Analyst Email: schung@wtcta,org |
As a senior research analyst, Soojin conducts market research on the US and local trade activity, provides industry statistics and performs comparative analysis on diverse projects. She also publishes the WTC Tacoma quarterly online newsletter. Soojin enjoys doing research involving global trade which stems from her international background. She graduated from Seoul National University then pursued her graduate studies at Sorbonne University in Paris. She arrived in the US as a visiting scholar at MIT and Brown University. She also holds her MBA degree from the University of Washington, Tacoma. |
