The American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) announced Tuesday the selection of Richard Chriss as its new Executive Director, replacing David Phelps, who is retiring. Phelps served as the Institute's Executive Director and later President for the past 17 years.
Chriss will assume his new position on November 18, 2013, and work from the AIIS offices in Falls Church, Virginia. His previous assignments include managing international trade policy for Senator Charles Grassley from 1999-2003 and also dealing with steel trade-related issues affecting the industry. Additional responsibilities included international tax and trade policy analysis for the Senate Finance Committee, as well as extensive work within Congress regarding legislation renewing the President's trade promotion authority (TPA). Chriss also served as the Senior Advisor and Counsel to the Under Secretary of the International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce, where his work involved international trade coordination at the OECD Steel Conference meetings and bi-partisan coalition building on trade at the Congressional level.
More recently he served as an Assistant General Counsel, Office of the United States Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President where he was hired by then-Ambassador Portman (now Senator Portman) for coordinating legal and policy guidance on international trade programs ranging from the WTO to being the initial Chief Counsel for the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.
Additionally, Chriss has been the Managing Director at Richard Chriss & Co., an international trade advisory firm that provided counsel to businesses, Congress, Executive Branch agencies and other organizations on matters related to international trade. The firm's primary focus has been to assist export and import-oriented businesses, including many steel using companies, navigate and overcome tariff and non-tariff trade barriers to market access worldwide.