Kimbrell attended North Carolina State University receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Textiles, and achieving his MBA with a concentration in Supply Chain Management.

Knight leads the work to advance the global competitiveness of the U.S. textile and manufacturing industries through the development and execution of international trade and investment policies and promotion strategies.

Through her strategic vision, passionate leadership, and management skills Knight combines her unique understanding of the traditional textile industry with her proven experience in manufacturing and e-commerce to achieve success.

Her previous experience includes leading startups, family-owned, and private equity-owned companies through growth, turnarounds, and ownership transitions as a former C-suite executive. She was previously the president and COO of American Woolen Company and a partner at Newport Board Group, a national professional services firm that provides executive level and Board of Directors advisory services to emerging growth companies. Knight was also founder and president of GetawayStyle, an e-commerce site offering content and product recommendations of Made in the USA, eco-friendly home furnishings to second and retirement homeowners.

Prior to that, Knight spent almost 15 years in the U.S. textile industry leading several companies through growth and turnaround situations. She has navigated challenges in the domestic manufacturing industry and international markets, including setting up operations in Central America and China.

She received a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies and women’s studies from Brown University and earned a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University. Outside of work, she is an avid gardener and hiker along with her wife, Chiqui Cartagena, who is a well-known expert on the U.S. Hispanic market.

Kelly Pedersen is a Partner at PwC, based in San Francisco, and leads PwC's US Retail practice.

With over 20 years of retail experience in both industry roles as well as a consultant, Kelly has advised retailers on a wide array of topics that range from growth and profit strategies, large business transformations, and technology and capability building. He focuses a lot of his time in the merchandising area, helping retailers organize and optimize for growth in an omni-channel environment through their product, pricing, and promotion, and inventory strategies.

Prior to joining PwC, Kelly was an executive at a large global apparel retailer

Until January 2020, Mr. Pellegrini, who is no longer a member of the bar, was Senior Counsel at McGuireWoods LLP where his clients included multinationals, general merchandise retailers, importers, exporters, domestic and foreign manufacturers, commission agents, trade associations, and international marketing companies. Mr. Pellegrini’s practice focused on the regulatory and commercial aspects of international trade. He provided assistance with respect to government regulation of the import-export trade, duty planning, admissibility requirements, litigation in the United States Court of International Trade, representation before the various federal agencies that regulate trade in the United States, and the commercial aspects of international trade.

Ms. Felicia Pullam is the Executive Director of the Office of Trade Relations, which serves as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) primary point of contact for private sector and stakeholder engagement.

Ms. Pullam has worked on trade issues from both the state and federal perspective: she has served at the Delaware Department of State, the Maryland Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. During the Obama Administration, Ms. Pullam helped steer SelectUSA, a presidential initiative housed within Commerce, through a high-pressure start-up phase to promote the United States as the leading global destination for foreign direct investment. Ms. Pullam was then appointed to the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Textiles, Consumer Goods, and Materials, where she managed three offices to analyze and implement trade policy covering a large swath of the global economy.

Outside of government service, Ms. Pullam was recently the Director of Strategy at the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Earlier in her career, she spent nearly a decade in China, leading the Asia regional corporate responsibility and sustainability practice for APCO Worldwide. She got her start as a Princeton in Asia Fellow, followed by a yearlong adventure as the tutor and translator for actress Zhang Ziyi. She graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University.

David M. Spooner is a partner in the Corporate Department in Barnes & Thornburg’s Washington, D.C., office.  Mr. Spooner represents governments, trade associations, and corporate clients on international trade matters, including trade remedies, trade policy and customs issues.  He uses his past experience as a high-level political appointee in the Executive Branch and on Capitol Hill to assist clients with their advocacy efforts before both branches of government, as well as before foreign governments.

Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Spooner served as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Import Administration.  In that capacity, Mr. Spooner led U.S. Government enforcement of trade remedy laws, principally the antidumping and anti-subsidy laws.  He administered the Foreign Trade Zone system; oversaw apparel trade policy and the implementation of laws governing trade in apparel; managed trade remedy negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as dispute resolution proceedings at the WTO; chaired U.S.-China talks on macroeconomic reforms and the steel industry; and supervised the US Department of Commerce’s import safety initiatives.

Prior to his Senate confirmation as Assistant Secretary, Mr. Spooner served as the Chief Textile and Apparel Negotiator and Transition Coordinator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).  While at USTR, he was a principal negotiator for free trade agreements with Central America, the Dominican Republic, Singapore, Australia, Chile, Panama, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Colombia and Peru, principally negotiating customs enforcement, apparel and textile, origin and safeguard provisions.  He was heavily involved in building support for congressional passage of the Bush Administration’s trade agenda.  Mr. Spooner also negotiated a comprehensive apparel trade agreement with China and concluded bilateral customs and quota arrangements with several nations.

Before his appointment to USTR, Mr. Spooner worked on Capitol Hill, managing the Washington D.C. office and serving as the legislative director and press secretary for a member of Congress, serving as Communications Director for the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, and working for the U.S. House Committee on Rules, which manages debate and amendments in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Spooner earned his J.D. from the College of William & Mary School of Law and his B.A. from the University of Virginia.

He is admitted to practice in Washington, D.C., and Virginia and before the U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.