Jeffrey Tafel, the CEO of the Home Builders Association of Western Michigan, will become president of the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones as of Feb. 1, the trade group said on Dec. 28.

Meredith DeMent has rejoined Baker McKenzie as a partner in the North America International Commercial Practice Group, based in Washington, D.C., the firm announced. Returning from Sidley Austin, DeMent will grow her practice in which she will counsel companies on "all aspects of US customs and related trade laws, including current and rapidly evolving trade policy, compliance and duty mitigation strategies," the firm said. DeMent previously was an associate at Baker McKenzie from 2013 to 2019.

The Consumer Technology Association hired Ed Brzytwa, previously director of international trade at the American Chemistry Council, as vice president of international trade, the trade group said.

The Census Bureau recently promoted Jessica Mangubat to a manager position in the agency’s trade regulations branch, said Omari Wooden, a senior Census trade regulations official. Mangubat was previously a trade analyst. “She has been a phenomenal resource in regulations thus far,” Wooden told the Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee Dec. 14.

Lori Wallach, a leader of trade skeptics in her work for 30 years at Public Citizen, will join the American Economic Liberties Project's new ReThink Trade campaign as director as of Jan. 1, the group said. Wallach said the group is fighting against digital trade agreements they see as reinforcing Big Tech monopolies, and will be working to fix "the IP monopolies Big Pharma packed into 'free trade' agreements that are now undermining the world’s COVID response."

Kenyen Brown, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, has joined Hughes Hubbard as a partner in the White Collar and Regulatory Defense, and Anti-Corruption and Internal Investigations practices, based in Washington, D.C., the firm announced. Brown's practice will center on white collar criminal litigation, including corporate counseling on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the False Claims Act, the firm said. Prior to joining Hughes Hubbard, Brown was a partner at Maynard Cooper.

Eric Choy, deputy assistant director of CBP's Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate, is now the acting director, a CBP spokesperson said. The previous director, Ana Hinojosa, recently retired (see 2111010041).

Michael Parker, a former official at both the Justice and the Treasury departments, has joined Ferrari & Associates as counsel heading up the firm's money laundering and sanctions practice, the firm announced Dec. 1. Parker was previously a sanctions investigator and later a chief in the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s enforcement division before joining DOJ, where he prosecuted transnational crime and money laundering violations.

Christian Ford, former deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy, has joined DLA Piper as a partner in the Washington, D.C.-based litigation practice, the firm announced. Previously serving in multiple roles at DOJ and as counsel at the Defense Department, Ford oversaw a portfolio that included national security, law enforcement, terrorism and violent crime prevention, the firm said. He also worked as a prosecutor in DOJ's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, managing investigations affecting national security.

Boies Schiller announced the opening of a new office in Milan along with the hiring of three lawyers who have joined as the office's founding partners. The trio is Luigi Macioce, Alessia Allegretti and Stefano Zonca, all of whom made the move to Boies Schiller from Italian law firm R&P Legal. Zonca has "significant experience in international trade law and competition," the firm said. Joining the founding partners are 12 other attorneys who will move to the Milan office.