Patrick Santillo is Senior Vice President of the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU), a nonpartisan, U.S.-based organization that works to expand international trade and commerce.

In his current role, Mr. Santillo is helping BCIU and its members promote international understanding through dialogue and action between the private sector and governments around the world. By strengthening public-private partnerships in the global marketplace, assisting stakeholders with problem-solving in turbulent situations, and by enhancing BCIU’s global engagement, Mr. Santillo supports BCIU member companies, connecting stakeholders and governments in the U.S. and around the world.

Prior to joining BCIU in November 2018 as a Strategic Advisor, Mr. Santillo capped his career in the U.S. Foreign Service as the Minister-Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, where he led a team of more than 70 professionals working in seven offices across the country. Together they promoted U.S. exports, opened foreign markets to American products, protected U.S. commercial and intellectual property interests abroad, enforced U.S. export control requirements and encouraged foreign direct investment into the United States.

Mr. Santillo also served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Mongolia in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA). In this role, he was responsible for the Department’s operations in China, Hong Kong, and Mongolia. He was an active leader in the U.S. Government’s inter-agency process that shaped U.S. trade policy and he advised the Department’s senior leadership on issues regarding the bilateral commercial relationships. He helped shape the Department’s trade promotion agenda, and as a member of ITA’s Senior Leadership Team, he fostered operational excellence across the organization.

As the Regional Senior Commercial Officer for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore, Mr. Santillo coordinated the U.S. Department of Commerce’s initiatives across the ten countries of the region. Other tours of duty included assignments as the Department’s Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific and as the Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. During his career, he also held increasingly complex and senior level jobs in Toronto, Athens, Washington, Osaka, and Tokyo.

Mr. Santillo was a member of the Senior Foreign Service and worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce for more than 30 years. An engaging and sought after speaker on international trade, communication, leadership and management, Mr. Santillo is a member of the National Speakers Association.

Mr. Santillo earned his Master of Arts in Economics from the State University of New York at Buffalo and received a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the American University in Washington, DC.