Avere Commodities is a commodities trading company headquartered in Switzerland. I joined to help launch the US operation, with responsibilities for everything from corporate registration, office space, insurance, and payroll, to registration with trade organizations, establishing procedures, and onboarding counterparties. Once established I was a key player in building and leading a trade execution team, and I also managed implementation, customization, and testing of Triple Point Technology commodity management software.I am currently responsible for operational risk for the Americas and oversee and manage a significant annual volume of barges, vessels, and metric tonnes of physical exports. On a day-to-day basis this involves reviewing and ensuring contract terms and issuance (ANEC, GAFTA, FOSFA, NGFA), managing pricing for basis contracts before first notice day, and overseeing open position risk exposure.I also work with vessel owners, agents, and surveyors through multiple locations to ensure execution, and liaise with financing banks and treasury departments to facilitate timely flow of documentation and LCs.

COFCO Americas is the trade arm of Cofco International, a commodity trading company based in China. I joined to provide expertise in barge operations and the US market overall, establish procedures, and manage operations and logistics of agricultural commodities. During this time I defined new SOPs for their newly-launched barge operations, managed AP/AR for all commodity and freight supplier accounts, and analyzed data to provide accurate barge transit time estimates to minimize barge demurrage. I also developed and maintained robust training programs to build a flexible, reliable, team-oriented workforce.

TRC Trading specializes in sourcing and delivering key rice to producers and end users worldwide. I was hired as a Commodities Market Analyst and earned two promotions to a management role responsible for building and leading a six-member operations team to execute day-to-day ops and logistics work for barge, container, truck, and rail shipping voyages through all aspects of the chain.Work included drafting/issuing/reviewing contracts and tenders to ensure smooth execution of trade obligations, and settling all logistic issue related claims, settlements, quality disputes and freight contracts with main counterparties. I also performed analysis on grain and energy cash and futures markets to support hedging and merchandising desk, and analyzed macro-economic factors including political swings and foreign exchange deviations.