Bio Randy Mitchell

Randy Mitchell joined the International Trade Administration in June 2001, from the private sector where he had a history of entrepreneurial development in Russia, Japan, and the United States. His most recent private sector experience was as founder of a start-up e-commerce company exporting U.S. consumer goods to the Japanese. In that position he built a management team that included former Fortune 500 executives including the former Chairman, CEO and President of Avon Japan. Along with his team he raised $3.5 million in venture capital financing and built strategic partnerships with some of the largest companies in Japan and the United States.

Mr. Mitchell resided in Russia from 1992 through 1996, where he built distribution networks in Moscow and St. Petersburg for U.S. and Scandinavian food and beverage brands such as Nestle (Findus), Sara Lee, Anheuser-Busch, Tyson, Subway, Campbell Soup, and others. This included working with Russian entrepreneurs in distribution, retail, and food service.

At the International Trade Administration Mr. Mitchell joined the Office of Finance in March 2005 from the Office of the Under Secretary where he had worked from January 2003 as Deputy Counselor on Entrepreneurship. In that role Mr. Mitchell primarily developed bilateral entrepreneurial programs with U.S. trading partners. From January 2003 through November 2005 entrepreneurship forums involving more than 1,650 participants occurred in Japan, Thailand, Russia, Finland, Latvia, Sweden, Peru, Chile, and China.

Mr. Mitchell is currently the U.S. government official responsible for private equity / venture capital and is the United States Representative to the OECD for Entrepreneurship. He is an alumnus of the 2005 Venture Capital Institute. His previous assignments within the International Trade Administration include being the U.S. Representative to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Entrepreneurship Working Group. Mr. Mitchell has also served as U.S. Secretary on bilateral venture capital working groups with the governments of: Australia, China, India, and the European Union. Mr. Mitchell, a speaker of Russian, has traveled to 36 countries.———–