Juan Verde

Why organisations work with Juan Verde

• Holds first-hand US trade policy experience across three administrations (Clinton, Obama, Biden), including as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia with commercial responsibility for 52 countries.
• Operates fluently on both sides of the Atlantic, giving executives a practical read on how US and European policy environments shape the same investment decision differently.
• Frames sustainability as a commercial question, showing boards how climate strategy connects to capital access, pricing power, regulatory positioning, and export competitiveness.
• Brings live board-level context from HISPASAT and the Airbus Foundation Board of Advisors, alongside advisory work with Google, Cisco, Banco Santander, and the Inter-American Development Bank.
• Currently serves on the President’s Export Council under President Biden, the White House advisory body whose members include the chief executives of Ford, Disney, Citibank, and Starbucks.

Biography highlights

• Member of the President’s Export Council, the White House’s principal advisory committee on international trade and US competitiveness.
• Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia at the US Department of Commerce, with commercial policy responsibility across 52 countries.
• Earlier international trade roles at the US Department of Commerce during the Clinton Administration.
• Founder and President of the Advanced Leadership Foundation, which has trained over 10,000 emerging green leaders across more than 10 countries.
• Board of Directors at HISPASAT, the satellite communications operator for Spain, Portugal, and Latin America; member of the Airbus Foundation Board of Advisors.
• Master’s in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; BA in Political Science and International Relations, Boston University.

Biography

Trade policy used to move slowly enough that executives could treat it as weather. That no longer holds. Tariff regimes, export controls, and climate-linked regulation now reshape commercial plans in quarters, not decades, and the decisions are made in rooms Juan Verde has spent three decades working in.

Appointed by President Obama in 2009, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia at the US Department of Commerce, with commercial policy responsibility across 52 countries. Under the Clinton Administration he held earlier international trade roles at Commerce. In 2023 President Biden appointed him to the President’s Export Council, the White House’s principal advisory committee on trade competitiveness, alongside the chief executives of companies including Ford, Disney, Citibank, and Starbucks.

The through-line in his commercial work is a specific argument about sustainability. He treats climate action as a commercial question, which is the organising idea of his Profit Meets Planet keynote series on corporate climate, geopolitical arbitrage, and leading through disruption. That thesis draws on co-founding Climate Reality Project chapters with Al Gore in Spain and Argentina, and on advisory engagements through Alamo Solutions with Google, Cisco, Banco Santander, and the Inter-American Development Bank. His doctoral research at Universidad Camilo José Cela, on green economy strategies for small island nations, gives the argument academic grounding.

For senior leaders, this translates into a speaker who can move between a boardroom question about European market entry and a policy question about US trade posture without losing commercial specificity. He sits on the Board of Directors of HISPASAT, the satellite communications operator for Spain, Portugal and Latin America, and on the Airbus Foundation Board of Advisors. His keynote platforms include the World Economic Forum, Harvard Kennedy School, the World Bank, and successive UN Climate Conferences, most recently COP25 and COP26.

Key speaking topics

• International trade policy and market access
• Transatlantic economic relations
• Sustainability as commercial advantage
• Foreign direct investment and green export strategy
• Geopolitical risk for global businesses
• Public-private collaboration in international markets

Ideal for

• Boards and CEOs planning international expansion or transatlantic market entry
• Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG leads connecting climate commitments to growth strategy
• Investment attraction agencies, trade bodies, and government ministers
• Corporate delegations at policy summits, sustainability events, and international conferences

Audience outcomes

• How Washington and Brussels are reshaping what corporate sustainability commitments actually cost in commercial terms
• Why climate strategy should be treated as an export competitiveness question, with examples drawn from specific national markets
• Where the next flows of green foreign direct investment are likely to move, and what that means for growth planning
• Language that links trade policy shifts to board-level decisions on capital allocation and market entry