John Richter Named Export-Import Bank Senior Vice President, Small Business
WASHINGTON, D.C. —- A Wisconsin native with over thirty years of international management experience has been named senior vice president of the small business division of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank).
John M. Richter is responsible for leading all Ex-Im Bank activities to identify and educate U.S. small-business exporters in order to attract them to the Bank's product offerings. He chairs Ex-Im Bank's Small Business Committee and manages Ex-Im Bank's network of regional branches and the units engaged in outreach to minority- and woman-owned businesses, partner identification and training, as well as small business product development. He continues to have a special focus on bringing private sector practices and a client service orientation to Ex-Im Bank.
John Richter's knowledge of international trade finance, combined with his enthusiasm and demonstrated rapport with small-business exporters, foreign buyers and our lender partners is an unbeatable combination, said James H. Lambright, Ex-Im Bank chairman and president.
John's 30 years of international management experience includes executive positions with Mercury Marine, a division of the Brunswick Corporation, where he was responsible for marketing, sales, and credit in national and international markets. He has also worked in that capacity for the Master Lock Company and a division of Uniroyal Corporation.
His broad sector experience includes chemicals, consumer goods, and hardware.
He also served as Ex-Im Bank regional director for Africa where he was responsible for bank-wide strategic planning, business reviews, and management reporting.
His work with small businesses in that capacity has well suited him for this new position, Lambright said.
Prior to joining Ex-Im Bank John worked for the U.S. Trade and Development Agency as the regional director for Africa and the Middle East.
John received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin and his Masters of International Management from the Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management, specializing in finance and international business. He is originally from Fond du Lac, Wisc.
In fiscal year 2008 Ex-Im Bank authorized $3.2 billion - more than 23 percent of total authorizations - in direct support of U.S. small businesses as primary exporters. The Bank approved 2,328 transactions that were made available for the direct benefit of small-business exporters. These transactions represented 86 percent of the total number of authorizations approved.
Ex-Im Bank is the official export-credit agency of the United States. The independent, self-sustaining federal agency, now in its 74th year, helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by financing the sale of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loan guarantees, export-credit insurance and direct loans.