For over thirty years, Kellie Meiman Hock has managed some of the most challenging issues confronting companies, non-governmental organizations, universities, and other stakeholders as they seek to grow their presence and/or operate internationally.
A Latin American expert by background, Meiman worked for nearly a decade as a U.S. foreign service officer at the Department of State, serving in Bogota, Colombia, and throughout Brazil in Porto Alegre, São Paulo, and Recife, as well as at the State Department Operations Center. Her final posting was at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) as director for Brazil and the Southern Cone, running point on the U.S. trade relationship with Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay. During her tenure, she helped USTR to lay the groundwork for the U.S./Chile Free Trade Agreement, worked on the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and successfully managed multiple disputes to the benefit of U.S. companies, exporters, and workers.
In 2000, Meiman joined the global consulting firm McLarty Associates, at the time a small firm focused primarily on Latin America. She helped build and grow the firm into one with global impact, originally founding the firm’s trade and Brazil/Southern Cone practices and eventually becoming managing partner. Over the course of nearly 25 years, she helped more than one hundred companies and organizations to achieve their objectives internationally and is known for her creative approaches to problem solving and consensus/coalition building. Beyond Latin America, Meiman has been deeply engaged in stakeholder efforts to manage broad geopolitical uncertainty, a dynamic global trade agenda, and increased deployment of industrial policy. She has helped many companies to internationalize their business and public policy operations, developing strategies to address both challenges and opportunities not only in the Americas but globally.
Meiman is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and chairs the Women’s Foreign Policy Group Leadership Council. An adjunct professor at Georgetown University and lecturer at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, she is a frequent contributor to CNN Brasil on trade policy matters and is on the board of the Washington Campus, where she teaches the trade module. Meiman is also on the advisory council of the Midwest International Trade Association (MITA) and the Yeutter Institute of International Trade & Finance at the University of Nebraska. She has lived and studied in Central America and Japan and fluently speaks Spanish and Portuguese. Meiman resides in Northern Virginia with her husband, Jim, and their two sons.
Meiman Hock joined the Dialogue as a Member in 2024. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the Dialogue’s Board of Directors.
