Neal Appointed to Customs and Border Protection Advisory Group

Kathleen Neal, director of trade compliance for A. O. Smith Corporation, has been appointed to the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection.

Neal was one of 20 professionals appointed to a two-year term on the COAC by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

The COAC advises the secretaries of the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Homeland Security on the commercial operations of Customs and Border Protection and related Department of Homeland Security functions.

“This appointment is a huge honor for me,” Neal says. “I'm looking forward to representing the perspective of an importer with global production facilities to the group. In addition, I can bring the unique perspective of living and working in the El Paso/Juarez area.”

Neal joined A. O. Smith as its director of trade compliance in May 2001 and has been instrumental in the company’s securing Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) Tier III status, the highest status offered to an importing company.

A licensed customs broker, Neal has more than 20 years of experience in customs and supply chain logistics.

She has served as chairperson of the Border Trade Alliance, a non-profit organization involved with key issues affecting trade and economic development in North America. She is a longtime board member of the El Paso Foreign Trade Association and has served as vice president of the West Texas-New Mexico Customs Brokers Association and as secretary of the International Organization for Secure Commerce.

This is the 12^th biennial term of the COAC advisory group. The group’s first meeting is scheduled for April 12 in Washington, D.C.

For more information, visit www.aosmith.com.