News & Insights

Washington, DC – The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) today announced that William (Bill) Kelly will join the organization as Senior Vice President, effective March 1. Kelly served for 29 years as the Director of International Governmental Affairs at Ford Motor Company, and as a member of the NFTC Board of Directors for more than a decade.

“With Bill’s extensive experience in trade, international business and foreign policy, he knows the issues and is well-equipped to aid the organization in advocating the market-opening and export-promoting policies that matter to our members,” said NFTC President Bill Reinsch. “When Bill was a member of the Board, we valued his leadership and expertise, and we are very pleased to welcome him to the NFTC team in this new capacity.”

While at Ford, Kelly led a diverse global team that lobbied foreign governments on business, tax and regulatory issues, and routinely negotiated investment incentives amounting to $200 million to $500 million annually. As the lead Ford executive on automotive trade and investment policy issues with the U.S. government, he served as an industry leader in the APEC automotive forum. In addition, Kelly developed and implemented Ford’s policy, public relations and lobbying responses to sensitive international political issues that affected the company’s business.

“I’ve worked with the NFTC for many years and look forward to continuing to help fulfill its mission to promote an open, rules-based global trading system, and increase market access for U.S. companies and our workforce,” said Kelly.

Prior to joining Ford, Kelly served as a Foreign Service Officer in Portugal, Brazil and Washington, D.C.; as a member of National Security Council Staff Brazil Study; and as a desk officer for four Caribbean countries where his focus was bauxite nationalization issues in Guyana, Jamaica and Suriname. He also served on the Azores base negotiating team and, more importantly, was officer-in-charge of U.S. relations with Portugal during and for 30 months after the 1974 Portuguese revolution.

In addition, Kelly was a board member of the NFTC, the French American Chamber of Commerce in Michigan, the U.S. National Center for APEC and the Portuguese American Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Council of the Americas’ former Advisory Board. Kelly is currently an officer and board member of the Michigan Chapter of the German American Chamber of Commerce.

As Senior Vice President, Kelly will focus on NFTC member relations and development. He will also be responsible for NFTC’s annual World Trade Dinner.