Biography of Jonathan A. Fink

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Jonathan A. Fink currently serves as managing director of TSI Global Consulting in San Antonio, Texas. In addition he serves on the Adjunct faculty in both the economics department at Palo Alto College and in the Bill Greehey School of Business at St. Mary's University.  In May 2008 he left a tenure track position at Palo Alto in order to devote additional time towards completing a doctoral degree in international development at the University of Southern Mississippi and to expanding his consulting practice, TSI Global Consulting. Mr. Fink's academic career parallels a lengthy career in international business working in emerging markets of the developing world. His experience in the international market covers a wide range of projects working primarily with industrialized country manufacturers to expand their operations and global supply/distribution networks in less developed countries. From 1996-2003, he served as founder and managing director of IndoAsean Trade Inc., a boutique management consultancy specialized in structuring international trade and investment transactions for small and medium sized enterprises. He originally founded the consulting practice in Jakarta, Indonesia after serving a three year position as Export Marketing Advisor to the senior management of PT Argo Pantes Integrated textile industries, a $US 200 million dollar annual revenue manufacturer and core company of the Indonesian conglomerate Argo Manunggal Group. While with the Argo Group, Mr. Fink managed a staff of four people as Director of the Marketing Communications Department. In that position he organized and directed the company's participation in several trade missions and foreign trade shows in Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Philippines, Japan and Thailand. He also advised and worked with the senior management to resolve and negotiate several complex international trade matters including two anti-dumping cases filed against the company by the European Community (unbleached cotton fabrics and poly/cotton yarns) and two high volume multi-million dollar technology licensing manufacturing agreements (Supima Cotton Association Exclusive Rights Agreement, 1995 and Cluett, Peabody/Arrow Shirts Wrinkle Free Fabric Processing Agreement, 1996). Among his accomplishments with the Argo Group he was in charge of developing and implementing a corporate market diversification plan which resulted in approximately ten million dollars of exports into regional Southeast and South Asian markets in its initial year of implementation.

As Director of IndoAsean Trade Inc. he worked with numerous small and medium sized enterprises on a one-on-one basis to expand their operations in the international market. He also facilitated the sourcing and brokerage of over $US 4 million dollars per year of textile raw materials from manufacturers in Southeast Asia for client importers and manufacturers in the United States. Mr. Fink's consulting clients have included such  firms as Materials International LLC, a Cherry Hill, New Jersey based high volume importer of textile raw materials; Ironout Inc., a Fort Wayne Indiana based consumer products manufacturer; Productos Dianmicos LLC, a Texas based ice cream distributor for the South American market, and numerous international textile manufacturers including, Springs Industries (USA), Dan River Global (USA) Inc.,  Textile Malaysia SDN Berhad, PT Industri Sandang II (Indonesia), PT Adetex Indonesia, Kanindotex (Indonesia), Carolina Fabrics (United Arab Emirates), Sajjan Udyog Exports (India) and others. With over ten years experience working in developing country markets, Mr. Fink has traveled extensively and structured trade and investment projects for clients in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

In 1998 Mr. Fink returned from Asia to run the operations of IndoAsean Trade Inc. from the firm's head office in San Antonio Texas. In mid-2007 the company was restructured and currently operates under the trade name TSI Global Consulting. In addition to teaching and consulting, Mr. Fink has been active in the San Antonio greater community. In 2002, he served as a guest speaker for the City of San Antonio's Export Leaders Program where he addressed a group of leading manufacturers in the City on "Doing Business in Southeast Asia." He is well published and has presented papers on a wide range of topics related to textile and apparel trade and international development policies at academic conferences sponsored by the Academy of Economics and Finance (AEF) and the Southwest Economics Association (SWEA). In the fall of 2007 he accepted an invitation by the mayor of Brisbane, Australia to serve as a speaker on a highly distinguished panel at the Asia Pacific Cities Summit (APCS) a major biannual international business and government forum.

During the early 1990s, Mr. Fink was actively involved in a number of Washington D.C. based non-governmental organizations (NGO's) in the promotion and development of U.S. trade policy. While serving as manager of government relations with the American Association of Exporters and Importers in New York, he lobbied on behalf of U.S. industry on Capitol Hill on such noted topics as U.S.-China Most Favored Nation (MFN), textile issues pending before the World Trade Organization and legislation related to U.S. Customs reform.

Other past positions include serving as a series 7 certified investment banker with Thomas James Associates in Washington D.C., 1990-1991; Manager of Government Relations with the American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI) in New York, 1989-1990 and Research Intern with the Delegation of the Commission of the European Communities, Washington D.C, 1988-1989.Over the years he has been involved in a wide range of professional associations. He is currently an active member of San Antonio's Free Trade Alliance. From 1993-1997 he served on two committees of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), Indonesia. Earlier in his career, from 1990-1991 he was a member of the Society for International Development (SID), Washington D.C. where he served as founding Chairman of SID's International Trade Roundtable (1989-1991).

Mr. Fink is currently a third year doctoral student in International Economic Development at the University of Southern Mississippi. In recognition for his academic achievement at Southern Miss he was elected, in the Spring of 2007, to membership in the academic honor society Phi Kappa Phi. He has developed a reputation as a leading researcher in assessing the empirical validity of global value chain (GVC) theory and the relationship between supply chain integration and industrial upgrading in labor intensive industry. He holds a Masters Degree in International Relations (international economics core) with a specialization in trade and international development from Boston University and a Bachelors Degree in Economics from the University of Richmond.

Mr. Fink lives in San Antonio, Texas with his wife Elizabeth Mooy-Fink and his two children, Joshua and Amanda.