Monk Named Chair of South Carolina International Trade Coalition

COLUMBIA, SC – November 22, 2011 – Fred Monk, president of ECI/FindNew Markets, a  not for profit partnership that helps companies grow ininternational and domestic markets, has been named chair of the SCInternational Trade Coalition (SCITC). The SC International TradeCoalition is comprised of the state’s major trade entities, whichinclude the US Export Assistance Center/US Commercial Service, the SCDepartment of Commerce, the Export Consortium, the SC Department ofAgriculture, the SC World Trade Center, South Carolina State PortsAuthority, the District Export Council, the College of Charleston, theUniversity of South Carolina Moore School of Business, the CharlestonWomen in International Trade and the SC Forestry Commission.

“I am honored to serve as chairman of such a distinguished group as wework alongside our partners to enhance trade opportunities for SouthCarolina businesses,” said Monk.

Monk is chairman emeritus and managing director of the Columbia WorldAffairs Council, which he helped create and which has helped theMidlands of South Carolina develop international awareness andinternational relationships. He also was involved in forging SouthCarolina’s sister-state relationships with Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany; andQueensland, Australia; and Columbia’s sister cities in Kaiserslautern,Germany; Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Chelyabinsk, Russia;Yibin, China and Accra, Ghana.

Monk is South Carolina’s representative to the federal AppalachianRegional Commission’s Export Trade Advisory Council, serves on the SouthCarolina Commission on International Cooperation and Agreements andchairs the South Carolina Coalition for Small Business andEntrepreneurship. He also is president of the Midlands InternationalTrade Association.

He is the former business editor of The State newspaper (from 1981-1997)and worked at The State and The State-Record Co. for 28 years beforejoining the Export Consortium in November 1997.