Eyes On Trade Author Biographies
Melinda St. Louis is the director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. Since working alongside labor unions and farmer organizations in Nicaragua fighting for fair trade policies more than two decades ago, St. Louis has developed deep expertise in trade and globalization issues and fought for progressive alternatives to corporate globalization that benefit people and the planet. She provides expert analysis of technical trade agreement provisions and implications for domestic policymaking to Congress and high-level government officials, the press, and civil society partners in the U.S. and around the globe and has helped lead successful campaigns to stop the corporate agenda of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, advance official discussions at the World Trade Organization about financial regulation, and support governments exiting from harmful investment treaties. She is a committed coalition builder, nurturing numerous global South-North coalitions, as well as broad and deep coalitions across the U.S., working cross-culturally to build trust, plan together, and implement coordinated strategic actions to challenge corporate power.
Melanie Foley is the deputy director for Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch and leads outreach and coalition building strategies to bolster GTW’s campaigns on global trade negotiations such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Partnership (IPEF) and the global movement to roll back damaging international economic structures such as Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). She is also the U.S. Co-Chair of the Trade Policy Committee of the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD). She joined GTW in 2013 and has held an array of positions within the team. Before that, as a Legislative Policy and Research Assistant for the environmental non-profit, Appalachian Voices, she educated congressional offices on big coal’s efforts to subvert regulatory measures against mountaintop-removal coal mining. She also worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative intern, and on the Potomac River as an outdoor adventure sports instructor. She attended the University of Maryland, where she earned a B.A. in Government and Politics and a Master’s in Public Policy.
Lori Wallach is the former director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. A Harvard-trained lawyer, Wallach has promoted the public interest regarding globalization and international commercial agreements in every forum: Congress and foreign parliaments, the courts, government agencies, and the media. Described as "Ralph Nader with a sense of humor" in a Wall Street Journal profile, "the Trade Debate's Guerrilla Warrior" in the National Journal, and "Madame Defarge of Seattle" by the Institute for International Economics, Wallach has testified on NAFTA, GATT-WTO, and other trade issues before over 30 U.S. congressional committees, numerous other countries’ legislatures, the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Wallach’s work in "translating" arcane trade legalese – indeed, entire proposed international commercial agreements – into relevant, accessible prose has had significant national and international impact.
