George TracyÂ
Congratulations! George Tracy, Georgia DEC, Secretary of the Year
As a fitting follow-up to the selection of the Georgia DEC as DEC of the Year in 2023, their Executive Secretary, George Tracy, was selected as the Executive Secretary of the Year for 2024 by the members of the NADEC Board of Directors. George brings a unique approach to his work with the U.S. Commercial Service based on his years in the private sector as a business consultant. Universally lauded by his DEC members, the application for the Executive Secretary of the Year submitted by his DEC detailed significant achievements.
Highlights included:
- The www.GeorgiaDEC.com website is an actively managed valuable resource enabling exporters to engage with GADEC easily and obtain substantial free export information. Under George’s guidance, the GADEC website template has been adopted by 28 DECs around the country! This template is provided to other DECs free of charge and enables them to provide local information and resources via a website that is easy to maintain.
- www.Export-U.com is another valuable resource developed and promoted under George Tracy’s leadership and engagement. The programs and resources on Export-U are used by exporters, students and others to obtain exporting knowledge. Per website analytics, users of the site have consistently increased, currently serving approximately 24,000 viewers per year. George has also actively helped develop a planned online exporter certification based on Export-U content.
- George developed SMART intake forms and exporter-facing interfaces now available on the GADEC site along with requests for GADEC mentors and speakers. Based on user answers to questions about their company, the new interfaces guides users to programs such as SBA, STEP grants, Atlanta Urban League Counselling, and other specific resources and government grants including those for minority ownership and women-owned business.
- The GADEC strategic plan was spearheaded by George Tracy. George organized multiple analyses including a SWOT to uncover how the GADEC should be positioned for optimal impact.
A great example of collaborative engagement by the GADEC resulting from this strategic plan, is the public-private partnering and GADEC’s close engagement with the Atlanta Metro Export Challenge (MEC) which is now an annual and ongoing export impact activity that brings together the Georgia exporter community – large and SMEs. Prospective, promising exporters are mentored jointly by the GADEC members, MACOC, GADEcD, GA SBA, and ExIm representatives. Delta Airlines supports MEC with subsidized or no-charge travel for select GA exporters to visit destinations for GA export improvement.
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Left to right: Jonathan Szucs. NADEC Chair, George Tracy, Georgia DEC Executive Secretary, and Diane Farrell (International Trade Administration Under Secretary)
View Recipients from Previous Years
Mark Cooper
Mark Cooper, Executive Secretary of the Indiana District Export Council was recently chosen for The Executive Secretary of the Year award during the 2023 Annual Export Conference in Washington D.C.
At the 2023 National Association of District Export Councils (NADEC) Annual Export Conference in Washington, DC, Mark Cooper, Executive Secretary of the Indiana District Export Council (IDEC) and Director of the U.S. Department of Commerce in Indiana, was presented with the honor of National DEC Executive Secretary of the Year!
Mark is the Director of the U.S. Department of Commerce office in Indiana. He coordinates Indiana’s export trade promotion activities. He is responsible for developing and enhancing relationships with industry, local, state, and federal representatives, and provides trade advice, and counsel to Indiana businesses. Mr. Cooper has been an active part of the Indiana international business community for the last 25 years. Before coming to the Indianapolis office, Mr. Cooper worked for two years in the Office of Microelectronics, Medical Equipment, and Instrumentation, for the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. His duties included analysis of healthcare industry trends and the development of policies promoting the global competitiveness of the U.S. medical device industry. Mr. Cooper has participated in trade promotional activities in Europe, Egypt, Singapore, Vietnam, India, South Africa, Peru, and Russia. Prior to his work as an industry specialist, Mr. Cooper worked in the Office of International Operations for Asia and the Pacific, where he coordinated and planned Secretarial Missions to Indonesia, India, and the Middle East. Mr. Cooper holds a master’s degree from Indiana University in Comparative and International Affairs. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in Theology and Public Administration
Visit their website at: https://indianadec.org/
 
Heather Ranck
Heather Ranck, Executive Secretary of the North Dakota District Export Council was recently chosen for The Executive Secretary of the Year award during the 2022 Annual Export Conference in Washington D.C.
At the 2022 National Association of District Export Councils’ (NADEC) Annual Export Conference in
Washington, DC, Heather Ranck, Executive Secretary of the North Dakota District Export Council (ND DEC) and Director of the Commercial Service office in North Dakota, was presented with the honor of National DEC Executive Secretary of the Year! Since 2005, Heather has worked collaboratively with the ND DEC – with a board of 23 exporters – to provide the tools its members need to be effective, including trade expertise and programming as well as support at the DEC’s quarterly meetings.
Over a 10-year period, Heather worked closely with the ND DEC officers and members to create a powerful new program – the Rural Export Program – that ramped up to national stature in May 2020 to help expand exports from rural America, a geographic sector historically underserved. This national program began with the support of the ND DEC along with Congressional stakeholders Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
As Heather was doing regular export outreach and working with the ExporTech program (sponsored by the national MEP program, ND Trade Office, and ND DEC), she identified key factors most companies were missing to become more pro-active exporters. Over the last 10-year period, Heather and the ND DEC spearheaded the development of a step-by-step program called RAISE (Rural America’s Intelligence Service for Exporters), where customized in-depth market research filled the knowledge and strategy gaps to help potential exporters identify and focus on their best potential export markets based on data- driven analysis.
Visit their website at: https://www.nddec.com/Â
