Board of Directors

Janice Whitaker has been in the trade, customs and logistics field for over 20 years. She is recently retired from Abbott Diabetes Care as Sr. Manager, Customs and Trade Compliance. Janice was previously with Teledyne and Raytheon, managing increasingly complex Defense and Cyber Security export programs at sites and teams across the United States. She is a member of the U.S. Commercial Service District Export Council, is a Licensed Customs Broker and serves on the current Board as Chair.

Away from global trade, Janice is an avid backpacker, hiker, skier, snowshoer, bicyclist…anything outdoors!

Amy’s industry experience working in operations, sales, management, and executive level roles, most recently for two of the largest US-owned Fortune 500 Global Freight Forwarders. She has helped customers design successful supply chain strategies for many global companies incorporating trade compliance, process improvement, technology, and transportation optimization based on data-driven analytics and supply chain mapping. She has helped in many industries, however, has specific expertise in Energy, Aerospace, Medical Devices, Hi-tech, and Wearing apparel industries. She is passionate about developing other professionals in and out of the industry.

Amy has served on the WIT-NC board as programs director, communication director, Vice President and is excited to be President in 2024. She is pleased to be back with this formidable bay area group and hopes to bring relevant trade compliance and supply chain topics.

Amy is married to her best friend Royal, mother of two -Daulton and Sydney, two dogs – Bradley Cooper & Jackson and a cat Daunte aka “Dos Margaritas”. When Amy is not working, she can be found riding her peloton, cooking up a tasty meal for “framily” and/or watching the Buffalo Bills fight their way to a win in the Superbowl!

Jessica serves as Trade Compliance Counsel with Netflix, Inc. where she works with in-house teams to support Netflix's operations around the world. She is responsible for providing international trade regulation guidance on a broad range of global sanctions, import and export compliance matters. Some of her priorities are the support of content delivery technology and testing equipment, supporting filming activities around the world, advising on consumer product distribution, and providing sanctions and export control contract language and counseling for all aspects of the business.

Jessica previously worked as a Manager in the Trade & Customs Practice at KPMG where she led teams responding to simultaneous client project requests. Her responsibilities included advising U.S. companies on sanctions programs and license requirements together with practical procedures for restricted party screening, export hold clearing, designing import compliance programs and mitigation strategies for companies in response to Section 232 and 301 duties. Prior to KPMG, Jessica worked as Import-Export Compliance Counsel for Fortinet, Inc. and as Compliance Counsel for Global4PL Supply Chain Services.

She received her juris doctorate from UCLA School of Law and is admitted to practice in California. She has served on the WIT-NC Board of Directors since 2015 and is proud to serve as Treasurer in 2024.

Jessica lives in Paso Robles wine country with her amazing husband Greg, Riley the Regulatory Compliance dog and the deer mafia that takes over her driveway to eat the acorns that fall from the oak forest around her house. In her limited spare time she enjoys exploring local wineries and restaurants as well as spending time with friends.

Karen’s trade-related research involves a study of the Inclusive Framework country’s early responses to the OECD Anti-BEPS tax regime and positions on the OECD's Action Plan. It also covers global temporary import tariffs and regulations. She has been on the executive committee of the board for five years.

Karen is the CFO at WVN, Inc. a B-Corp which creates clothing essentials and serves a broad market for sustainable clothing. Its products are GOTS and Fair Trade Certified. She is an attorney licensed in Texas. She also works at Pipal Spurzem & Liem LLP. Karen earned a JD from Rutgers Law School (Newark) and earned an M.B.A. in Global Impact Management - Corporate Risk and Compliance, with a focus on financial fraud investigation from Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey. She loves speaking other languages with friends and enjoys the many outdoor activities available in California.

Sisifo is currently a Sr. Import-Export Analyst, Global Trade Compliance at Renesas Inc. in the Silicon Valley. She is a Global Trade Compliance professional with over 20 years in the field of Regulatory Compliance in International trade. Sisifo is passionate in dealing with foreign countries, various commodities, various business units, and internal or external stakeholders. Import-Export is in her GTC DNA and she takes great pride in this! Women in International Trade is near and dear to her as it is her way of giving back to the community and professional trade education.

Aside from her professional life, she is a Christian, and has been a Church Clerk for 17 years. She is married with one beautiful daughter and an overprotective guard dog.

Lydia is a Licensed Customs Broker and the owner of Elleo Global, Inc. She is an international trade professional with over 18 years of experience in Logistics and Trade Compliance. Prior to starting her own customs brokerage in 2018, Lydia worked as an Operations Manager for a Freight Forwarder/NVOCC in Southern California. She remains curious and passionate about the trade industry and looks forward to expanding her business in the future. In 2023, she joined WIT-NC as a Volunteer for the Membership Team and she looks forward to being part of the WIT-NC family for many years to come.

The word “international” has been part of her life since her early years. Lydia was born in China and lived in Tokyo, Japan and São Paulo, Brazil throughout her childhood and moved to the U.S. as a young adult. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese and English. She’s currently learning Korean and looking to polish up her Japanese in the near future. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, crocheting, traveling the world with her husband and daughters aged 12 and 9 and cuddling up with her two dog babies.

Linda He is currently working with the trade compliance team in Lumentum Operations LLC based in San Jose, overseeing trade compliance operations in North America and projects in Asia Pacific Regions. Before relocating to SF Bay Area, she had more than 20 years of working experience with AT&T/Lucent Technologies, Agilent Technologies, and Merck Inc. based in Shanghai, China, contributing to or leading a number of business projects, such as new sites setup, distribution center setup, product transition, product outsourcing, and supply chain solutions.

After settling down with family in the Bay Area in 2016, Linda joined an Electric Vehicle startup company to establish a global import and export process from scratch. During this time, she had the opportunity to meet WIT-NC and has been excited to be a member and volunteer ever since. She has been inspired by so many professionals and experts during the events and program planning activities. The community definitely makes her feel proud of being a trade compliance professional.

Leslie Levy August, Chief Marketing Officer & Investor, KYG Trade, Inc.

Leslie Levy August is a third-generation global trade professional with a career in trade spanning 40 years. She is currently the Chief Marketing Officer for and an investor in software start-up, KYG Trade, Inc. Ms. August leads the marketing and sales for KYG Trade with a unique combination of global trade compliance and facilitation knowledge and marketing skills and experience.

Prior to KYG Trade, Leslie founded a small M&A firm, Fremont Peak Capital, which was focused on the acquisition and growth of small businesses. For the previous 20+ years she was responsible for marketing and operations of Boomerang Carnets.

Her career in trade began at Roanoke Trade, a trade and transportation insurance broker in Elk Grove Village, IL. There she rose from Assistant to the President to Regional Vice President of the largest office by revenue, New York.

Leslie previously served on the WIT-NC board for ten years and has been a Trusted Advisor since she retired as Chair in 2018. She is honored to return to the Board and serve as Sponsorship Director.

Priscilla Dobbs is a Staff Program Manager with Tesla. Prior to this she spent the last 13 years studying and working in the Boston area. Her previous experience includes various trade and logistics positions at Waters, Corp (analytical laboratory instrument company); Converse, Inc (footwear) and Hologic, Inc (medical device). Priscilla is a licensed customs broker and has an MBA from Central Michigan University. She received her BS degree from Northeastern University in International Business with a concentration in Supply Chain and German. She is passionate about all things supply chain and global trade!

When she's off the clock you can find her hiking, traveling or trying a new restaurant. She's excited to discover all that the Bay area and California have to offer.

Jassana is currently the Import Program Manager for Lam Research Corp. With 20 plus years of experience in the Import & Export Trade Compliance, including regulatory audit processes backed up by strong knowledge of the BIS’ Export Administration Regulations (EAR), DDTC’s International Traffic Arms Regulations (ITAR) and CBP’s Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), who would have known that she started her career as an accountant having a Bachelor of Science in Commerce major in Accounting degree? Her career took a turn and found trade to be more interesting. She learned all sides of the trade industry while working for Singapore Airlines, Expeditors, KLA Tencor and Infineon.

Her deep knowledge in the import and export industry had earned her recognitions from leaders and peers. Through the years, she had made significant contributions on process improvements tackling issues with grace. No doubt, her coworkers find her admirable. She knows the business well and knows how to have fun in the process.

When not at work, she loves to spend time with family and friends, watching movies, eating out, and going on vacations. Life is too short is her motto in life. Enjoy it!

Raymond, an international student from Curaçao in the Caribbean, recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) with concentrations in both international business and information systems from San Francisco State University. He developed leadership skills by working with many diverse teams from school projects/course works, targeting to utilize his ability as a quick learner to succeed. Raymond is using those skills as an export analyst at Abbott Diabetes Care, and will be pursuing a Masters in the Fall of 2024.

Raymond had the opportunity to be a volunteer at WIT-NC for the events team previously. He is excited to continue to serve and strive for success as Volunteer Director in 2024.

For over twenty years, Laura Putnam has worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for wide range of high technology and biotechnology companies. She gained invaluable experience in the areas of import and export compliance and made her way up to the corporate head of trade compliance. She changed course by becoming a Content Development Manager for Descartes Systems Group, where she leverages her expertise to create trade compliance content and to implement software solutions designed to support trade compliance operations. Laura also writes blogs addressing critical issues facing trade compliance professionals.

Along with her work in trade compliance, she provides support to local charities benefiting students, people without homes, and women-owned businesses. She shares many hobbies and outdoor activities with her husband Ron such as cycling, hiking, fine dining, and wine-tasting. They have two cats, Jules and Mike whom they adore and spoil terribly.