Ms. Lewis is a global business strategist, lawyer, and advisor with a distinguished 30-year career in international trade, export finance, transatlantic relations and subnational diplomacy. She served as the 27th Chairman, President, and CEO of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), (2022-2025) becoming the first African American and only the second woman to lead the agency. During her tenure, she oversaw $135 billion in financing authority. Under her leadership, EXIM expanded its reach to 177 countries and authorized more than $22 billion in financing to support U.S. jobs and exports. She spearheaded the implementation of two high-impact initiatives - Make More In America to bolster U.S. export capacity and domestic manufacturing and the Supply Chain Resiliency Initiative to strengthen critical minerals and rare earth element supply chains for U.S. industries.
From 2016 to 2022, Ms. Lewis was a Senior Fellow and Director of Congressional Affairs at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. She has held senior roles in three Presidential administrations. Under President Obama, she was appointed the State Department first-ever Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs, under Secretary Hillary Clinton, where she was the chief diplomat charged with leading subnational diplomacy, focused on fostering strategic partnerships between U.S. state and local leaders and their foreign counterparts to promote international economic collaborations. She previously served as Special Assistant to the President for Political Affairs, for President Bill Clinton at the White House.
In the private sector, Ms. Lewis practiced law at several national firms and served as a Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig LLP, where she represented multinational corporations, trade associations, and government entities on regulatory, policy and strategic matters. She also served as Vice President and Counselor to the President at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and former Member of the Board of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security. Ms. Lewis received a J.D. from Emory University School of Law, an M.S.A.J. from American University and a B.A. from the University of Georgia.