The Peterson Institute for International Economics has hired former European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom as a nonresident senior fellow. She will host PIIE’s biweekly Trade Winds webcast, it said.

Joshua Snead, who has worked for Republicans on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee for more than five years, has been promoted to chief trade counsel, since longtime chief trade counsel Angela Ellard is headed to a deputy director-general position at the World Trade Organization. Before going to Ways and Means, Snead was an associate for King & Spalding’s International Trade Group, and worked for the National Pork Producers Council on trade policy.

Dave Stetson, former senior lawyer at the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, has joined Steptoe & Johnson's International Trade and Regulatory Compliance Group as a partner in the New York office, the firm announced in a June 1 news release. Stetson previously served as the lead sanctions lawyer for Goldman Sachs' global business lines. At OFAC, Stetson was an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Chief Counsel, where he conducted reviews for OFAC licenses and advised on the drafting of sanctions statutes, executive orders and regulations.

Sarah Bianchi, whose nomination for a deputy U.S. trade representative role was previously announced (see 2104160066), will have the textiles, services and industrial competitiveness portfolio, and will cover Asia and Africa at the agency, if she is confirmed.

Arent Fox tapped Canadian international trade lawyer Riyaz Dattu for its New York office, expanding the firm's International Trade and Investment practice, the group announced. Dattu will advise “multinationals with Canadian presence” and Canadian companies on their operations in the U.S. and globally.

The American Iron and Steel Institute's board on May 25 elected Nucor Corp. CEO Leon Topalian to serve as chairman of AISI for a two-year term.

David Peyman, former deputy assistant secretary of state for counter threat finance and sanctions in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, joined DLA Piper's Washington office as of counsel in the International Trade practice, the firm announced May 20. At the State Department, Peyman managed 25 sanctions programs and built the first economic sanctions targeting team. He also led the Office of Threat Finance Countermeasures, which roots out terrorist financing.

The Semiconductor Industry Association hired Meghan Biery, previously the senior national security policy adviser at the Bureau of Industry and Security, as director of global technology and security policy, the SIA said in a May 24 news release. “A seasoned policy practitioner with high-level experience in technology security, export control, and related issues, Meghan Biery will be a strong and capable advocate for our industry’s interests in Washington and around the world," SIA CEO John Neuffer said.

Vedder Price hired Brent Connor, previously in the Transportation and International Trade groups at Thompson Hine, as a shareholder to its International Trade and Compliance practice group in the firm's Washington office, according to a May 20 press release.

CBP Deputy Commissioner Robert Perez will retire (see 2105180051) at the end of June, said John Leonard, acting executive assistant commissioner for trade, while speaking during a Foreign Trade Association World Trade Week event May 20. Executive Assistant Commissioner for Enterprise Services Carry Huffman will be the acting deputy commissioner after Perez retires, Leonard said.