Richard (Rich) Steffens is the U.S. Department of Commerce\u2019s Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia. Prior to his assignment in Asia, Mr. Steffens served as Deputy Assistant Secretary (Acting) and Executive Director for Western Hemisphere, where he managed Commerce\u2019s negotiating teams working on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). \u202fHe has previously served on the policy and planning staff in the Office of the Secretary of Commerce, as Minister-Counselor at U.S. Embassy Canada, in U.S. Embassy Moscow, as consul in Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, in the Czech Republic, and Ukraine. \u202fHis offices in Vladivostok, Prague, and Kyiv were all named International Trade Administration Organization of the Year under his leadership. \u202fHe has been awarded the Commerce Department Gold Medal, Silver Medal, and Bronze Medal (two times). \u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prior to joining the Commerce Department, Mr. Steffens served as Assistant Director for Venture Development with the New Jersey Commission for Science and Technology and as Assistant Director of Research at the Fels Center of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. \u202fHe began his career with Andersen Consulting in New York. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Steffens is a graduate of the Wharton School and holds a Masters in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. \u202fHe is author of \u201cThe Changing Software Market\u201d and \u201cSecrets of a Venture Capitalist\u201d as well as more than 50 articles on international trade and economic development. \u202fHe speaks French, Russian, Ukrainian, and Czech. \u202fHe enjoys creative writing, hiking, and yoga. \u202fHe is married and has two children. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1332,"template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-1176","allspeakers","type-allspeakers","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indopacificbusinessforum.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/allspeakers\/1176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indopacificbusinessforum.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/allspeakers"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indopacificbusinessforum.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/allspeakers"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indopacificbusinessforum.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indopacificbusinessforum.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indopacificbusinessforum.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}