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Al
Zapanta
President &
CEO
U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce
Tel:
(202) 312-1521
zapantaz@usmcoc.org
Al Zapanta was born in Los Angeles,
Calif., and attended local schools and college in
the Los Angeles area. He received an Associate of
Arts from East Los Angeles College, a Bachelor of
Arts in Industrial Psychology, a Master of Arts in
Public Administration and completed course work
for his Ph.D. in International Political Economics
from the University of Southern California. He
graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of
Business and the Inter-American Defense College,
the National War College, in Washington, D.C. He
speaks Spanish fluently and has an elementary
knowledge of French. |
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In the private sector, he worked as
an industrial engineer for Bethlehem Steel, and as
Director of Governmental Affairs for ARCO until
his retirement in 1993 after 18 years of service
as a senior executive. During his time with ARCO,
Al was responsible for negotiations with Petroleos
Mexicanos (PEMEX) on oil and gas matters and the
copper mines owned by Anaconda, an acquisition of
ARCO. He was also the company's representative to
local, state and federal governments on oil and
gas legislation, environmental regulation,
transportation-related issues (pipelines, ocean
tankers, tanker trucks and rail tank cars) and
public affairs.
Al has held numerous Presidential
appointments, including a White House fellow in
1973-74 and as Senate-confirmed Assistant
Secretary of the Interior for Management and
Administration from 1976-77. During both of these
assignments he participated as chairman of
Infrastructure Studies on Urban Mass Transit, Rail
Transportation, the Airport Airways Study, the
Water Conservation Initiative, the Trans-Alaska
Pipeline Fraud Review, the Teton Dam Disaster
Audit, and was the Department's representative to
the National Visitor Center Intermodal Station in
Washington, D.C. Al was also appointed by
President Ronald Reagan to the U.S. State
Department Advisory Committee on International
Trade Technology and Development from 1981-1987,
and by President George W. Bush as a private
sector delegate to the U.S. - Mexico Partnership
for Prosperity from 2001-Present. U.S. Secretary
of Defense Donald H. Rumsfield appointed Al
Zapanta to serve as Chairman of the Reserve Forces
Policy Board (RFPB) from 2002-2004.
He was appointed the first U.S.
senior officer to lead a Peacekeeping Mission to
the United Nations Referendum on the Western
Sahara to serve with USSR, People's Republic of
China, French and British military officers as the
Chief of Staff. General Zapanta's military record
includes the award of the Silver Star, five Bronze
Stars for Valor, the Purple Heart and thirty other
awards during the Vietnam War. He was also
recently awarded the Joint Service Commendation
Medal for Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Restore Hope
in Somalia and Restore Democracy in Haiti.
Mr. Zapanta was appointed by the Governor of the
Commonwealth of Virginia to the rank of Major
General.
Presently, Al is the President and
CEO of the United States-Mexico Chamber of
Commerce and is responsible for operations in
eight regional offices in the United States and
nine in Mexico.
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