Mr. Straughter is a specialist in international business development in the financial management area. With nearly thirty years of experience in international development he has lived and worked in several countries on the continents of Africa, Central Asia, the Caribbean and Russia. As a finance specialist, Mr. Straughter has provided services to foreign governments in governance and transparency, worked with finance ministers and provided advice and counsel to governments on trade policy and foreign direct investment. Mr. Straughter speaks French and has considerable experience working with bilateral and multilateral financial development entities such as USAID, African Development Bank, African Development Foundation, Eastern Caribbean Investment Promotion service and U.S. Trade and Development Administration. Mr. Straughter advises public and private sector entities on issues related to international trade, exporting and importing, marketing analysis, and preparing market penetration strategies to emerging markets for small and medium sized businesses. The firm organizes trade and investment missions to emerging market countries and organizes investment promotion seminars in the United States on behalf of developing countries, particularly African and Caribbean countries.

Mr. Straughter has served as a senior advisor to the International Foundation for Education and Self-Help (IFESH) and serves as advisor to the World Conference of Mayors (WCM). As a senior advisor to the African Development Bank, Mr. Straughter assisted the institution in its successful efforts to sell its securities in the United States to public sector retirement funds. He is also a specialist in state and local government issues and has served as the executive director of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL). He now serves as senior advisor to the president of NBCSL on international matters. Mr. Straughter has organized delegations of state legislators to African and Caribbean countries and foreign delegations to study trade and economic development issues in the United States for NBCSL.