Kenneth Hyatt, an attorney with a background in conflict resolution, took over as acting under secretary of the International Trade Administration (ITA) in 2016.
Hyatt is from the Washington, D.C., area. He attended Sidwell Friends School, where many children of presidents, other government figures and those in the media have gone. Hyatt went on to Yale, where he earned a B.A. in economics and political science in 1979, studied in Germany on a Fulbright scholarship and earned a J.D. from Harvard Law in 1982.
Hyatt worked beginning in 1983 for Bain & Co. in Boston, London and Munich. He struck out on his own in 1989 as a principal and partner in Conflict Management, Inc., which advised clients on conflict management and negotiations. He founded a similar firm, CMI New York, in 1997. Among other things, that company trained negotiators involved in constitutional talks between the old South African government and the African National Congress. Hyatt started a third such company, CM Partners, in 2002.
He left the private sector in 2010 to become a senior adviser for trade issues in the Commerce Department. The following year, he was made Deputy Assistant Secretary for Services, where he helped develop trade policies and served until 2012, when he was named Deputy Under Secretary for International Trade, where he oversaw the day-to-day operations of the ITA. Hyatt became acting under secretary of the agency upon the departure of Stefan Selig.
Hyatt and his wife, Nancy, have two children. He speaks German and is a big NBA fan.
-Steve Straehley
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