Mr. Thomas' is the General Manager of the American Export Training Institute. His interest in international affairs and cultures began in high school where he finished his junior and senior year at a private school in Zimbabwe. He received a B.A. from S. Illinois University and completed a Masters Degree from the American Graduate School of International Management. After his undergraduate degree he spent several years with the Peace Corp. and U.S. Information Agency (USIA) in Colombia. After his graduate degree he spent 20 years in international banking, specializing in trade finance. Most recently he worked at Mellon Bank. In 1995, he left to co-found the American Export Training Institute (AETI) with Alan Beard at Delphos International. In 1998, AETI became a division of Export Risk Management, a leading independent broker specializing in credit and political risk insurance.
AETI has become the foremost resource for international trade transactions in the U.S. It has become the sole trade finance training outsource for many of the U.S. major banks, including Bank One, National City Bank, Bank of America, among others. Major corporations such as AT&T, Chrysler, Exxon, Mack Trucks, Motorola, Oki, Rhone-Poulenc, Sun Microsystems, and Tyco have participated in AETI in-house and bank sponsored seminars. More than 5,000 senior professionals in over 2,800 companies have been trained.
AETI has become the foremost resource for international trade transactions in the U.S. It has become the sole trade finance training outsource for many of the U.S. major banks, including Bank One, National City Bank, Bank of America, among others. Major corporations such as AT&T, Chrysler, Exxon, Mack Trucks, Motorola, Oki, Rhone-Poulenc, Sun Microsystems, and Tyco have participated in AETI in-house and bank sponsored seminars. More than 5,000 senior professionals in over 2,800 companies have been trained.