Eric Stewart

Eric Stewart joined Williams & Jensen in 2008. Mr. Stewart represents clients before the Administration, Congress and select foreign governments on a range of international and domestic policy issues. Mr. Stewart also serves as a Senior Advisor to the US Chamber of Commerce. : Mr. Stewart was appointed by the Bush Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe at the U.S. Department of Commerce in September 2003. Mr. Stewart directed the Department's activities on trade, commerce, compliance and investment policies for more than 50 countries (including European Commission and 25 EU countries, Turkey, Russia and the Independent States) in the region. He also was responsible for developing programs, policies and strategies designed to strengthen the United States' commercial position in Europe. He was particularly committed to the protection of U.S. investments and intellectual property rights and aggressively engaged in the solving of commercial disputes involving foreign governments. He was also asked to create and oversee the federal government's Hurricane Contracting Information Center to assist small, minority, women and local-owned businesses access the resources needed to compete for government contracts to rebuild the Gulf Coast. During his tenure at Commerce he was also tapped as a surrogate for the Bush Administration on issues ranging from Social Security to energy policy. Mr. Stewart joined the U.S. Department of Commerce in September 2001 and served as Chief of Staff to then Assistant Secretary for Market Access and Compliance William H. Lash. In that role, Mr. Stewart served as an international trade policy advisor, a liaison to the business community and a link to the U.S. Congress. Former Commerce Secretary Donald Evans assigned Mr. Stewart to improve outreach to the business community and solve international trade problems for U.S. firms. During these two years, Mr. Stewart provided policy support and actively participated in bi-lateral discussions during overseas policy and trade missions. Prior to joining the Bush administration, Mr. Stewart served as Director of External Affairs for the telecommunications company Ameritech/SBC. He also worked as the Political Director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB/Ohio), representing more than 36,000 small-business owners. Mr. Stewart previously served in former Ohio Gov. George V. Voinovich's administration. Mr. Stewart, who holds a bachelor's degree from Ohio University, also served three years on the University's National Alumni Board of Directors as well as received the Ohio University 2002 Outstanding Recent Graduate Award. In 2006, Mr. Stewart was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary by the President of Hungary for his outstanding contributions to fostering Hungarian-American economic relations.