Karthik Laggisetty is the Director of the Global Trade Compliance team at Hitachi Vantara. His work involves leading and managing a team of highly qualified export compliance professionals in the U.S., EU and Asia. He also leads the development and implementation of business strategies to navigate an increasingly complex and dynamic international trade environment. Karthik has 22+ years in the field of Export Compliance. Prior to his current role, Karthik held Export compliance positions at Intel Corporation and Symantec Corporation. Karthik Holds a MBA in Supply Chain, MIS & Finance from the University of Buffalo. He has been a volunteer with PAEI for over 10 years, and currently a PAEI Director. His areas of expertise are: • Product Classifications – Technology, Hardware & Software • U.S. Export Controls (EAR) • Cross-border Laws and Regulations • Technology Transfers • Deemed Exports • OFAC and ITAR Regulations • Managing GTC Operations and Global teams In his spare time he enjoy spending time with my wife, playing tennis and exploring New York City
Portia Neal is the Traffic & Export Compliance Manager at Adobe Inc. in San Jose. She has an MBA in Integrated Logistics and Supply Chain Management and has been working in the field of international trade and transportation since 1997. She lives in the lovely beachside community of Aptos, in Santa Cruz with her daughter. Portia and her daughter are both committed to service. They have been teaching bible study at Twin Lakes Church for over 8 years now. Portia also held several volunteer positions, Communications Coordinator and President, on the Board of the Parent Teacher Fellowship (PTF) for Baymonte Christian School during the years her daughter was in attendance. Most recently, Portia has served as the San Jose site lead for both the Hispanic/LatinX Employee Network (HOLA) and the Black Employee Network (BEN) at Adobe Inc. Her involvement in PTF, HOLA and BEN allowed her to serve, organize fundraisers and other community outreach events, expanding the scope of her influence beyond the walls of the school and Adobe and into the larger community. As a result she was able to form partnerships with organizations such as Braven, an organization committed to bridging the education-to-employment gap faced by some of our most promising young leaders in underserved communities, Hack the Hood, which introduces underserved youth of color to tech careers, and Stanford SMASH Academy, a state of the art Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) summer enrichment program for high school students at Stanford, UC Berkeley and UCLA campuses. As an immigrant from the Central American country of Belize, Portia understands: “At the end of the day it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished… it’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.” ― Denzel Washington
Yanyan Meng is the Regulatory Audit Program Lead at Intel Corporation based in Santa Clara. She obtained the US Customs Broker’s license in 2006 and has been with Intel since 2012. Over the years, she managed the global HTS classification team supporting China and Vietnam HTS classifications as well as the US CTPAT Compliance program. She has focused on the customs valuation area since 2018 and took on the Regulatory Audit Program Lead role in 2023. Outside of work, Yanyan is an advocate for animal rescue and fostering by connecting people with dog rescue groups such as Norsled, Humane Society Silicon Valley, and Copper’s Dream. She currently has 2 rescue dogs Teddy (13yr old Siberian Husky) and Bear (20 months old Great Pyrenees). Prior to COVID-19, she used to take her previous rescue dog Tweak to Masonic Homes to visit the seniors in the special care units. Her goal in life is to help people be their better selves and connect dogs in need of a home with someone who appreciates a dog.
