Jerry Hingle is Executive Director and CEO of the Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA), an export development trade association composed of the Departments of Agriculture of 15 Southern U.S. states and Puerto Rico. He directs the organization's $11 million promotional campaign aimed at developing export markets for high-value food and agricultural products. SUSTA is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, and operates in more than 30 countries worldwide. The association has a full-time staff of 12.
Hingle is an appointee to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade (ATAC), where he advises U.S. government trade policy negotiators on industry objectives and bargaining positions as the United States enters into trade agreements or on matters related to agricultural trade policy. He is also an appointee to the Louisiana District Export Council, a regional council of international trade advisers appointed by the Secretary of Commerce. Hingle previously served for four years on the Industry Trade Advisory Committee for Forest Products under the U.S. Department of Commerce and serves on Loyola University’s Executive Mentor program, providing guidance to students on business skills and career paths.
He joined SUSTA after working 10 years with Southern Forest Products Association (SFPA), a trade organization representing the U.S. lumber industry, where he directed the industry's international marketing and trade policy program in more than 20 countries.
Prior to working at SFPA, Hingle worked with the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) in Washington, D.C., where he managed international marketing and research programs for wood products in Asia, Mexico, and the European Union. Before his AF&PA position, he was account manager of public relations and research for A&MV Public Relations International in Brussels, Belgium, where he conducted market potential studies for U.S. agricultural products in Europe.
Hingle is a native of New Orleans, where he graduated from Loyola University in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in business administration, majoring in marketing. Two years later, he earned his MBA from the European University in Brussels, Belgium, specialized in international management.