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OUR STAFF
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Charles (Chuck) Dittrich manages the daily affairs of the organization and is also Vice President, Regional
Trade Initiatives, for the National Foreign Trade Council(NFTC), responsible for determining and advocating
policy positions, creating lobbying strategies, and managing trade policy issues. He has directed the NFTC’s
U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Coalition since its inception and has led the Council’s advocacy and outreach
efforts to press for passage and implementation of free trade agreements with Bahrain, Morocco and Oman.
He has spent over 20 years at the nexus of business and government policy, working with domestic and
foreign corporations and governments on trade issues concerning Europe, Russia, Southeast Asia, Japan,
Africa and the Middle East. Prior to joining the NFTC, Chuck was Senior Vice President of a DC-based firm
consulting on international business, investment and technology licensing issues. His tenure at the US
Department of Commerce included serving as Chief of Staff to the Director General of the US & Foreign
Commercial Service, Assistant Director of EXPORT NOW in the Office of the Secretary of Commerce,
coordinating this presidential initiative to increase U.S. exports and as an international trade specialist in
microelectronics.
ASSOCIATION CHAIRMAN
The Honorable David L. Mack, U.S. Ambassador (retired), is an Adjunct Scholar of the Middle East Institute. He served the US government as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (1990-1993) and served in Tripoli early in his diplomatic career. As a Deputy Assistant Secretary he directed the conduct of relations between the United States and 12 other governments, including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. As U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (1986-1989), he was in charge of all U.S. government activities and over 150 civilian and military personnel. He was also responsible for diplomatic contacts with the leaders of the U.A.E. His diplomatic assignments have included Libya, Iraq, Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates.
PROGRAM MANAGER
Jason Pack conducts the daily affairs of the organization. He came to the USLBA after a stint working in Tripoli. He speaks Arabic and French. He has lived, worked, and studied extensively in the Middle East and North Africa. His academic training is as an historian of French and British Empire and the processes of Decolonization in the Middle East. He has given lectures and authored papers about French policy towards the Alawites of Syria in the 1930s and 40s. He was a Fulbright Fellow in Syria in 2004-5.