#3 Frank Sportolari, is lasting business built on friendship?
AmCham is Europe’s biggest bilateral trade association. Its main task is to foster German-American economic ties. AmCham connects its 2,300 members, among them, the biggest American employers in Germany, DAX companies, but also smaller businesses that want to get a foothold in the other country. Frank Sportolari knows what’s important for entrepreneurs, what issues they wrestle with - and why keeping a cool head is make-or-break. Sportolari’s focus is on keeping the transatlantic conversation going, so we can better understand each other. Setting the right tone Sportolari says that while Trump may not always hit the right tone, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s always wrong in what he says. Germany and Europe also have to meet their partner halfway and tackle some of the big issues we’re dealing with. Frank Sportolari was born in Chicago in the 1950s. He got his degree in economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago - and worked for the US Department of Defense at the height of the Cold War. He started his career at the world’s largest logistics company, UPS, in the mid-1980s. Today he runs UPS’ business here in Germany.