About the Speakers

Salvatore Ingrassia
Port Director
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
JFK International Airport

Mr. Ingrassia is currently the Port Director, Port of JFK International Airport (JFK). Presently, he is responsible for all CBP operations at JFK, including the processing of international passengers, $110 billion in imported merchandise, and more than 60% of the international mail arriving in the United States.

Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Ingrassia served as Assistant Director, Field Operations, Center for Intelligence, Targeting and Enforcement (CITE), in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Field Operations (OFO), New York Field Office (NYFO). Where he managed multiple analytical units that have been fused into a single team focused on effective analysis, production, and dissemination of relevant threat-stream intelligence and coordination of enforcement efforts.  

Mr. Ingrassia was previously assigned as the Acting Assistant Director, Field Operations, Trade and Cargo Security, for the NYFO. In that capacity, he oversaw all CBP trade and cargo activities in the New York/Newark Seaport, JFK Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), and the Pharmaceuticals, Health, and Chemicals (PHC) Center of Excellence and Expertise (Center).

He also served as the Assistant Port Director, Passenger Operations, at JFK and was responsible for the facilitation of over 16 million passengers in a single year.

Mr. Ingrassia was hired as an Import Specialist in 1994 after completing his degree in Criminal Justice at St. John’s University. Since then he has held a series of positions in both OFO and the Office of Trade including: International Trade Specialist with the New York Strategic Trade Center, now known as the National Threat Analysis Center-New York (NTAC), Lead International Trade Specialist in the NTAC; Chief, Miscellaneous Products Branch, in the National Commodity Specialist Division; and the first Assistant Center Director for the then-pilot PHC Center. Mr. Ingrassia was selected as the Assistant Port Director, Trade Operations at JFK in 2013.

Mr. Ingrassia was born in Brooklyn, New York, and is a graduate of Canarsie High School and St. John’s University. He is married and has three sons.

 

Rachel Wapniak
Compliance Officer
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Rachel Wapniak is a Compliance Officer for the Food and Drug Administration with the Division of Northeast Imports and a Registered Dietitian for the U.S. Public Health Service. As a Compliance Officer, Rachel determines the safety and efficacy of FDA regulated commodities and collaborates with other government agencies and industry to establish and accomplish corrective actions for violative goods. LCDR Wapniak started her career with the FDA in 2015 and was commissioned to the Public Health Service in 2017. Prior to working for the FDA, Rachel worked as the Chief Dietitian for a nursing and rehabilitation center. On her free time, she enjoys spending her days outdoors hiking or on the beach with her husband, daughter, and Maltipoo. 

Jason Kwong
Consumer Safety Officer
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Jason Kwong has been with the FDA for 14+ years as a consumer safety officer specializing in imports. He offers knowledge and experience in field examinations, sampling and inspections. He has trained many other consumer safety officers in performing the duties related to their job in making admissibility decisions on FDA-regulated commodities.

Ariel Russ
Senior Manager, Sustainability
Estée Lauder

Ariel is the Senior Manager of Sustainability for Estée Lauder’s Fulfilment & Online divisions. In her role, she supports the logistics teams in developing roadmaps to reduce their carbon emissions. In addition, she is developing shipping packaging sustainability standards for both B2B and DTC shipments. Ariel has over 10 years of experience in corporate sustainability in the media, telecommunications, apparel, and food & beverage industries. She holds a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of the Environment and a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Holyoke College.

Cameron Smith
Director, Environmental Sustainability
Expeditors

Having started with Expeditors in 1994 in Seattle, he has worked in operational and leadership roles in New York, Miami and most recently London for the last 17 years.

Now relocated back to Seattle, he is happy to work with and execute on environmentally sustainable strategies with the Expeditors leadership team and over 180 district locations globally in delivering solutions to our global customer base.

Cam is a graduate of Oregon State University, completed a certificate in Leading Sustainable Corporations from University of Oxford Said School of Business, and is a Certified Sustainability Supply Chain Professional (CSSCP, ISCEA).

Larry Tobia
Principal, US Drawback
Tradewin

For more than 30 years, Larry has been working with the U.S. trade community designing and managing Customs duty & fee recovery programs for companies of every industry, including automotive, electronics, chemical, retail, and pharmaceutical. Prior to joining Tradewin, he served as Vice President of a prominent drawback brokerage firm in NY. Since 1999, Larry has been Principal for Tradewin’s US Drawback practice and is a frequent speaker on the subject of duty recovery and minimization programs.

Larry serves on committees for AAEI, National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association (NCFFAA), and the ACE Trade Support Network. He is a Licensed Customs Broker and holds BBA degrees in Managerial Accounting and Finance from Pace University/NYC.

Fernanda Kroup
Vice President
Onyx Strategic Insights

Fernanda has more than twenty years of experience in management consulting, geopolitics and macroeconomic analysis. She has lived and worked in four continents, serving clients in technology, heavy industries, basic metals, financial services, retail and consumer goods. A native of Brazil, Fernanda has earned bachelor degrees in Law from the University of São Paulo and in International Relations from the Pontifical University of São Paulo, as well as a Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University.

Madeleine Veigel
Senior Director, Customs, The Americas
Expeditors

Madeleine started her career at Expeditors in October 1997 as an Import I.S. Liaison for the Customs product. Since 1997 she has held various positions within Customs, including managing brokerage transitions. In 2004 Madeline was promoted to Director of Global Customs Development, then in 2005 she was promoted to Director of Customs in the Americas.

Over the years, Madeleine has worked to develop and support Americas Customs to become an outstanding and leading-edge product within the region. She has also developed an excellent team supporting all the brokerage offices within the Americas. Madeleine has overseen and managed significant changes such as the U.S. Customs ACE changes, trade remedies, and other customs regulatory changes. While continuing to develop and support the product, Madeleine was a Commercial Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) member appointed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. As a COAC member, she led the “One U.S. Government Working Group” and participated in many other government and trade working groups.

Madeleine received her executive MBA from Seattle University in June 2022. She is a U.S. licensed customs broker and IATA/FIATA certified. With her outstanding performance and leadership, she will continue to help drive growth and improvement for the product within the Americas. 

Michael Bellezza
Vice President
Tradewin

As Tradewin’s global leader, Michael spearheads the continued growth in geographical coverage, customer engagement, and product development in North America, Europe, India, and the Asia Pacific Region. With over 20 years of experience in Trade Compliance and Global Logistics, he has an extensive working knowledge of the intricacies in verticals such as Retail/High Fashion, Tech, Aerospace, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Automotive. He brings his talents for common sense solutions to complex regulatory scenarios such as tariff classification, export controls, trade agreements, duty recovery and mitigation, training, and managed compliance programs.

Michael is a U.S. Licensed Customs Broker. He is IATA/FIATA certified and is a member of the International Compliance Professionals Association. He is a proud graduate of Boston College.

More to come!