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.

Pasquale Leone
Compliance Officer
Division of Northeast Imports
Office of Enforcement and Import Operations
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Pasquale (PJ) Leone is a Compliance Officer with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Enforcement and Import Operations (OEIO), Division of Northeast Imports (DNEI). He is responsible for entry admissibility decisions of imported FDA regulated commodities working closely with importers, the brokerage community and other stakeholders to consider entry related testimony and evidence to determine compliance. He started his FDA Career in 2010 in Jamaica, NY as a Consumer Safety Officer. As such he conducted Foreign Supplier Verification Program inspections and investigations; reviewed import entries of foods, drugs, cosmetics and devices; operated in the JFK International Mail Facility; and conducted sample collections, field/label examinations, and witnessed destructions/re-exportations of refused imported FDA-regulated products. He continues to strengthen and establish relationships with other government agencies, state counterparts, brokers, and importers. Mr. Leone holds a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Public Health from SUNY Fredonia, NY.

Gabriel Feng
Compliance Officer
Division of Northeast Imports
Office of Enforcement and Import Operations
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Gabriel Feng is a Compliance Officer with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Enforcement and Import Operations (OEIO), Division of Northeast Imports (DNEI). He is responsible for entry admissibility decisions of imported FDA regulated commodities working closely with importers, the brokerage community and other stakeholders to consider entry related testimony and evidence to determine compliance. Officer Feng began his career with the FDA in 2014 in Jamaica, NY as an Investigator where he gained knowledge and skills in the areas of Foreign Supplier Verification Program inspections, import field examinations; sample collections; filer evaluations; seafood HACCP; international mail examinations; entry review; and destruction/re-exportation verification of refused imported FDA-regulated products. During his tenure he has established relationships with various Partner Government Agencies, Port Authorities, State counterparts; as well as presented to congressional delegations. Officer Feng holds a BA in Biology and a BA in Economics from SUNY Binghamton in Binghamton, NY, with a minor in Chinese.

Daniel Sahakian
Senior Wildlife Inspector
Office of Law Enforcement
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Daniel currently works as a Senior Wildlife Inspector in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) Headquarters Office. The OLE HQ position covers a wide variety of responsibilities including working collaboratively with Partner Government Agencies as well as the trade community to bring a better understanding of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mission. He was previously a Wildlife Inspector at the port of Elizabeth, NJ. As an inspector his time was spent regulating legal wildlife trade as well as fighting to stop the exploitation of wildlife in the illegal trade. Daniel began his USFWS career working within Refuges, starting at Patuxent Research Refuge as a Visitors Service Specialist and then moving to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. In his free time, he can be found outside climbing, fishing and hiking, often with ice cream or chocolate in hand.

Brenda B. Smith
Global Director, Government Outreach
Expeditors

Brenda Smith serves as the Global Director of Government Outreach at Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.  She is responsible for Expeditors’ partnerships with government agencies and international organizations focused on supply chain regulation and trade facilitation. Brenda has extensive experience in international trade and compliance and recently completed a 34-year career with the U.S. government, which included five years on Capitol Hill and responsibilities at the Department of Treasury and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). ​At CBP, Brenda served as the Executive Assistant Commissioner of Trade from 2014 until 2021. In this role, she led CBP’s trade mission, overseeing trade enforcement, security, and facilitation matters to enable legitimate trade, contribute to American economic prosperity, and protect against risks to public health and safety. She oversaw trade policy implementation, national compliance audits, management of trade data, and CBP’s regulatory processes for administering trade and border operations. She partnered with CBP’s IT experts to expand trade automation and analytics technologies through agile user-based processes and change management.​ Brenda serves as part of Expeditors’ delegation to the World Customs Organization Private Sector Consultative Group and as a board member of the Association of Women in International Trade.