Commentary: BPE Global at 10

   In March 2006, I remember attending an event in Oakland about trade with China and hearing a dynamic speaker talk about trade compliance.
   Not knowing anything about trade compliance at that point, the speaker sounded thoroughly impressive. Nearly 10 years later, every time I hear Beth Peterson speak, whether it’s at a conference, or on one of the many webinars she does with us, she sounds just as impressive.
   Peterson celebrated the 10-year anniversary of her global trade and compliance consulting company BPE Global, in late November, a decade in which BPE has become the preeminent advisor to shippers hoping to get better at managing the regulatory and strategic implications of their import and export operations.
   Peterson and her crew of stalwarts Andrea Appell, Julie Gibbs, Renee Roe, and Jennifer Wade are frequent contributors to American Shipper’s range of offerings—from webinars to co-authoring our benchmark studies to Peterson contributing regularly to our “On Second Thought” column.
   Not only is the quality of their perspective top notch, they are also eminently delightful to work with—bursting with ideas and energy. It’s no wonder their services are in demand.
   When they’re not helping us, they’re busy engaged with clients, on site visits, talking global trade management vendor selection, fine-tuning compliance practices, and just generally doing what consultants are supposed to be doing—improving the company that engages them.
   Peterson’s “On Second Thought” columns, which she often shares with her BPE colleagues, offer a range of practical advice and recommendations on how companies should approach their compliance programs with regulators, as well as internally with frontline staff and departments, as well as “C” suite management. She understands the importance of compliance to a company’s reputation, as well as bottom line, and at the same time the frustration that people with compliance responsibilities often feel inside their own companies—“is anyone listening?” She’s an unabashed advocate for companies to properly fund and support their internal compliance programs.
   Peterson and her team are such busy bees that she laughingly admitted to me that she only realized it was their 10th anniversary when LinkedIn reminded her.
   A hearty congratulations from us at American Shipper on 10 years in the books, and for many more in the future.

This commentary was published in the January 2015 issue of American Shipper.