Litman to retire after 45-year trade career

Litman to retire after 45-year trade career Arthur Litman, a veteran international logistics practitioner who has played a key role advising U.S. Customs on import-export issues, plans to retire from FedEx Trade Networks in early February, according to friends and colleagues.

Arthur Litman, vice president of regulatory affairs for FedEx Trade Networks, was named a “Trade Warrior” by the American Association of Exporters and Importers.

   Litman is vice president for regulatory affairs at the FedEx unit.
   The American Association of Exporters and Importers on Tuesday presented Litman with its “Trade Warrior” award for his contribution to global trade and representing the international freight industry.
   Litman has had a distinguished career in customs brokerage and freight forwarding. He began working in the import-export business at Los Angeles-based Castelazo & Associates in the 1960s and eventually became a part owner in the company. In 1991, Castelazo became a division of Tower Group International, a large customs brokerage. He continued to work as a vice president at Tower until that firm was acquired by FedEx in early 2000.
   He currently represents FedEx on the Private Sector Consultative Group, which advises the World Customs Organization on trade matters, including the organization’s SAFE Framework of security standards and customs modernization. Litman has been a major force in helping Customs develop its new Automated Commercial Environment trading system. As an ACE Trade Ambassador he promotes industry adoption of the system and is active in the Trade Support Network, a technical advisory body for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
   He is a past president of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, the International Federation of Customs Brokers Associations and the Foreign Trade Association of Southern California, and serves as a governor for AAEI. Litman also served as an original member of the Commercial Operations Advisory Committee, or COAC, in 1988 and served six two-year terms on the federal advisory panel to the departments of Treasury and Homeland Security.
   Litman is widely respected by colleagues because of his expertise, willingness to be a mentor and efforts to improve relations with Customs. They say his departure is a big loss because he has such great institutional memory about the Customs modernization process that has been underway for the better part of 20 years.
   Litman said at the AAEI winter conference in Newport Beach, Calif., that he intends to continue stay on the Trade Support Network to help with the development of ACE during the critical rollout period. ' Eric Kulisch