Nicole Bivens Collinson, who leads the lobbying arm of the Sandler Travis law firm, is the new legislative counsel for the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, the firm said. Collinson will take over from the association's previous Washington counsel, Whitmer and Worrall, which earned around $30,000 per quarter from lobbying on behalf of the NCBFAA, according to the two most recent quarterly disclosures filed this year. The NCBFAA recently named Sandler Travis lawyer Lenny Feldman the group's general counsel, adding to his ongoing role as customs counsel (see 2110010053).

Ronald Baumgarten, former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative in the Office of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, has rejoined BakerHostetler as of counsel on the International Trade and National Security team, the firm announced. Baumgarten left BakerHostetler in 2007 to join the USTR as assistant general counsel. He later served as senior director in the Office of Agricultural Affairs before becoming deputy assistant USTR.

Marianne Rowden, the former CEO at the American Association of Exporters and Importers, is now CEO of the E-Merchants Trade Council, a new trade group focused on micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) e-commerce issues. Asked about the group's membership, Rowden said that “EMTC is a brand new association so we are building our membership with a number of industry stalwarts as initial members, who will be public shortly.” Rowden helped start the group “because no organization represents the MSME e-seller,” she said. “Our goal is to educate MSMEs on basic trade issues to run their business, but also advocate for simplifying cross-border transactions.”