CAROL BROOKS

In January 1993, Carol Brooks began her employment with the City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce and is currently the Manager of International Trade and Diplomatic Liaison.  Ms. Brooks assisted in forming the Philadelphia Trade Office and later helped structure the International Division.  Additionally, Ms. Brooks assisted in helping to form the Greater Philadelphia Global Partners and was the co-chair of the International Conference committee.

Presently with the City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce, Ms. Brooks works to attract foreign investment in to Philadelphia, facilitates business relationships for firms seeking to expand into international markets, and helps identify local firms for international businesses seeking to do business in the United States.  Ms. Brooks has represented and conducted a number of trade events for her Department on trade.

Appointed in 1997, Ms. Brooks became the City/State partner for the Export Import Bank of the United States a/k/a Ex-Im Bank for the Southeastern region of the Greater Philadelphia.  She promotes Ex-Im’s export insurance and financial products and services to the local business community in the Southeastern region of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Brooks assisted in forming formal international partnerships through Memoranda of Understanding with countries such as Thessaloniki, Greece and Cape Coast, Ghana with the City of Philadelphia to strengthen educational, cultural and economic ties. 

Ms. Brooks served as a charter board member of Protocol & Diplomacy International - a Protocol Officers Association.  Ms. Brooks oversees matters of international protocol for the city and is the liaison to the city’s diplomatic community.

Additionally, Ms. Brooks is a board member of the Japan American Society of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia High School Business Academy.  Ms. Brooks is a member of the Mayor's Commission for African and Caribbean Immigrant Affairs and served as the co-chair for the Business and Trade Committee.  Other boards and committees that Ms. Brooks served on included: the Greater Philadelphia Health Care Congress, the International Finance Council, Forum International, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Export Consortium, the City’s Minority Enterprise Development Week, the Schuylkill River Development Council, and the Waterworks committee for Philadelphia.

Prior to Ms. Brooks’s international work with the City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce, she was an Economic Development Program Monitor, and then the Enterprise Zone Manager and an Empowerment Zone Coordinator for West Philadelphia.  Ms. Brooks has over 20 years of professional experience in economic development and she has represented the city in West Africa, Southern Africa, Asia, Central America and Europe.

Ms. Brooks has a Masters in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania and Bachelors of Art in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Pittsburgh.