Kent H. Hughes is currently a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He previously served as the Director of the Center’s Program on America and the Global Economy. At Boston University, Washington DC Programs, he teaches the class on American Institutions and the Making of Public Policy. Before joining the Center, Mr. Hughes served as Associate Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce, President of the Council on Competitiveness and in a number of senior positions with the U.S. Congress. He has spoken and written extensively on trade, technology, and economic policy including his 2005, Building the Next American Century: The Past and Future of American Economic Competitiveness. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Washington, DC Bar Association, and the Industry Studies Association.  He speaks Portuguese, rusty Spanish and Russian, and a bit of Swedish. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Washington University in St. Louis, a LL.B. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in political and economic institutions from Yale.