Jose Raul Perales

José Raúl Perales is Deputy Director of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation at the Center
for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). In his role as Deputy Director, Perales leads the
technical work of the Alliance, overseeing a team of experts involved in the design and
implementation of all in-country projects while serving on the management team of the
partnership.
Prior to joining the Alliance, Perales served as the Assistant Secretary for the Private Sector at
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  In this role, he advised the Secretary on the
economic impact of the Department's policies, regulations, and processes on business while
enhancing strategic communications to help the public and private sectors jointly meet their
shared responsibility for homeland security.
In the private sector, Raul was the Director for the Americas at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
and as Executive Director and Vice-President of the Association of American Chambers of
Commerce in Latin America (AACCLA). In this capacity he developed key Chamber policy
initiatives in the Americas including trade facilitation, Cuban affairs, and the Americas Business
Dialogue. He also oversaw AACCLA’s operations and several policy programs, in support of
customs cooperation, regional integration, corporate sustainability, and expansion of the
AmCham network in the Caribbean.
Previously, he was the Senior Associate at the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson
Center. He was also a trade policy adviser to the government of Puerto Rico, where he
successfully created a strategy for advancing the island’s foreign trade interests and mediated
government-private sector interaction on commercial affairs.
Raul has been an adjunct professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George
Washington University and at the Schar School of Public Policy at George Mason University. He
has published articles and edited volumes on economic regionalism, trade policy, international
relations, and Latin American politics and development.
He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Puerto Rico (B.A.) and completed
doctoral studies in political science at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.