Established by act of Congress, the sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee (SAAC) provides expert guidance in developing policies to strengthen Bank support of U.S. exports to Africa. Meetings of the SAAC are open to the public and  the current members of the Committee are:

Chairing the committee is Dr. Darius Mans, president, Africare, Washington, D.C., and former Acting CEO of Millennium Challenge Corporation.

The nine other  SAAC members are: Vernon D. Darko, president and CEO of EquipXP, LC, Houston, Tex.; Pamela Carter,  president, Cummins Distribution, Columbus, Ind.; Ambassador Robert Perry, vice president, The Corporate Council on Africa, Washington, D.C., and former U.S. Ambassador to the Central African Republic; Stephen Hirsch, vice president, Geothermal Development Associates, Reno, Nev.; Maureen Harrington, director, Standard Bank of South Africa, New York, N.Y.; Todd Moss, vice president, Center for Global Development, Washington, D.C.; Ihssane Mounir, vice president, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Seattle, Wash.; Witney Schneidman, principal, Schneidman & Associates, International, Washington, D.C., and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; and Diane Willkens, president & CEO of Development Finance International, Inc., Bethesda, Md.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a priority region for the Ex-Im Bank. Based on its Congressional mandate, Ex-Im Bank is pursuing new initiatives to expand financing support of U.S. manufactured goods and services to the region.

Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. In the past six years, Ex-Im Bank has earned for U.S. taxpayers $3.7 billion above the cost of operations. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services.

Ex-Im Bank approved $32.7 billion in total authorizations in FY 2011 -- an all-time Ex-Im Bank record. This total includes more than $1.3 billion in export-credit insurance, guarantees and direct loans for sub-Saharan Africa. For more information, visit www.exim.gov.

Last Updated: 20120206