Stephen J. Potash is a Principal and former Chairman of Potash & Company, a public relations and association-management firm that exclusively serves clients engaged in global commerce, transportation and logistics. Partially retired, he continues to provide select consulting services.
He believes his firm is unique in the longevity and depth of its principal client relationships, which have averaged more than 17 years -- compared with an industry norm of 18 months to two years.
Steve is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the California-Asia Business Council (Cal-Asia), a non-profit business association promoting expanded commercial ties between California and the markets of China and the rest of Asia. Cal-Asia has been designated a strategic partner of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Potash & Company provides management services to the group through Jeremy W. Potash, and domiciled it for 17 years.
Steve served as public relations consultant to APL, the global container transport and logistics provider, continuously for 25 years (1979-2004), except for the period 1987-90. During those three years, he served in-house as Vice President, Corporate Communications, for the then-$2 billion, publicly-traded (NYSE) company.
Other principal, long-term clients of Potash & Company in recent years have included Pacer International and its intermodal unit, Pacer Stacktrain, the North America freight transportation and logistics providers; the California-Asia Business Council (Cal-Asia, see above); and the Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of Northern California (CBFANC), a professional non-profit association.Earlier in his career, Steve also served as a public relations consultant to the Japanese Consulate General at San Francisco, JETRO San Francisco, Japan Air Lines, British Week, Bank of Tokyo of California (now Union Bank), California Council for International Trade (CCIT), now part of the California Chamber of Commerce, and others..
From 1969-1980, Steve was Account Executive of the former PR firm of Charles von Loewenfeldt, Inc., San Francisco. From 1970-1987, he also served as Executive Director of the CCIT, and as a Board Member of that organization from 1987-94. In 1980, Steve and his wife, Jeremy W. Potash, formed Potash & Company.
Steve is co-author, with Dr. Robert J. Chandler of the Wells Fargo Bank history department, of a book on the history of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Entitled "Gold, Silk, Pioneers & Mail," the book was published in 2007 by the Friends of the San Francisco Maritime Library. It discusses the line's service from the Gold Rush to the start of the world's first regularly scheduled trans-Pacific steamship service, and the years beyond. Pacific Mail played a key role in the development of San Francisco and the Western region, fostered Asian immigration to the US, and enabled the advent of today's Pacific Basin commerce. Steve is listed in Who's Who in America.
Steve is a graduate of Pomona College in Claremont, California, majoring in International Relations. His interests include Chinese Export Silver (objects made in China in the 18th and 19th centuries for use in China by resident Western trading company officials, diplomats, and also commissioned by sea captains). Other interests include 19th Century paintings and original lithographs depicting the ships of the Pacific Mail Steam Ship Company and the Chinese immigration to America.
Steve also serves as a board member of the Friends of the San Francisco Maritime Museum Library, and as a former chairman and president of the Kaiser Oakland Chapter of Mended Hearts.
Jeremy W. Potash is President of Potash & Company, a public relations and association-management firm. In that capacity, she is the founding Executive Director of the California-Asia Business Council (Cal-Asia), a non-profit business group dedicated to expanded commerce between U.S. companies and the markets of Asia.
Her work for Cal-Asia during the Asian Financial Crisis earned her the 1998 "Export Citizen of the Year" award from the Northern California District Export Council (DEC) of the United States Department of Commerce. In 2007, Cal-Asia, under her leadership, was recognized with a certificate of appreciation by the US Department of Commerce for "creating opportunities for international trade and business".
She previously served as Executive Director of the Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of Northern California (CBFANC). CBFANC is a non-profit group providing continuing education for the regional professionals who facilitate the flow of exports and imports on behalf of retailers, manufacturers and beneficial owners of freight.
Jeremy is editor of a periodic on-line newsletter for Cal-Asia members that summarizes business conditions and opportunities in Asia; and earlier research publications such as the Southeast Asia Infrastructure Directory, and Southeast Asia Environmental Directory. She has written a number of articles on trade and investment prospects in Asia for business publications, and has spoken about that subject throughout the state. She formerly oversaw "Information Expeditor," the monthly publication of CBFANC.
Because of her extensive experience in trade promotion with both Cal-Asia, she was named by the Secretary of Commerce to the Northern California DEC, an advisory group to the USDC on which she continues to serve. Additionally, in 2012, Cal-Asia was designated as a strategic partner for the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Jeremy is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who of American Women. She formerly worked with Forbes Magazine, New York, and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), and prior to Cal-Asia, she also managed its predecessor organizations, California-Southeast Asia Business Council (Cal-SEA), from 1992 to 2000, and Pacific-Indonesian Chamber of Commerce, from 1983 to 1991.
Jeremy received her BA from Pomona College in International Relations, with an emphasis on Southeast Asia, under faculty advisor Michael Armacost, who subsequently served as ambassador to the Philippines, ambassador to Japan, and Undersecretary of State. She is also a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, the western arm of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for the Pacific Rim, University of San Francisco.
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