Indy Chamber Hires Jennifer Pearl as Director of International Programs

Pearl was most recently based in Beijing, China as a Senior Consultant with North Head, a public affairs and strategic communications agency headquartered in Beijing. She conducted policy analysis and public affairs campaigns for clients doing business in Asia and trade across international markets. Her clients included Fortune 500 multinational corporations, trade associations, healthcare companies, education firms, and public agencies.   

“We’re excited to welcome Jennifer to our team and add her international expertise to our efforts to grow our regional economy,” said Maureen Krauss, Chief Economic Development Officer for the Indy Chamber.  “She brings more than a decade of international experience in business, public policy, and communications to this new role, which will play an important part in the success of our Accelerate Indy strategy.” 

Unveiled last fall, Accelerate Indy is an ambitious regional blueprint for economic growth led by the Indy Chamber and other partners focused on priorities like talent and workforce development, entrepreneurship and small business support, business attraction and encouraging advanced industry innovation. 

International commerce is another key priority of Accelerate Indy:  In 2016, the Indy Chamber released the Metro Indianapolis Global Trade & Investment Strategy, a plan to increase regional exports and foreign direct investment developed through the Global Cities Initiative, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase.   

As Director of International Programs, Pearl will oversee the implementation of this plan, as well as supporting the global business development goals of the Indy Partnership (the nine-county business attraction arm of the Chamber) and seeking other opportunities to raise Indy’s international profile.   

Pearl has strong ties to Indiana, having managed global partnerships for five years at the Indiana University School of Public Health. She is an alumna of Indiana University. 

“I’m eager to join the Indy Chamber and help elevate this region as a global metro,” Pearl said.  “Indianapolis is already a top 25 market in exports and employment by foreign businesses, so we’re building on a strong foundation – but there’s so much untapped potential in growing our export base and attracting more foreign investment. 

“I was especially pleased to see the Metro Trade Plan identify global health innovation as a major competitive asset for Indianapolis,” she continued.  “Health is incredibly important to all communities and we have a significant opportunity to make our life sciences sector a magnet for foreign direct investment as well as one of our strongest export industries.” 

Pearl began her new role with the Indy Chamber on July 12th.