Craig VanGrasstek

Trade Historian

Author of On Trade War

“Craig VanGrasstek,” according to The Economist (January 22, 2000), “keeps a sharp eye on the politics of trade.” He has provided advisory, analytical, and training services to numerous international organizations, national governments, and private firms in over four dozen countries. Dr. VanGrasstek’s new book On Trade War (Cambridge University Press, 2026) examines the theory and practice of trade wars from the ancient world to modern times. This follows Trade and American Leadership: The Paradoxes of Power and Wealth from Alexander Hamilton to Donald Trump (Cambridge University Press, 2019), which reviewed the shifting place of trade policy in the grand strategy of the United States. He also wrote The History and Future of the World Trade Organization (WTO, 2013), as well as numerous other books, articles, and monographs. Dr. VanGrasstek received his doctorate in Political Science from Princeton University (1995), as well as a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University (1983) and a Bachelor of Science degree in International Relations from the University of Minnesota (1981). He taught courses on trade policy at the Harvard Kennedy School from 2000 to 2023, having also taught international economics at the American University School of International Service (1994-2000) and literature at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service (2006-2009). He has also lectured in the diplomatic academies of the United States, the United Kingdom, and ten other countries. 

Dr. Phani Tej Adidam

University of Nebraska at Omaha

College of Business Administration

Chairman & Professor, Marketing and Entrepreneurship

Dr. Adidam is the Ward Y. Lindley and George T. Lindley Professor of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). He is the Chairman of the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship and also the Director of CBA’s Center for International Business Initiatives. Professor Adidam is a Fulbright Specialist and has taught in more than twelve business schools across the globe as a Visiting Professor, including schools in Germany, Austria, Finland, Belgium, France, India, Egypt, Pakistan, China, and Australia. At UNO, Dr. Adidam teaches Marketing and International Business courses to undergraduate, MBA and Executive MBA students. In 2024, he received the University of Nebraska System's highest teaching award. In 2019, he received the UNO Faculty Excellence in Global Engagement Award. In 2008, he received the prestigious UNO’s Excellence in Teaching Award, and in 2007, he received the UNO Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award. Students in the Executive MBA program have awarded him the Distinguished Executive MBA Professor Award eight times in the past 25 years. As a researcher, his work was awarded the Journal of Marketing’s Marketing Science Institute/H. Paul Root Award for “…most significant contribution to the advancement of the practice of marketing” for 1999. He has published more than 40 research papers in distinguished peer-reviewed journals.