Connections. Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has them, and the man he tapped Friday to head the fledgling World Trade Center Utah is charged with helping local businesses broaden theirs.

Huntsman named Lew Cramer president and chief executive officer of World Trade Center Utah, effective in September. The WTC Utah is in the process of gaining a charter from the World Trade Center Association, which includes 287 centers worldwide, 58 of them in the United States.

"There is, I think, a time and a place for all communities to really begin to take globalization seriously," Huntsman said. "Through today's announcement, it is proof positive that we are in fact reaching out to find the best and the brightest to run our globalization and international trade efforts."

Cramer, a longtime friend of the governor, is a former director general of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service and managing director of Summit Ventures International, a business consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., and Utah.

Cramer will work — at least initially — from the offices of the Salt Lake Chamber. The center, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization, also will work closely with the governor's international trade office.

"The language skills, the capacities, the higher education, the opportunities, the diversity of Utah make an ideal catalyst for international trade," Cramer said. "We're here at the World Trade Center to be a catalyst,to ignite fires, to rally talents, to be an opportunity, to extend a reach."

Utah is "a destination increasingly in demand," Huntsman said, noting that the state's exports increased dramatically in 2005, up 28 to 29 percent over the previous year. The state now exports about $6.1 billion in goods and services, he said.

Over time, Huntsman said he'd like to see the center become a "one-stop shop" for those who want to learn more about the international marketplace, from export financing opportunities and language to culture and small-business opportunities.

Eventually, Cramer said he'd like to see the center and related resources and service providers located in a common facility in Salt Lake City. Kem Gardner of The Boyer Group is on the WTC Utah board of directors, Cramer said, and likely will play a role in the search.

But that's all down the road a bit. First, Huntsman's senior economic adviser, Chris Roybal, said there will be some fund-raising events to pay the $200,000 licensing fee to join the WTCA charter, likely to happen in the next few months. Taxpayer dollars won't be used for the fee, Roybal said, or for the bulk of the organization's operations. The WTC Utah, like chambers of commerce, likely will be funded by parties with an interest in the organization's focus.

Then, Cramer said, the center will survey the top 100 Utah companies and assess their needs and interest in the international arena. Local MBA students will be enlisted to help gather and process the data.

"There are things we do better than anybody else in the world," Cramer said. "There are things we can learn better than anyone else in the world. The trade center ought to provide an opportunity to talk about those, to learn from others who have already walked the walk."

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