Marina Niforos was one of the co-founding partners of WIL while she was at INSEAD, and will be assuming new responsibilities as Managing Director at American Chamber of Commerce in France as of September 6th, 2010. Marina will be responsible for running the operations of the business association on a day-to-day basis.

“My ambition for the AmCham is to refocus this great brand along the changing needs of the 21st century, providing our members with concrete business development opportunities, access to value-added economic intelligence, policy decision-makers and visibility through marketing platforms and high-level events. I encourage you to take maximum advantage of our dynamic organization, and its outstanding services. It uses its voice to create awareness of the key issues impacting business and by providing a forum where ideas and information can be shared. We provide them rs of more than 70 major multinationals participate in our Advisory Board.”

The American Chamber of Commerce is the primary collective voice of US companies located in France, with a very long history (founded in 1894). More than 80 multinationals participate in its advisory board. Its main mission is to proactively promote a constructive business dialogue between the US and France and to underline the importance of the economic transatlantic relationship.

“AmCham is still dedicated to its original mission, which consists in being the main conduit between the public authorities and the private enterprises on both sides of the Atlantic” says Marina.

Immediately before joining the Chamber, Marina served as Director for the Diversity and Leadership Center of Excellence at INSEAD, where she created and developed the Center’s academic and outreach activities, negotiated strategic partnerships, including with the World Economic Forum and the World Bank, Microsoft and Unilever, and successfully conducted fundraising for the Center. Before that, she had spent several years working for the Pechiney Group in corporate strategy and corporate venturing functions of the Group. Prior to coming to France in 1998, Marina spent five years with the World Bank Group in Washington, DC, managing the relationship with the country borrowers. Her responsibilities included management of country strategy and sizable investment portfolios (+1.6 billion USD) for Latin American countries, the last two years notably as Country Officer for Colombia, where she received the Award for Excellence by President Wolfensohn for assisting borrowers with sovereign debt management.

Marina also serves at the European Advisory Board of the Healthcare Business Women’s Association.

Marina is a summa cum laude graduate of Cornell University in Government and International Relations. She also holds a Masters in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania and a Diploma in International Relations and European Studies from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. In 1999, Marina obtained her MBA from INSEAD.