Kellie Meiman Hock

Kellie Meiman Hock, Managing Partner, handles external affairs for McLarty, founded the firm’s Brazil & Southern Cone practice, and has led the McLarty trade practice since 2000.

Prior to her joining McLarty, she served for almost a decade as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer at the Department of State, serving in Colombia and Brazil, and at the Office of the US Trade Representative. In these roles, she has helped major multinational companies in Latin America and beyond to take advantage of opportunities, as well as to troubleshoot obstacles to market access and investment.

Kellie has worked on various aspects of technology and national industrial policies, ranging from local content requirement to data localization and trade remedies. Kellie has been deeply engaged in companies’ efforts to manage uncertainty in the global trade agenda and increased economic nationalism. She has also helped many companies to globalize their public policy operations.

During Kellie’s time at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), she served as Director for Brazil and the Southern Cone, where she had primary responsibility for trade negotiations with the region. Prior to her work at USTR, Kellie’s foreign service postings included handling crisis management in the State Department Operations Center. An Economic Officer in the foreign service, Kellie previously had served in U.S. Missions in Porto Alegre, São Paulo, and Recife, Brazil, and the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia. She has lived and studied in Central America and Japan.

Kellie is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Inter-American Dialogue. Kellie often writes and speaks on policy matters related to trade, Brazil, and Latin America.

A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Kellie is a graduate of the Georgetown  University School  of  Foreign  Service. She fluently speaks Spanish and Portuguese.