Ms. Yuri Ann Arthur
Commercial Counselor, Athens
U.S. Department of Commerce
Yuri Ann Arthur is the incoming Senior Commercial Officer for the U.S. Embassy in Athens. She will lead the Commercial Section of the Embassy, working on issues such as commercial diplomacy and trade advocacy, while also focusing on promoting U.S. commercial interests in Greece.
Prior to being assigned to Greece, Yuri served in Manila as the Commercial Section Deputy, covering sectors including infrastructure, defense, ICT, and medical devices and pharmaceuticals. She served on the Embassy Deal team, working with interagency colleagues to identify project leads for possible private sector involvement and U.S. Government funding. Yuri also supported firms through advocacy in an attempt to secure transparent and fair evaluation of proposals. Utilizing her Japan experience, she also secured pathways for U.S. firms to partner with Japanese firms on Japanese Government funded big ticket projects in the Philippines. While in Manila, Yuri also led partnerships with like-minded foreign Embassy colleagues for a multilateral approach to policy issues, coordinating conferences to discuss policy issues of concern for the private sector with relevant government agencies in the Philippines.
Prior to being assigned to the Philippines, Yuri was based in Tokyo, Japan where she handled the services and investment portfolio. She led delegations to key trade shows, worked with the State of Hawaii for an education trade mission led by the First Lady, accompanied Ambassador Kennedy to the SelectUSA Summit, was chosen to serve as Control Officer for the first international trip by Commerce Secretary Ross. In 2016, she was chosen to be Control Officer for the Iseshima G7 Summit.
Before her Japan assignment, Yuri was a Mansfield Fellow, and also served in the West Los Angeles U.S. Export Assistance Center where she enjoyed counseling local firms on international market expansion and supporting the Asia Pacific Business Outlook Conference. Her first position with the Department of Commerce was in the Office of East Asia where she started as a trade specialist, and participated in trade dialogues with the Governments of Japan and Korea.
Yuri started her career as an Information Officer at the Japanese Embassy. She also worked as an Account Manager for Japanese airline All Nippon Airways.
Yuri has a B.A. in International Relations from the University of California San Diego, and graduate level certificates in International Business and Program Management from Georgetown University. She has completed study abroad programs at both Keio University in Japan and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is married and has two children (one dog and one daughter.)
