Kendra Gaither
- President, U.S.-Africa Business Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Senior Vice President for African Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Executive Director, U.S.-South Africa Business Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Kendra L. Gaither is President of the U.S.-Africa Business Center, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s platform for advancing the U.S. private sector’s commitment to Africa through increased investment, stronger commercial ties, and expanded trade between the United States and the African continent.
Gaither joined the Chamber in 2015, bringing deep, solutions-oriented global public policy experience across government, business, and academia. Before being named President in October 2023, she served as Vice President of the U.S.-Africa Business Center, where she led trade policy efforts across East and Southern Africa and began her service as Executive Director of the U.S.-South Africa Business Council.
A fluent Spanish speaker, Gaither began her Chamber career in the Americas Department, where she established and served as founding Executive Director of the U.S.-Colombia Business Council, launched following the historic November 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC. She also served as Executive Director of the Coalition for the Rule of Law in Global Markets.
She joined the Chamber from Carnegie Mellon University, where she was a global initiatives adviser in the College of Engineering and Executive Director of the Center for International Policy and Innovation. During her tenure at the university, she supported the establishment of the Carnegie Mellon University Africa graduate campus in Kigali, and the publication of an edited volume on Preventing Election Violence in Africa.
Ms. Gaither began her career in international affairs at the U.S. Department of State. There she spent more than 10 years as a career diplomat and civil servant specializing in international economic and trade issues in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Gaither holds a B.S. in economics from North Carolina A&T State University, as well as an M.A. in international affairs and an M.B.A. in international business finance from The George Washington University.
Kendra is a member of Women in International Trade. She serves on the Board of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition and as the Vice Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Region Scholar Advisory Committee for The Jackie Robinson Foundation’s national scholarship program.
