Laura Lane, a public affairs professional with government and corporate service, has been named to lead UPS’s public affairs office in Washington, D.C, and will oversee the company’s government relations efforts around the world. Lane will succeed Arnie Wellman, who has guided UPS worldwide public affairs operations since 1992. Wellman is retiring after a combined 38 years of service in various UPS positions. The transition will be completed Feb. 15, 2012.
“Arnie’s leadership and dedication to navigating the public affairs issues that affect UPS have ensured the company’s voice is heard and that UPS has the opportunity to prosper and grow,” says Teri McClure, senior vice president, legal and compliance, general counsel and corporate secretary. “The company soon will look to Laura to provide that same type of leadership. She brings to UPS an incredibly broad range of global experience, and that’s what a global company such as UPS requires.”
Lane most recently worked as the managing director and head of international government affairs for Citigroup. Before joining Citi, Lane was the vice president for global public policy at Time Warner, where she represented the company on the federal and international levels on issues affecting Time Warner and its divisions.
Lane served in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1990-1997, including postings to Bogota, Colombia and Rwanda. She worked in the State Department Operations Center from 1994-1995 as watch officer under Secretary Warren Christopher, then moved to the Trade Policy and Programs office in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs from 1995-1997. She served as the State Department representative on the U.S. Basic Telecommunications negotiating team, which concluded the first-ever global agreement on basic telecommunications in 1996.
In her government career, Lane also was responsible for bilateral trade affairs with the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries at the United States Trade Representative. There, she negotiated market access commitments on trade in services with China as part of its accession to the World Trade Organization and served as U.S. negotiator for the WTO Financial Services negotiations, which resulted in a first-ever global agreement in 1997.
Wellman began his UPS career in 1973 as a package handler in the South New England District. Following assignments in operations, human resources and sales in the North Jersey District, he was promoted to work as a public affairs manager at UPS headquarters in 1981. During this period, he served three terms as a state legislator from Connecticut’s 76th Assembly district.
In 1986, Wellman joined the Metro D.C. District as a division manager prior to returning to the corporate headquarters in 1991. A year later, he was named corporate public affairs department manager and ever since has directed UPS’s worldwide public affairs activities regarding all aspects of government, regulatory and legislative matters.
In recent years, Wellman’s team has addressed such important issues as aviation access rights for U.S. carriers in China, Japan and Hong Kong; nighttime and noise flight restrictions in Europe; the reform of U.S. laws regulating multiemployer pension plans; the liberalization of postal regulations around the world; global efforts to address cargo security concerns, and initiatives to encourage the use of alternative-fuel vehicles.
