Who We Are
- The Export Finance Assistance Center of Washington (EFACW) was created by the Washington State legislature in 1983 to provide export finance counseling assistance to small- and medium-sized exporters or prospective Washington-based exporters.
- EFACW is funded mainly by the State of Washington and is an independent contractor to the Washington State Department of Commerce (COM). EFACW is currently co-located with the Washington State Department of Commerce in The Westin Building at 2001 6th Avenue, Suite 2600 Seattle, Washington 98121.
- EFACW works closely with both federal and state partners including the U.S. Exim Bank (www.exim.gov), the U.S. Department of Commerce (www.export.gov), the Washington State Department of Commerce (www.commerce.wa.gov), and the Washington State Department of Agriculture (www.agr.wa.gov).
About John Brislin
John Brislin joined the Export Finance Assistance Center of Washington as President and CEO in May 2010. John is originally from Syracuse, New York. He has resided in Washington State for the past 15 years. John has a degree in Business Administration from Boston University’s, School of Management.
John has over 24 years of international banking experience. He has worked for Bank of Boston in Boston, MA in Trade Operations for 9 years. After moving to Washington State, John joined Union Bank in Trade Operations ascending to the role of Operations Manager. Most recently, he was a Global Trade Sales Officer covering Trade Finance and Ex-Im Bank Programs for the Pacific Northwest Region at Union Bank.
John sits on the Board of the World Trade Center Tacoma and the World Trade Club of Seattle. He also participates in the NACM Vancouver/Portland International Trade Group. John brings his significant experience to EFACW and looks forward to assisting Washington State’s businesses with trade counseling including classic and structured trade assistance.
About the Board of Directors
EFACW is structured as a not-for-profit 501(c) 6 (trade organization) and is governed by a Board of Directors statutorily mandated by the Washington State legislature and appointed by the Governor. Composition includes a community bank representative, a large bank representative, a representative from a small exporting company, a representative of a large exporting company, a union representative, a representative for the Washington Department of Commerce, and an at-large representative. Two positions are currently gapped until the next legislative session. Directors receive no remuneration or expense reimbursement for their service and each Director serves a four year-term, and may be re-appointed for an additional term after serving their first. Directors are limited to two terms.