Ambassador Carla A. Hills is chair and chief executive officer of Hills & Company International Consultants, which provides advice to international firms on investment, trade, and risk assessment issues abroad, particularly in emerging market economies.
Ambassador Hills served as United States Trade Representative from 1989 to 1993. As a member of President George H.W. Bush’s cabinet, she was the president’s principal advisor on international trade policy. She was also the nation’s chief trade negotiator, representing American interests in multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations throughout the world. Ambassador Hills negotiated and concluded the North American Free Trade Agreement and also led the U.S. negotiations on the Uruguay Round of the World Trade Organization. During her tenure, the United States entered into a large number of trade and investment agreements with countries around the world.
Earlier, Ambassador Hills served in the cabinet of President Gerald R. Ford, as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (the third woman to hold a cabinet position). She also served as the assistant attorney general in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Before entering government, Ambassador Hills co-founded and was partner in what is now the Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP law firm. She also served as an adjunct professor at the University of California at Los Angeles Law School teaching antitrust law, and co-authored The Antitrust Adviser (McGraw-Hill, 1971). Her prior expertise in antitrust and federal civil matters informs her understanding of business.
Over the years, Ambassador Hills has served on a number of corporate boards, including AIG, AT&T, Chevron, Corning Glass Works, Gilead Sciences, IBM, Time Warner, Trust Company of the West, and United Airlines. She is currently on the international advisory board of J.P. Morgan Chase. She also serves in leadership positions with not-for-profit organizations. She is chair of the International Advisory Board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; co-chair of the Inter-American Dialogue; chair emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations (after serving as co-chair until July 2017); honorary director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics; and executive committee member of the Trilateral Commission.
Ambassador Hills graduated from Stanford University, attended Oxford University’s St. Hilda’s College, and obtained her law degree from the Yale Law School. She holds honorary degrees from a number of colleges and universities. In 2000, she was awarded the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor given by the Mexican government to a non-citizen.