Shanker A Singham is one of the world’s leading international trade experts. He is a recognised author and adviser to governments and companies and an Academic Fellow of the institute of Economic Affairs. Shanker is CEO of Competere Ltd, a company which provides trade and competition law and policy advice to governments and companies and is focused on promoting international trade and competition policy throughout the world. He was a cleared advisor to USTR and to the UK Trade Secretary. He has advised parliamentarians and government ministers on the overall approach to UK trade policy including the Brexit negotiations. He is also the Policy Lead of the Trader Support Service Consortium, which is delivering on behalf of HMG the implementation of the NI Protocol.
In the 1990s, Shanker worked on the privatisation of the UK electricity market, the transition of the Soviet, Central and Eastern European economies and the Apertura in Latin America. He has worked on the accession of Poland and Hungary to the EU, the WTO accessions of a number of countries, including China and Russia. He built the Latin American trade practice of Steel Hector & Davis in Miami, and led the market access/WTO practices of Steel Hector & Davis in Miami, and Squire Patton Boggs in Washington, DC. He has lived in London, Hong Kong, Miami, Washington DC, and Boston.
Shanker has authored the leading academic textbook on the subject of trade, competition and regulatory frameworks, as well as lectured, written and spoken extensively. He has been featured in various articles and media publications surrounding his expertise in the fields of trade and competition, including over one hundred articles and book chapters (see catalogue attached).
Shanker’s has also worked on Anti-Competitive Market Distortions and the efforts to reduce barriers to free trade on a global basis. He has also begun work on identifying and measuring international inhibitors to entrepreneurship and the successful creation of the preconditions necessary for individuals’ success. He is the founder of the International Roundtable on Trade and Competition (1997), the Competitiveness and Enterprise Cities Project (CECP) (2013) at Babson College, and the lead author of the SRB economic model to measure Anti-Competitive Market Distortions. Shanker has worked on a number of trade negotiations including the Free Trade Area of the Americas, US-Colombia, US-Peru, US-Panama, TTIP and TPP. He was also co-chair of the small business working group of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue.
Shanker’s most recent books are: Market Distortions in Privatisation Processes, published in December 2022 and Trade, Competition and Domestic Regulatory Policy: Trade Liberalisation, Competitive Markets and Property Rights Protection, available in March 2023.
Education
Shanker was educated at St. Paul’s School, London. He has an MA in Chemistry from Balliol College, Oxford University and postgraduate legal degrees in both the UK and US from The College of Law, Guildford and University of Miami Law School.
Current Appointments
July 2023 – present: Co-Chairman, The Growth Commission
Jan 2016 – present: Chairman and CEO, Competere Ltd
Sep 2020 – Present: Policy Lead, Trader Support Service Consortium
July 2020 – present: Member, Commission on Trade & Agriculture, Department of International Trade
Jan 2021- present: Advisor to Department of International Trade on Thematic Working Group on Technical Barriers to Trade
Jun 2020 – present: Member, Wilton Park Advisory Committee
Feb 2020 – present Chairman, Global Vision
May 2019 – present: Trade and Competition Academic Fellow, Institute of Economics Affairs
Mar 2019 – present: Advisory Board Member, Constellation
Jun 2003 – present: Non-Government Advisor to the International Competition Network
Sep 2006 – present: Member, Council on Foreign Relations
Sep 2010 – present: Member, Bretton Woods Committee
Jun 2020 – ??: Chairman, Global Economic Neural Networks (GENN)
Mar 2018 – Apr 2019: Director, International Trade & Competition,
Institute of Economic Affairs
Jan 2016 – Mar 2018: Director, Economic Policy and Prosperity Studies
Chairman, Legatum Institute, Chairman, LI Special Trade Commission
Sep 2013 – Jan 2015: Director, Competitiveness and Enterprise Cities Project,
Babson Global (the venture arm of Babson College), Boston USA
Mar 2009 – Dec 2015: Cleared Advisor to United States Trade Representative and Department of Commerce (ITAC16 – SPS, TBT and Regulatory issues); Worked on TPP, TTIP and US bilateral agreements
Jun 2005 – Aug 2013: Head, WTO/Global Market Access Practice, Squire Sanders, Washington DC, USA (managed a group of twenty-five lawyers all over the world)
Feb 2001 – Jun 2005: Partner and Head, Trade and Competition Practice,
Steel Hector and Davis LLP, Miami, USA (managed a group of ten lawyers throughout Latin America and the US)
Mar 1995 –Feb 2001: Of Counsel, Steel Hector and Davis LLP, Miami, USA
Sep 1992 – Mar 1995: McKenna & Co (now CMS Cameron McKenna), London
