William Zarit is Senior Counselor at The Cohen Group, where he advises western multinationals working in the Chinese commercial market. Currently Chairman Emeritus of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, he served as Board Chairman from 2017-2018.

Until May 2014, Mr. Zarit was Minister for Commercial Affairs at the US Embassy in Beijing, overseeing the US Department of Commerce’s trade promotion and trade policy activities in its operations in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang. He retired with the rank of Career Minister.

Prior to his posting to Beijing, Mr. Zarit was Deputy Assistant Secretary, International Operations, for the US Commercial Service, overseeing Commercial Sections in US Embassies and Consulates worldwide. He previously served as US Commercial Service’s Regional Director for East Asia/Pacific, Senior Commercial Officer at the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the US Embassy in Beijing, and Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the American Institute in Taiwan.

Before joining the US Commercial Service, Mr. Zarit was Economic and Commercial Program Officer for the New York-based National Committee on US-China Relations. Prior to that, he served as Marketing Manager/China for the California-based telecommunications firm Pacific Telesis International, preceded by his work as Project Manager for the high-tech marketing firm China Business Associates. Both positions were based in Beijing. Mr. Zarit also served as Mandarin Chinese Interpreter for the US State Department Language Services.

He earned an MBA with Honors from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA with Honors in Political Science from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.