The S.C. World Trade Center has named an acting executive director who has ties to Europe and Latin America.
He will be the fourth leader of the organization in less than two years.
Andres Grimes was named acting executive director by the organization’s board of directors.
The World Trade Center has gone through more than a year of dwindling resources, staffing shortages, state-level budget cuts and turmoil in its leadership.
It lost state grants that supported the development of an online curriculum marketed to school districts and helped the organization make ends meet.
Grimes follows a string of executive directors, including Belinda Davis, who was fired by the board in April after she didn’t meet certain performance goals.
Davis replaced interim director Lisa Callihan five months after she replaced Mark Condon, who left voluntarily in 2007. The chair has been vacant for several months.
Grimes graduated from Penn State University.
After several years as a financial auditor, he began an international career, living and managing operations in Caracas, Venezuela; Mexico City; Gdansk, Poland; and Prague, Czech Republic, for six years.
Grimes, who is fluent in Spanish, also wrote a guide for American Hispanics upon his return to the S.C. Lowcountry.
The mission of the S.C. World Trade Center is to promote international trade and commerce. In the past, the nonprofit organization has hosted foreign dignitaries, conducted trade missions and served as a matchmaker between foreign and domestic businesses. The center’s offices are at Parkshore Centre in Charleston.