Andreas Udbye has left the post as Executive Director of the World Trade Center Tacoma, according to a statement released by the organization last week.

Udbye held this position since April 2001, and was instrumental in steering the World Trade Center Tacoma through the difficult period following terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the recession of 2002-2003. He implemented the move to downtown Tacoma and modernized and grew many of the Center’s programs and services to better serve the international trade community. He forged close working relationships with federal and state agencies, other trade associations and the educational sector. Udbye also crafted joint operating agreements with the World Affairs Council of Tacoma, and entered into cooperation with major trade organizations in China and India. He also organized and led as many as ten trade missions to Asia.

He was certified in 2005 as Washington State’s first “Certified Global Business Professional,” a newly created professional designation.

Udbye, who is originally from Norway and is now a U.S. citizen, will continue to reside in the Tacoma area with his family. He expects to continue his career in the international trade sector, and will stay on as an active member of various non-profit boards.

Looking back on the past six years or so, Udbye said his job “enabled me to multitask in a hectic, but exciting and internationally geared environment. It has also been satisfying to witness the growth in exports and imports for the South Sound region.”