Fred Monk, Chairman

Fred J. Monk is president of the ECI/Find New Markets, a fee-based non-governmental organization that helps companies and economic development organizations grow in international and domestic markets.

Founded in 1997, ECI focuses on business intelligence, market identification, market research, export training and business coaching for primarily small to medium-sized companies in the United States and abroad. It also works with larger companies on new market development and website optimization.  

Its Venture Elements division helps companies connect through search engine performance and helps companies transform their business message through fundamental marketing both on the web and in printed materials in multiple languages if necessary. 

Fred is South Carolina’s representative on the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Export Trade Advisory Council. He serves on the South Carolina Governor’s Commission for International Agreements and Cooperation and is president of the Midlands International Trade Association.  He serves on the advisory board of the newly established Center for Entrepreneurship at Francis Marion University and he chairs the South Carolina Coalition for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
 
He is chairman of the Columbia World Affairs Council, which he helped create and which has helped the Midlands of South Carolina develop international relationships. He was involved in forging South Carolina’s sister-state relationships with Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany and with Queensland, Australia; and Columbia’s sister cities in Kaiserslautern, Germany; Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Plovdiv, Bulgaria; and Yibin, China.

He is a fellow of the Atlanta-based Society of International Business Fellows, a group of 450 CEOs, senior executives, principals and partners of companies and organizations involved in international business development.

He chaired the City of Columbia’s Technology Advisory Board and helped institute the first Summit on the New Economy in Columbia. He was a member of the board of the Columbia Development Corp., the City of Columbia’s economic development arm, and co-chaired the city’s North Columbia Master Plan Committee. He currently co-chairs and is helping to develop the North Columbia Business Association.

Fred is the former business editor of The State newspaper, South Carolina largest newspaper, and worked at The State and The State-Record Co. for 28 years before joining ECI in November 1997.

He served as president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in 1986-87 and served on its board of governors from 1978 to 1988. He is a former president of the Central South Carolina chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He currently serves on the partnership board of the University of South Carolina College of Mass Communications and Information Studies.