Biography

Oral History of Carla Anderson Hills

Carla A. Hills is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hills & Company, International Consultants. The firm provides advice to U.S. businesses on investment, trade, and risk assessment issues abroad, particularly in emerging market economies.

Mrs. Hills served as United States Trade Representative from 1989 to 1993. As a member of President Bush's Cabinet, Mrs. Hills was the President's principal advisor on international trade policy. She was also the nation's chief trade negotiator, representing American interests in multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations throughout the world.

She led the U.S. negotiations in the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks, concluded the North American Free Trade Agreement, and entered into a large number of trade and investment agreements with countries all around the world.

Earlier, Mrs. Hills served as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Ford Administration (the third woman to hold a Cabinet position). She also served as Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice.

Over the past 25 years Mrs. Hills has served on a number of corporate boards of directors. She currently serves on the International Boards of J.P. Morgan Chase, Rolls Royce, and the Coca-Cola Company and is a member of the Board of Gilead Sciences. Mrs. Hills is also actively involved with a number of eleemosynary organizations, serving as Co-Chair of the Council on Foreign Relations, of the Inter American Dialogue, and of the International Advisory Board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Chair of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations; member of the Executive Committee of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and of the Trilateral Commission; and a member of the board of the International Crisis Group, among others.

Before entering government, Mrs. Hills co-founded and was partner of Munger, Tolles, and Hills, a Los Angeles law firm. She also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of California at Los Angeles Law School, teaching antitrust law, and co-authored the Antitrust Adviser, which was published by McGraw-Hill.

Ambassador Hills resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Roderick. They are the parents of four children and the grandparents of five children.