TENNESSEE World Affairs Council (TNWAC) has framed a statement of strategic direction and is designing operations to establish the nonprofit as "a reliable, nonpartisan source" of global content and context for corporate leaders, elected officials and other Tennesseans who are intent on addressing opportunities and challenges of international trade, supplychain, cross-border investment and related issues.

The Council is approaching the twentieth anniversary of its registration in February 2007, and has been led since May 2023 by Executive Director Liane Hentschke PhD.

Viewed strategically, TNWAC says its mission is to "equip Tennesseans with the global understanding and civic confidence needed to translate world affairs into opportunity, leadership, and informed participation."

In-line with that, it describes TNWAC's collective vision as leading to "A Tennessee known for global fluency, civic confidence, and economic readiness--[a place] where understanding the world is an everyday skill."

Hentschke on March 23 provided VNC a statement of TNWAC's strategic direction, which show the association "sequencing its growth."

The growth model immediately prioritizes securing Corporate sponsorships that help fund programming including executive briefings, workforce global readiness offerings, and sector specific-analyses tied to healthcare, automotive, agriculture, and logistics sectors that contribute most to Tennessee's economy.

Once its Corporate cornerstone is in-place, TNWAC then aims to help state and city-government leaders address issues that have global dimensions, including economic development, trade policy responses, and international business development.

TNWAC also declares its determination to play only neutral, nonpartisan and non-advocacy roles as it provides "factual global context and facilitates informed conversation"-- that is, "analysis without advocacy."

The association also serves notice that its strategic plan "defines success in concrete terms: Tennessee leaders consistently integrate global context into their decision-making. The measurement is practical—corporate engagement with TNWAC products and programming, university participation in global education initiatives, and elected officials using TNWAC as a resource for international issues that affect the state."

Summing-up, the statement on strategic direction concludes, "If the people who make decisions in Tennessee are thinking globally because of TNWAC, the mission is working."

AB's Seth Bernstein

On May 8 global asset manager AllianceBernstein's President & CEO Seth Bernstein is scheduled to offer his views on the question, "Are Tariffs Making America Great Again?" Details and registration here. (VNC also notes an earlier tariff-touching AB Insights piece from Chief US Economist Eric Winograd.)

Karl Dean

Earlier today, TNWAC Chairman and former Metro Nashville Mayor Karl Dean JD moderated an online chat with Brentwood-based Kumar Kolin, who is chief business officer for Healthcare and North America of Trinetix, a firm that also has presence in Argentina.

Kolin is also a former president of eMids Technologies, which has thus far attained most of its growth while based in Nashville and has been controlled since 2019 by New Mountain Capital, which has key offices in both the U.S. and India. 

The session with Kolin -- "Nashville Edge: How Global Thinking and Enterprise Innovation Are Building a Local Legacy -- is due to be posted via YouTube soon.

Terrence Burns

Hentschke confirmed that among those shaping the association's strategic rebranding and planning effort is Terrence Burns MBA, who is a member of the TNWAC board of directors and chairman and CEO of T.Burns Sports Group, a consultancy focused on global sports brand strategy.

Brazil-born Hentschke became executive director of TNWAC in May 2023, as indicated in her LinkedIn.

For nearly 27 years, Hentschke was a professor of music education at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul-UFRGS, at Porto Alegre in Brazil.

She also served as director of UFRGS's International Affairs Office, and played a series of key roles related to partnership development, grantsmanship, administration of scholarships for studying abroad. In addition, she served as vice president, executive board member and vice president of the Paris-based International Music Council and as president of the Melbourne- International Society for Music Education. 

Hentschke's TNWAC team also includes Marketing & IT Consultant Kathryn Swanton MSc and Senior Assistant Ashley Wickland.

The TNWAC Strategic Direction document provided April 23 is here. VNC

. last edited 1707 28 April 2026