Michael Kaye

Dr. Michael Kaye joined ADM in January 2013 as associate general counsel in the company’s Law Department. In this role, he serves as general counsel to the Agricultural Services business unit and also oversees international legal matters and international trade, commercial and arbitration issues for the company.

Prior to joining ADM, Kaye had a lengthy career in international affairs, first as an active-duty lawyer with the U.S. military specializing in international law — a tenure that included tours of duty in Korea, Panama, Honduras and the Pentagon — and then as an international trade lawyer in the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Following his government service, he joined the Washington, D.C., office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP and spent 20 years with the firm, becoming a partner in 1997. Between 2003 and 2012, while still affiliated with Akin Gump, he relocated to Chile, where he spent nine years as an investor and director in a number of food and food ingredient production companies and was counsel to an international law firm based in Santiago.

He remains involved in international trade matters, and has been appointed by the U.S. Trade Representative to the roster of experts that mediate disputes under several free trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.S. agreements with Australia, Singapore, Colombia and Korea.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and Asian studies from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., and a doctorate of law from University of Hawaii.