Candace Shiver

Candace Shiver is CEO of Shiver & Associates, LLC, under which she manages a strategic legal, government relations, and business development firm based in Columbia, South Carolina, and with offices in Washington, DC. The Firm’s Legal Division advises clients in matters of Corporate Law and International Trade. Its Business Consulting Division assists and promotes its clients’ entry into new markets, both within the U.S. and in foreign nations, and also represents and advocates for its clients’ interests before Executive and Legislative Branches of State and Federal Governments. Mrs. Shiver is an attorney with significant professional experience in business advocacy, policy and strategy. After serving a clerkship with the then Chief Judge Kaye Hearn of the South Carolina Court of Appeals, in private practice at the law firm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Mrs. Shiver represented national and international companies in areas of Business Litigation and Employment Law. Then, in 2012, at the age of 30, she accepted a Presidential appointment to serve as a Senior Adviser in the Obama Administration, where she provided pertinent legal and policy advice to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency. There, she devised and applied strategies to enhance the operations and programs of a nationwide network of 44 Business Development Centers. She also identified and negotiated strategic internal and external partnerships with key agencies and organizations to support the growth of minority-owned businesses through greater access to contracts, capital, and new markets, both domestic and global. In carrying out President Barack Obama’s international priorities, she was the lead representative for her agency on major internationally- focused, government-wide initiatives such as the Doing Business in Africa Campaign, through which she assisted U.S. firms in capitalizing on opportunities to trade and invest in sub-Saharan Africa; and the Look South Initiative, where she helped companies do business with Mexico and the United States’ 10 other Free Trade Agreement partners in Latin America. She also collaborated on economic policies to build ties between U.S. minority and Indigenous communities abroad, which included the sharing of best practices with foreign nations under significant bilateral agreements such as the U.S.-Brazil Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Discrimination and Promote Equality. Mrs. Shiver demonstrates her commitment to public and global service through membership with the American Council on Germany and as Co-founder of Candace Girls, an all-girls educational foundation in Liberia, West Africa. Professionally, in 2017, Mrs. Shiver was nominated and selected by the South Carolina Supreme Court to serve on the Commission for Judicial Conduct. In 2011, her home state of South Carolina honored her as one of the top 20 under 40 rising business stars, and she was also recognized for her contributions in the Greater Columbia Business Monthly publication. Mrs. Shiver currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities; the Board of Directors of the Oliver Gospel Mission for the homeless; and she is owner of Athena Learning Centers of Columbia, a tutoring franchise. Mrs. Shiver has served in a number of leadership capacities aimed at promoting education, business development, enhancing diversity and inclusion, improving opportunities for American businesses, and affecting international policy. Mrs. Shiver graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Spelman College in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Philosophy, and in 2006, earned her Juris Doctor degree from Duke University School of Law.