About FOCUS

FOCUS was founded in 1998 with the simple vision of delivering great cost savings and compliance services to importers and exporters at a fair price. In 2023, we expanded operations and opened FCdeM Servicos en Comercio Exterior (FCdeM) with offices in Mexico City, Mexico.

Clients engage us to manage their compliance and duty savings programs within their limited budgets. Being highly responsive and flexible to meet the unique business and compliance needs of each of our clients is why clients have stayed with us for 25 years. We deliver the highest quality customs management and compliance services to our clients.

We work hard to make FOCUS an inspirational and challenging great place to work. FOCUS provides on-going technical and non-technical training to our employees to maintain and further develop their skills and capabilities.

FOCUS is committed to being a world class professional services firm that continuously thrives and grows.

Let FOCUS manage your trade compliance and duty savings programs. Request a quote today!

313.292.7000 | info@focus-solutios.net

WHAT WE DO…

Great service at a fair price for our clients which has resulted in a very high client renewal rate

Continuing return on investment for our clients

A uniquely inspirational working environment and experience for our employees

FOCUS Business Solutions, Inc. is a full service customs management firm. We design and manage import and export processes and systems for our clients. We also provide temporary skilled resources to those who need to get import and export related projects completed but do not have the staff to get the job done in a timely and cost effective manner.

Clients hire us to find new areas for on-going duty savings, identify and file duty refund claims, and help them manage the costs and compliance risks associated with importing and exporting within their limited budgets.

FOCUS is committed to being a world class professional services firm that continuously thrives and grows.

As a nationally permitted US Customs Broker and with recognized trade compliance specialists in the US and Mexico, we strive to continuously deliver the highest quality customs management and compliance services to our clients. FOCUS provides on-going technical and non-technical training to our employees to maintain and further develop their skills and capabilities.

We provide trade management services to clients in a wide range of industries.

LEADERSHIP TEAM

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Steve Haywood

President

Steve has over 30 years of customs experience and is the President of FOCUS Business Solutions, Inc. Steve’s vision when starting FOCUS was to create a customs management firm that offers great service at a fair price, which FOCUS has successfully being doing for many years. Steve held a management position at one of the larger customs brokers in the U.S. and later became the Customs and Compliance Manager for a major tier-one supplier to the automotive industry.He was also employed as a Customs Administrator for a global automotive OEM.In addition, he has held numerous positions in various trade organizations and is a licensed customhouse broker.

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Andy Astor

Vice President

Andy is a Vice President of FOCUS Business Solutions, Inc. and has over 25 years of customs and international trade industry experience. Andy assists customers in being compliant with customs laws and regulations while taking advantage of the various free trade agreements the United States has with other countries. Andy is uniquely skilled at bringing together processes, systems, and data to automate and manage compliant programs for his clients. Andy has held management positions with an Automotive OEM and Big 8 Accounting Firm.He is a licensed customhouse broker and a CPA.

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Jim Clarke

Vice President

Jim has more than 30 years of industry experience. He acquired his industry experience while working at FOCUS for the past several years, as a Partner at a Big 4 accounting firm in their customs & duties practice, and with an Automotive OEM in their global customs department. Jim’s favorite activities are spending fun times with his family, playing golf, cycling, and fishing.

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Tracy Evans

Managing Director – North America

Tracy is a licensed customs broker with over 20 years of experience in the customs industry. She also is a certified U.S. Export Compliance Officer. With her time at FOCUS she has handled various customs processes including HTS classification for multiple countries, assigning schedule B if necessary and ECCN’s to export shipments, free trade qualification, and entry review of both import and export shipments. She has previous experience working at a Customs Broker, running the FTZ processes for a client and handling freight forwarding.
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Jorge Morales

Managing Director - Mexico

Jorge holds the position of Managing Director for FOCUS Business Solutions - Mexico. With over 30 years of experience, he specializes in international taxes and finance. Jorge has a rich background spanning both the public and private sectors. In the public sector, he contributed his expertise to the International Unit of the Tax Administration Service, an entity under the Mexican Ministry of Finance. In this role, he coordinated international audits conducted within the framework of the former North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), now known as USMCA, as well as within other trade agreements involving Mexico.
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Gianluca Romano

Director - Global Strategy & Growth

Gianluca is our Director Global Strategy and Growth responsible for defining and leading our company’s global expansion strategy. Gianluca has over 25 years leading large global expansion and operational coverage of a global international trade management services firm, a global trade management software firm, and an automotive OEM into Mexico, Europe, South America, and Asia countries. He is a recognized leader in the global trade management industry and well respected for his detailed knowledge of how things really work on the ground in foreign markets.
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Joshua Duerr

Director - Business Development & Growth

Joshua Duerr is our Director of Business Development & Growth responsible for all aspects of business development and sales. Josh has over 15 years of industry experience and is a Licensed Customs Broker. He is outstanding at quickly identifying client’s needs and matching them with the best combination of FOCUS services to provide immediate value to our clients. Josh proudly holds a BS in Business Management from KetteringUniversity.
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KATHY WILKEWITZ

Director

Kathy is a licensed customhouse broker with over 30 years of industry experience. Kathy is a Director responsible for client relationship management and operations. Kathy has extensive experience working with clients to manage their import and FTA needs, project managing critical aspects of customs & FTA operations, as well as successfully managing staff to meet our clients needs. Prior to joining the FOCUS team, Kathy held various management positions at several global licensed brokerage and logistics firms.
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Rosa Ruiz

Director - IT

Rosa Ruiz is our Director of IT responsible for all information technology, automation, network, hardware, and infrastructure related operations. Rosa has over 20 years of experience directing our IT team and is an expert at building smart IT solutions particularly in MS Access. She works directly with our team of trade professionals to define and build our proprietary international trade and customs software tools that are highly flexible and a competitive advantage for FOCUS. Rosa speaks English and Spanish fluently.
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Karen Murphy

Director

Karen is a licensed customhouse broker with over 15 years of industry experience. Karen is a Director responsible for client relationship management and operations for many large global companies as well as medium and small clients. Karen specializes in managing complex client situations with multiple data sources and systems. She directs a large team of international trade professionals focused on taking care of our client’s day to day customs compliance processes.
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Carrie Droz

Director

Carrie is a licensed customhouse broker with over 10 years of industry experience. Carrie is a Director responsible for client relationship management for various global companies that utilize multiple data systems and customs brokers. Carrie has extensive experience in value reconciliation and U.S. and Canada import entry audit. Carrie manages a team of trade professionals that specialize in analyzing payment data from various ERP systems and filing value and FTA reconciliation entries directly with U.S. Customs. Carrie is exceptional at meeting client needs, deadlines, and working with our clients to improve customs compliance processes.