About

Our People

Pat Long, CEO and Founder

As CEO of Rare Bird Trading Company, Pat Long offers assistance and shares her years of developed relationships and knowledge of the retail markets in China, greater Asia and the United States to help businesses in those regions. She visits Asia often for trade as part of her activities for the company.

Pat is also president of World Trade Properties, a real estate company developing the World Trade Park, where Longistics is headquartered. The North Carolina China Center (NCCC) is housed at the World Trade Park in the Longistics headquarters building. As vice president of finance for the NCCC, Pat works to expand the pace and involvement of North Carolina and its logistics and supply chain industries into the world marketplace. NCCC is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with a mission of creating bridges of understanding between businesses, as well as cultural and educational institutions, in North Carolina and the greater China region comprising mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

In 1997, Pat became the first woman chair of the North Carolina Trucking Association, having served on its board of directors and several of its committees for many years. In addition, she served as a member of the Homeland Security Commission and in other capacities for American Trucking Associations, and has maintained membership in the South Carolina and Tennessee Trucking Associations, the National Motor Freight Trucking Association and the Healthcare Distribution Management Association. In 2010, Pat received the Earl E. Congdon, Jr. Award For Excellence In Highway Freight Transportation from the North Carolina Transportation Hall of Fame.

Pat serves on the board of the N.C. Logistics Task Force, a position appointed by N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue. She also serves on the advisory board of the UNC Global Research Institute and is chairman of the board of governors of the Brier Creek Country Club and the Hasentree Club, vice chairman of the Centennial Authority Public Relations Committee, and vice president of the George A. Kahdy Scholarship Endowment Fund for Enloe High School. Among Pat’s numerous awards and honors are the American Trucking Associations’ Federation Star Award, INC. magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing Companies, the Triangle Business Journal Women in Business Award, the Pinnacle Award, the Isaac Hunter Excellence in Service Award and Business Leader magazine’s IMPACT 100 award.

Success Story

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue and Dept. of Commerce Sec. Keith Crisco took part in an exciting press conference held in 2010 to announce business development opportunities for exhibitors at Suzhou Industrial Park International Commodities Exhibition Center in Suzhou, China. The Exhibition Center launch received media coverage from multiple television stations, newspapers and other media outlets.

This announcement occurred on the first anniversary of a business delegation visit to China in 2009 by Gov. Perdue, Commerce Sec. Crisco and other leaders in North Carolina to encourage more trade between the state and China. In recent years, China has imported billions of dollars’ worth of North Carolina goods, making it the state’s second-largest trade partner after Canada.

Deputy Secretary Yang Jianzhong of the CPC Suzhou Industry Park Working Committee and vice chairman of the Administrative Committee, as well as Louis Lu, CEO of SeAll, have both publicly welcomed the establishment of the Suzhou Industrial Park International Commodities Exhibition Center as a major gateway for American businesses to use to sell their products easily in a market that has been challenging to enter until now.

Watch Our Press Conference Here