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2009/CTI2/GOS/SEM/010

Speakers

Submitted by: APEC Secretariat

/ Seminar on Commercial Realities of Cross-Border Services Trade
Singapore
20 May 2009

Speakers

Rhonda BASSETT

Ms. Rhonda Bassett is Director, Delivery & Enablement, Oracle University, APC. Rhonda Bassett manages the Asia Pacific Oracle University Delivery Practice which has the responsiblity for the premier delivery of training for all Oracle technologies and products across the region. Within Asia Pacific, Oracle University offers training in over 14 countries utilising multiple languages and delivery methods. These methods allow customers to gain access to expert training at Oracle University’s live or virtual education centres, or through an extensive network of authorized training partners. Prior to her current role, she was responsible for the Australasian Oracle University Delivery Practice and co-ordinated the Oracle Core Technology Curriculum within Asia Pacific. She has more than 15 years of technology and software training experience and 30 years as an Education Practitioner.

Stephen W. BRAIM

Mr Braim leads IBM’s Governmental Programs division, with dedicated teams in 10 Asia Pacific economies driving public policy engagement across e-government, industry development, IT standards, innovation and skills, e-business regulation and services trade. Mr Braim is also IBM’s Export Regulation Executive for Asia Pacific.

Prior to joining IBM in 1998, Stephen was the Manager of Regulatory Affairs for New T&T Hong Kong. He regularly published articles in the Hong Kong Economic Journal and the Telecommunications Policy Journal focusing on telecommunications reform and information economy policy development.

Before moving to Hong Kong, Stephen spent several years with the Victorian State Government in Australia. First as a Senior Policy Adviser in the Office of Communications and Multimedia in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and then as Manager Strategic Planning in the Department of State and Regional Development. Stephen was co-author of the Victorian Government’s IT and Information Economy Policy – the Victorian 21 Strategy.

Stephen was a Senior Research Fellow for a number of years at the Centre for International Research on Communication and Information Technologies and a member of the teaching staff in the Department of Economics at Melbourne University. In 2003 – 2004 Mr Braim was on the Board of Directors and Vice President of the National Press Club in Australia and the Board of Directors of the Thai Life Sciences Centre of Excellence in Bangkok.

Mr Braim has strong first hand knowledge across Asia Pacific having lived and worked (public policy and government relations) in Hong Kong, Seoul South Korea, Australia and now New Delhi, India.

Mr Braim is currently on the Board of Directors of the US/Asean Business Council and he is based out of New Delhi -- India

Tokuro FURUYA

Mr. Tokuro Furuya currently serves as Director, Services Trade Division of the Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Furuya has held numerous senior positions during his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs including Deputy Director and Senior Coordinator of Services Trade Division, Principal Deputy Director of Middle East Division and Principal Deputy Director of Press Division. Mr. Furuya holds a M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Stanford University.

Jacob Funk Kirkegaard

Jacob Funk Kirkegaard has been a research fellow at the Institute since 2002. Before joining the Institute, he worked with the Danish Ministry of Defense, the United Nations in Iraq, and in the private financial sector. He is a graduate of the Danish Army's Special School of Intelligence and Linguistics with the rank of first lieutenant; the University of Aarhus in Aarhus, Denmark; and Columbia University in New York. He is author of The Accelerating Decline in America's High-Skilled Workforce: Implications for Immigration Policy (2007) and coauthor of US Pension Reform: Lessons from Other Countries (2009) and Transforming the European Economy (2004) and assisted with Accelerating the Globalization of America: The Role for Information Technology (2006). His current research focuses on European economies and reform, pension systems and accounting rules, demographics, offshoring, high-skilled immigration, and the impact of information technology.

Roy Chun LEE

Dr. Roy Chun Lee is currently an Associate Research Fellow at the Taiwan WTO Center at Chung Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) in Taipei. Mr. Lee is an expert in trade in services, communications convergence, and regulatory and competition policy. He has previously served on Chinese Taipei’s trade in services delegation to the WTO and has consulted on numerous assignments related to telecommunications services, including with the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council and Australian National University. Mr. Lee holds a PhD in Public Policy from Australian National University.

Christopher MELLY

Christopher Melly is Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Services. Mr. Melly is responsible for all trade matters concerning services and leads the U.S. services team in negotiations under the World Trade Organization and in bilateral free trade agreements. Mr. Melly joined the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in 2003 as Director, Services Trade Negotiations, following several years of related experience on services and investment matters with the U.S. International Trade Commission. Prior to entering government service, Mr. Melly conducted management research at the World Bank and performed health care industry research in the private sector. Mr. Melly has a M.A. in Business Administration from Georgetown University and a B.A. in History from Cornell University.

Noriyuki MITA

Director, Economic Partner Division, Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan

Steven R. OKUN

Steven R. Okun serves as Vice President for Public Affairs for UPS in Asia Pacific. In this capacity, Mr. Okun represents UPS before the governments of the region, and focuses on matters concerning international aviation and trade, and competition.

Mr. Okun also serves as Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, a position to which he was elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2009. He has been on its Board of Governors since 2006.

Prior to his posting in Singapore in 2003, Mr. Okun worked in the Washington, DC office of UPS. In particular, he coordinated UPS’ efforts to obtain international aviation rights, including the successful efforts in which UPS obtained its initial authority from the US government to serve China.

From 1994 to 1999, Mr. Okun served in the Administration of President Bill Clinton at the Department of Transportation, where he served as Deputy General Counsel and Aviation Advisor to the Secretary. During his tenure, he received the Secretary’s Award for Special Service Commendation.

In recognition of his work on China matters, Mr. Okun was selected to serve as one of the 24 inaugural delegates to the National Committee on US-China Relation’s Young Leaders’ Forum. He was also selected as the inaugural Co-Chair of the 21st Century Leaders program of the Boao Forum for Asia, and has been a member of the American-Australian Leadership Dialogue.

Mr. Okun has a leadership role in UPS’ corporate social responsibility efforts on projects throughout Asia. He also assists non-governmental organizations in Cambodia and Laos.

In 2009, Mr. Okun served as the US industry representative on the US government’s delegation to the 6th annual APEC Transport Ministerial, where he gave a keynote presentation. He will also give speeches at the APEC Supply Chain Connectivity Symposium and the APEC STAR VII Conference.

In addition to serving in the Clinton Administration, Mr. Okun has been active in Democratic politics since 1988. During the 2008 campaign, Mr. Okun helped organize and host two “Americans in Singapore for Obama” events.

A native of Chicago, IL, Mr. Okun is a graduate of the University of Virginia (1988) and the University of Virginia School of Law (1991), where he was a member on the Editorial Board of The Journal of Law and Politics. He, his wife Paige and sons Bennett and Mason reside in Singapore.

Edward SULIKOWSKI

Edward Sulikowski is Director, Services Trade Negotiations in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has responsibility for WTO services negotiations and is also involved on services in a number of free trade agreements that Australia is negotiating. Before taking up his present position, Mr Sulikowski was Counsellor at the Australian Mission in Geneva with responsibility for services negotiations, investment, competition policy and e-commerce. Prior to that, he was Director of DFAT’s Trade Policy Section working on a range of multilateral and regional trade policy issues. Mr Sulikowski has also served as Counsellor (Economic) at the Australian Embassy in Beijing.

Alan TURLEY

Alan Turley is the Vice President for International Affairs in Asia Pacific for FedEx Express.

Prior to joining FedEx, Mr. Turley spent 16 years with the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce. In his last assignment with CS Mr. Turley was Minister-Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, were he oversaw a team of 51 officers, specialists and support staff in five locations in Japan. From 1996 to 2000, Mr. Turley served as Minister-Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Turley also served as Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the American Institute in Taiwan and as the Director of the Commercial Service's International Marketing Center at the U.S. Embassy in London.

Alan Turley was educated in public schools in Cheshire Connecticut and was graduated from the University of Virginia with High Honors in 1983. After receiving his B.A., Mr. Turley spent two years studying Chinese in Taiwan at National Taiwan Normal University's Mandarin Training Center. During that time he also traveled extensively throughout Asia.

Lee TUTHILL

Lee Tuthill has worked in the Trade in Services Division of the WTO, and its predecessor the GATT, since 1990. During this time, she has been responsible for telecommunications, computer and IT services and services-related aspects of Electronic Commerce. From 1994 to 1997, she was Secretary to the Group charged with the negotiations on basic telecoms. She was also Secretary to the dispute settlement panel on the telecom case concerning the U.S. and Mexico, whose findings were issued in April 2004. She represents the WTO at meetings related to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) as well as meetings and conferences of the ITU, OECD and other regional and international organizations dealing with ICT issues.

Prior to joining the WTO, Ms. Tuthill worked for several years as an economist covering GATT affairs and other international economic policy issues in Washington, D.C. She attended Columbia University in New York and was graduated from it's School of International and Public Affairs in 1980.

Dr. Mona Dumlao-VALISNO

Undersecretary, Office of the Presidential Assistant for Education, Philippines

Gillian VIRATA

Gillian is Executive Director for Information and Research, Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP). She is responsible for BPAP’s research service line which involves providing industry statistics and information to the public. Tasks include the publication of annual industry statistics on talent pools, IT-BPO revenues and employment, and the resulting benefits to the country. The research team will also take charge of compiling the Next Wave Cities™ scorecard and annual risk report and the latest industry trends.

Gillian has extensive professional experience in world-class research with reputable institutions and has been educated in reputable institutions in the Philippines and the United States.

  • Research Consultant with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank on social development issues in developing countries
  • Senior Business Communicator for Stakeholder Relations, Ayala Corporation
  • Executive Director, C. Virata & Associates
  • University of the Philippines, AB Philosophy (Magna Cum Laude)
  • Columbia University, MA Education
  • George Washington University, Master in International Policy and Practice

About BPAP - BPAP), a private-sector led organization representing sectors of business process outsourcing and IT-enabled services industry in the country, serves as the one-stop information and advocacy gateway for the various sectors of contact centers; back-office outsourcing; medical and legal transcription; software applications, development and maintenance; animation; engineering and design delivery services; and other allied support services.