AAP 2022 Virtual Door Knock Kick-Off on APEC and the Indo-Pacific Strategy

Event Details

AAP will kick-off its 2022 Virtual Door Knock with a session with Melissa Brown, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and Matt Murray, US Senior Official for APEC.

This AAP series is designed to give the member of the AmChams of Asia Pacific direct access to the decision and policy makers and thought leaders on what is happening in Washington, DC, as well as to give the members the opportunity to give their first-hand perspective on what is happening in the region.

This event will lick-off with a discussion on the US government's overall Indo-Pacific Strategy. We will then move to a discussion on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, followed by an update from Matt who can discuss the state of APEC 2022, hosted by Thailand, and an initial discussion on the US hosting APEC in 2023.

The event is for AmCham members only, pre-registration is required, and the discussion is off-the-record.
ZOOM Meeting link will be sent 24-48 hours prior to the event date

Speakers

Melissa A. Brown

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State,Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at U.S. Department of State

Matt Murray

Senior Official for APEC at U.S. Department of State

Steven Okun

Chair at AmChams of Asia-Pacific and Senior Advisor, McLarty Associates

Melissa A. Brown is the Deputy Assistant Secretary with responsibility for the Office of Mainland Southeast Asia Affairs and the Office of Maritime Southeast Asia Affairs.

From 2019 to 2021, Melissa served as the Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., at the U.S. Mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she led an unprecedented expansion of U.S. engagement with ASEAN, as well as efforts to mobilize ASEAN to resolve the political crisis in Burma. Previously, Melissa was the Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs at U.S. Embassy Singapore from 2016 to 2019, where she also served as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission for one year and oversaw execution of the historic 2018 U.S.-DPRK Singapore Summit.

A Southeast Asia expert with a strong trade policy background, Melissa was previously assigned to Jakarta, Indonesia, as the Trade and Investment Unit Chief in U.S. Embassy Jakarta’s Economic Section. In Washington, she was also detailed to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and served on the U.S. State Department’s Vietnam Desk. Her earlier overseas diplomatic assignments included: Port Louis, Mauritius, and Bangkok, Thailand.

Before joining the Foreign Service, Melissa was a corporate legal assistant. A graduate of Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Melissa grew up in New Jersey and Jakarta, Indonesia. She speaks Indonesian and French and has studied Khmer (Cambodian) and Hungarian.

Matt Murray was appointed as the U.S. Senior Official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in February 2022. In this role, he coordinates U.S. participation in APEC and also oversees the Office of Economic Policy in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Prior to his current assignment, Matt led the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (EB) as Senior Bureau Official from August 2021 to January 2022, and he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Trade Policy and Negotiations from September 2020 to August 2021.

Matt has focused on U.S. economic engagement with the Asia Pacific region throughout his State Department career, including as Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, and Special Assistant for East Asian and Pacific issues in the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment.

Matt is a Senior Foreign Service Officer who also has served overseas in Beijing, Shanghai, Dar es Salaam and New Delhi and in Washington, D.C. as Director of the 24/7 Watch in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He has master’s degrees from the U.S. Army War College and the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s degree from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.

The Founder and CEO of APAC Advisors, Mr. Okun is widely considered a leader on corporate public affairs, sustainability and stakeholder engagement in the Asia Pacific region. He is also the ASEAN representative for the Emerging Market Private Equity Association (EMPEA).

Living and working in Singapore since 2003, Mr. Okun created and led Asia Pacific public affairs for both global investment firm KKR and global logistics firm UPS, as well as being a leader of multiple business chambers and industry associations, including having been elected three times each as Chairman of both the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and the Asia Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce (APCAC). He remains on the boards of both.

As KKR’s first Director of Asia Pacific Public Affairs, Mr. Okun’s responsibilities encompassed government affairs, communications, stakeholder engagement and environmental and social responsibility issues for KKR, as well as in supporting those efforts for its portfolio companies across the region.

In particular, his responsibilities included working on Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) initiatives. Also, he created and led KKR’s impact investing pro bono program, a model for strategic philanthropic engagement for which KKR was awarded the Gold Standard Award for Corporate Citizenship by PublicAffairsAsia.

Mr. Okun led UPS Asia’s public affairs matters on aviation, competition and trade from 2003 until 2010, and before that worked in UPS’ Washington, DC office. He was instrumental in UPS Airlines obtaining it first-ever authority to operate in China in 2001.

Mr. Okun served in the Administration of President Bill Clinton as Deputy General Counsel at the US Department of Transportation, being at the Department from 1994 to 1999. For his public service, he was awarded the Secretary’s Award for Special Service Commendation.

He represents and advocates the views of the US business community in Asia, including as a periodic guest host on CNBC. A sought after expert on public affairs, he speaks frequently in the media, at universities, businesses and conferences across the region, as well as is the author of numerous articles.

Mr. Okun received his BA from the University of Virginia and his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.

AmCham Member

Employees in member company and part of the membership roster

Member PriceComplimentary

Member Company

Employees in member company but not in the membership roster

Standard PriceComplimentary

Organizers

Connect with 79 people attending this event

EMNBDK

The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore

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