[Free] V&P Political Briefing: Change or Continuity? – The Southeast Asia State of Play | The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore on Glue Up

Event Details

Join us for a lunch briefing as we take a deep dive into the political and economic state of play around the region, and discuss the policy and business implications of key developments – including the shifting U.S. election dynamics on Southeast Asia, the impact of Thaksin's forthcoming release on Thai politics, the results of Indonesia's Presidential Elections, as well as the growing rift within the Philippines' ruling alliance.

Agenda

12:00pm -12:45pm - Registration & Lunch

12:45pm - Start of Event

12:45pm -12:50pm - AmCham Opening & Introduction of Speakers & Moderator

12:50pm - 2:00pm - Panel Discussion Moderated by Hans + Audience Q&A

2:00pm - AmCham Closing & End of Event

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Speakers

Elaine Collado

Country Director, Philippines of Vriens & Partners

Amb. William Heidt

Senior Director, Washington DC of Vriens & Partners

Jeremy Mullins

Country Director, Myanmar and Co-Country Director, Thailand of Vriens & Partners

Samuel Pursch

Director, Vietnam of Vriens & Partners

Yuen Sin

Associate Director of Vriens & Partners Pte Ltd

Brasukra Gumilang Sudjana

Senior Director, Indonesia of Vriens & Partners

Tim Van Der Lee

Senior Associate, Myanmar at Vriens & Partners

Hans Vriens

Managing Partner at Vriens & Partners

Nazhif Yusoff

Country Director, Malaysia of Vriens & Partners

Elaine leads Vriens & Partners’ Philippines-focused work, providing insights on political dynamics in the Philippines and developing government affairs strategies to advance the market entry, operation, and expansion goals of Vriens & Partners’ clients. She has over 16 years of experience in the field, leading high-level consultations with senior government officials, business leaders, foreign business chambers, and NGOs on a broad range of public policy issues, including those related to internet technology and regulation, e-commerce and fast-moving consumer goods, investment liberalization, public-private partnerships, constitutional change, and governance reform.

Prior to working with Vriens & Partners, Elaine served as Executive Director for the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Absentee Voting, Director for Legislative Affairs to a Senator of the Philippines, and Chief of Staff to a Member of the House of Representatives. She helmed the development of landmark legislation that established an automated voting system in the Philippine elections and has advised principals during Congressional sessions and Legislative Executive
Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meetings at the Office of the President.

Elaine was also Senior Competition Policy Specialist and Team Leader for trade- and infrastructurerelated development projects under the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

Before joining the public sector, Elaine practiced corporate law, specializing on mergers and acquisitions, project finance, and civil litigation in the law offices of SyCip Salazar Hernandez &
Gatmaitan.

She earned her undergraduate degree from Ateneo de Manila University and her law degree from the University of the Philippines. Her research on constitutional law has been published in the Philippine Law Journal, and she has been a member of the Philippine Bar since 2002.

Bill is Senior Director and lead of Vriens & Partners’ presence in Washington, DC. In this capacity, Bill manages the firm’s relationships with the U.S. Government, supports our clients in Washington and in Southeast Asia, and works alongside our partner firm The Scowcroft Group.

Bill is a recognized expert on international trade, investment, and development policy. He served multiple assignments ASEAN countries during his 35-year Foreign Service career and was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia from 2015 to 2018.  During his tenure, Bill launched initiatives to expand trade
and investment between the U.S. and Cambodia, strengthen respect for human rights and democracy, build Cambodia’s nascent technology sector, and empower Cambodia’s women entrepreneurs.

Prior to his service in Cambodia, Bill served as Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment at the Department of State. In that role, Bill helped shape U.S. global engagement on international economic, energy, and environmental issues, including Secretarial
initiatives on wildlife trafficking, ocean conservation, and economic diplomacy.

Bill’s other overseas Foreign Service tours include assignments in Jakarta, Indonesia; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Warsaw, Poland and Poznan, Poland.  In Jakarta, Bill served successive tours from 2000-07 as Finance and Development Officer and then as Economic Counselor.  Earlier in his career, Bill was awarded the joint Department of State-Department of Labor “Excellence in Labor Diplomacy” award in recognition of his outstanding work in support of workers’ rights and independent trade unions in
Cambodia. Bill also completed domestic economic policy assignments in Washington and at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York.

After his completing his assignment as Ambassador, Bill served as Deputy Commandant and International Affairs Advisor at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, a component of the National Defense University. 

Billis holds a B.A. in Foreign Service and International Politics from the Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. in International Relations from George Washington University. He and his wife live in Arlington, Virginia and have one son.

Jeremy is Country Director of Vriens & Partners’ Yangon office. He leads and manages advisory services for Clients, providing insight on Myanmar political dynamics and developing government affairs strategies. He has worked in Myanmar for six years as a consultant, journalist and market researcher, including as business editor of The Myanmar Times newspaper and managing director of FMR Research. Previous focuses include the energy, real estate and finance sectors, and he has travelled through much of the country on assignment. This varied experienced in Myanmar has enabled Jeremy to build a strong understanding of local political and business dynamics, while developing a strong network of key contracts.

Outside of Myanmar, Jeremy previously worked as Southeast Asia correspondent based in Bangkok for an international news agency and as a newspaper reporter in Cambodia, beginning in 2009. He has a bachelor’s degree in Qualitative Economics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada.

Samuel Pursch is Associate Director in Vriens & Partners’ Hanoi office where he advises international blue-chip firms on Vietnam’s regulatory and commercial context.

Prior to joining Vriens’ & Partners in 2018, Samuel was co-founder and director of Andaman Research & Advisory, a socio-economic research and political risk advisory firm based in Yangon, Myanmar. From Andaman’s founding in 2015, Samuel managed projects for clients including international hydropower and mobile finance investors, The World Bank, and a range of international NGOs. Andaman’s work ranged from detailed stakeholder assessments to field research activities, including large-scale surveys, to policy recommendations for international actors working to address Myanmar’s myriad development challenges.

While in Myanmar, Samuel co-authored for several World Bank reports, including a Policy Research Paper on Myanmar’s Social Transformation. He was also a contributing author to several subscription-based analysis services. Earlier, Samuel was based in London where he worked in political risk for boutique consultancies focused on West Africa and Southeast Asia.

Samuel holds a master’s degree in War Studies: Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London, and a BA in International Politics from The George Washington University. He was a visiting student at Pembroke College, Oxford University.

Yuen Sin is a Senior Associate at Vriens & Partners’ head office in Singapore, where she mainly supports the firm’s Singapore-focused technology and healthcare clients.

Before joining Vriens & Partners, Yuen Sin was a Political Correspondent at The Straits Times, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), reporting on policy and political developments in Singapore and the region as well as covering high-profile news events. Prior to that, she was a reporter at the Enterprise and Education desks.

Yuen Sin graduated from the University of York with a bachelor’s degree in English and Related Literature (First Class Honours) and holds a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She was a recipient of the SPH Journalism Scholarship (Overseas Undergraduate).

Brasukra G. Sudjana (Brava) is a Senior Director of Vriens & Partners’ Jakarta office, where he leads and supports client and project management, as well as provides strategic advice on relevant government affairs and public policy issues.

Brava has more than 20 years of experience in public policy, stakeholder engagement strategy, and trade negotiations. He has worked for development and international organizations, as well as the private sector, focusing on economic and trade policies, sustainable economy, and digital economy in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

Prior to joining Vriens & Partners, Brava served as Assistant Director for External Economic Relations at the ASEAN Secretariat, where he facilitated negotiations for the upgrade of the ASEAN-Australia New Zealand Free Trade Area and the implementation of other ASEAN FTAs. He also supported negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Brava was previously Director and Country Representative at Asia Group Advisors, where he led strategic advisory and government relations work across a diverse range of sectors.

Brava was also a World Bank economist and worked for the British Embassy, the United Nations Development Programme , and the Asia Foundation, focusing on climate change and economic projects, private sector development, and trade and investment policies.

Brava has master’s degrees in economics from the University of Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne and Southern Illinois University.

Tim is Country Director of Vriens & Partners’ Yangon Office, where he manages government affairs and political risk projects. Tim has been living and working in Myanmar off and on since 2016.

Before joining Vriens & Partners, Tim worked as a lawyer, initially with a major international Dutch law firm, and subsequently with a regional firm in Myanmar. He formed part of the legal team that successfully acted for the Urgenda foundation in the landmark Dutch climate change case in 2019. Tim has also spent six months as a Research Associate with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Yangon in 2016.

Tim holds a bachelor’s degree and a 2-year research master’s degree in Law from Utrecht University, as well as degrees from King’s College, Cambridge (Examination in Law for European Students) and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (LL.M.).

Hans is the founder and Managing Partner of Vriens & Partners, the leading government affairs, public policy and political risk analysis firm around Southeast Asia. It is headquartered in Singapore and has more than 90 staff and 30 senior counselors around the region. The firm has offices in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines, and Cambodia.

Hans has lived and worked in Asia since 1990. He is a regular commentator on regional issues. Prior to establishing V&P, Hans was Vice Chairman, Asia at APCO Worldwide. He set up and served as Managing Director of the Indonesia practice for six years.

Prior to this he worked as a political economist at the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong. Earlier he practiced law in the M&A practice at Clifford Chance and was the Asia correspondent for a leading Dutch financial and economic daily. In 1995, he was elected president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club Hong Kong, then the largest in the world.

Hans serves on the Board of Trustees of the Foundation of UWCSEA. He was a founding member of the Europe ASEAN Business Alliance, Chairman of the Foundation Dutch Education at UWCSEA, board member of Eurocham, and founding chairman of DutchCham in SG.

Hans graduated from law school in civil and public law at Groningen University in the Netherlands. During his studies, he was a research assistant in European parliamentary history and public law. In 1982 he took a year off from his studies when he was elected Senatus Rector of the Student Union (VAP).

Hans studied at the Bologna Center of the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University. He also did stints at the Universities of Grenoble in France, and Krakow in Poland.

His family lived in Batavia, Semarang and on Biak off Papua in the Dutch East Indies for several generations until the handover of Papua in 1962. He is married to Katy le Blanc. They have two sons.

Nazhif Yusoff is Country Director at Vriens & Partners’ Kuala Lumpur office. With the team, he consults for clients from various verticals such as technology, healthcare, transportation and tourism, helping them develop their government relations strategy.

Previously, Nazhif was with the trade and investment team at Malaysia Petroleum Resources Corporation, an agency under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. At MPRC, he developed the agency’s database of export opportunities for Malaysian oil and gas services and equipment manufacturing companies. He also connected Malaysian oil and gas companies with opportunities in Southeast Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East through the organization of trade and specialized marketing missions.

Nazhif was also a fellow under the two-year Teach for Malaysia program, which places young leaders as teachers in high-need schools throughout the country. He taught English and Malaysian History at Alor Pongsu, Perak. There, he also initiated partnerships with corporate partners, constituency leaders and NGOs to run specialized academic performance improvement programs.

Nazhif earned a Bachelor of Science degree, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington D.C., majoring in Regional and Comparative Studies (Middle East and Asia). He was a recipient of the Malaysian Public Service Department’s Overseas Degree Program scholarship. He also holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (History) from the Northern University of Malaysia (UUM). In his spare time, he indulges in cooking and Arabic calligraphy.

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[Free] V&P Political Briefing: Change or Continuity? – The Southeast Asia State of Play

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