2024 AmCham Singapore Regional Economic Conference

Event Details

Join AmCham Singapore for an in-person Regional Economic Conference as we mark the 20th anniversary of the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement in a U.S. Presidential Election year.

The conference will bring together Singaporean, regional and U.S. stakeholders to foster discussions focused on trade expansion and liberalization to support a free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific region.

Speakers include:

Mr. Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister, Singapore
Ms. Rebecca Liebert, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Lubrizol Corporation
Ambassador Yohannes A. Abraham, U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN
Ambassador Jonathan Kaplan, U.S. Ambassador to Singapore, U.S. Embassy Singapore
Mr. Lim Tuang Liang, Government Chief Sustainability Officer and Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, Singapore
Mr. Timothy Chin, Senior Director, Americas Division, Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI)
Mr. Casey Mace, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Singapore
Ms. Quah Ley Hoon, Group Chief Corporate Officer, CapitaLand Investment
Dr. Taimur Baig, Managing Director and Chief Economist, DBS
Prof. Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore and Chief Negotiator of the U.S.-SG FTA
Mr. Ralph F. Ives, Senior Advisor, Advamed
Mr. Samuel Chan, Vice President, Head of AgriFood and Head of Americas, Singapore Economic Development Board
Mr. Frederic Neumann, Chief Asia Economist, Co-head, Global Research, Asia, Managing Director, HSBC
Dr. Faizal Bin Yahya, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies
Mr. Kishore Mahbubani, Distinguished Fellow, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Mr. Hans Vriens, Founder and Managing Partner, Vriens & Partners
Mr. Tibor Pandi, Singapore Citi Country Officer and Banking Head, Citi
Ms. Seok Hoon Chia, Head of Global Network Banking, Singapore, Citi
Ms. Nydia Ngiow, Managing Director, Singapore, BowerGroupAsia
Ms. Claudia Chan, Senior Director, Public Policy - ASEAN & South Pacific, The Coca-Cola Company

More speakers to come.

Corporate tables (10 seats per table) are available at $5,800 each. Please email us at pe@amcham.com.sg to find out more about corporate table benefits.

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Lee-Mey Goh, Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships & Development.

*Conference agenda is subject to changes by the organizer.

Please note the following details:

The event is held under the Chatham House Rule https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/chatham-house-rule
Images from the event may be used for AmCham Singapore's post-event information, marketing and promotional purposes.
The personal information provided to us will only be used for event registration and administration.

By registering for this event, you agree and consent to the above.

* For any enquires please contact the AmCham Programming and Events Team at pe@amcham.com.sg.

Cancellation Policy:

Individual tickets: You may request to cancel your registration 7 working days or more prior to the event date. Full payment will be required for any cancellations or no shows thereafter. Replacements will be accepted.
Corporate Tables: No cancellation once invoice has been issued. Replacements will be accepted.

Kindly make payment for your ticket upon confirmation of your registration. By paying for your ticket before the event, you help make sure that AmCham can continue to offer meaningful programming for our members.

Speakers

Heng Swee Keat

Singapore Deputy Prime Minister

Ambassador Jonathan Kaplan

U.S. Ambassador to Singapore at U.S. Embassy, Singapore

Rebecca Liebert

President and Chief Executive Officer at The Lubrizol Corporation

DCM Casey Mace

Deputy Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassy, Singapore

Lim Tuang Liang

Government Chief Sustainability Officer & Deputy Secretary (Special Duties) at Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment

Ambassador Yohannes A. Abraham

U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN

Dr. Faizal Bin Yahya

Senior Research Fellow at Institute of Policy Studies

Quah Ley Hoon

Group Chief Corporate Officer at CapitaLand Investment

Claudia Chan

Senior Director, Public Policy - ASEAN & South Pacific of The Coca-Cola Company

Dr. Taimur Baig

Managing Director and Chief Economist, Group Research of DBS Bank

Samuel Chan

Vice President, Head of Agrifood and Head of Americas at Singapore Economic Development Board

Seok Hoon Chia

Head of Global Network Banking, Singapore at Citi

Timothy Chin

Senior Director, Americas Division of Ministry of Trade & Industry (MTI)

Ralph F. Ives

Senior Advisor at AdvaMed

Kishore Mahbubani

Distinguished Fellow at Asia Research Institute, National University of SIngapore

Dr. Frederic Neumann

Chief Asia Economist, Co-head, Global Research Asia, Managing Director of HSBC

Nydia Ngiow

Managing Director, Singapore of BowerGroupAsia Singapore

Tibor Pandi

Singapore Citi Country Officer and Banking Head at Citi

Hans Vriens

Managing Partner at Vriens & Partners

Mr Heng Swee Keat is Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister.

Mr Heng chairs the tripartite Future Economy Council which oversees the on-going restructuring of Singapore’s economy, through upgrading the skills of workers and transformation of industry, to create better career prospects for Singaporeans. He leads a team to oversee the design and implementation of national strategies in areas such as skills and capabilities development, innovation and productivity as well as the internationalisation of companies.

He is also the Chairman of the National Research Foundation, which sets the direction for Singapore's research, innovation and enterprise (RIE) strategies. Mr Heng is overseeing the closer integration of Singapore’s RIE and industry transformation efforts.

Mr Heng served as Minister for Education from 2011 to 2015. He also led the year-long Our Singapore Conversation from 2012 that helped to engage more than 47,000 Singaporeans from all walks of life through dialogues.

He also served as Minister for Finance from 2015 to 2021, overseeing ten national Budgets including an unprecedented five Budgets to support Singaporeans and businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Mr Heng has an MA in Economics from Cambridge University. He also holds a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Ambassador Kaplan is a prominent executive, entrepreneur, and philanthropist whose career has spanned numerous industries. He was the co-founder and Chairperson of EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit organization that brought high-speed internet to more than 49 million children in K-12 classrooms nationwide. Professionally, Ambassador Kaplan is best known for founding Pure Digital Technologies and inventing its revolutionary Flip video camera. In 2009, Cisco bought Pure Digital Technologies and he became Senior Vice President and General Manager of its Consumer Products Division.

Ambassador Kaplan was also the founding CEO of The Melt, a chain of fast-casual restaurants. Previously he was President and CEO of Sega.com and he was the founder and CEO of FamilyWonder, an entertainment and technology company.

Ambassador Kaplan was named Northern California 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and was named by Business Week among the Most Influential People on the Web in 2008. He earned a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University.

Rebecca Liebert is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Lubrizol Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway Company. She leads the premiere global specialty chemicals company in pursuing its mission to continually innovate, solve its customers' most complex challenges and help millions of people, communities and businesses around the globe move cleaner, create smarter and live better every day.

Prior to Lubrizol, Rebecca was Executive Vice President at PPG Industries, a global paint, coatings and specialty materials company. She joined the company in June 2018 leading the automative OEM coatings business, including the company's mobility initiatives. Her most recent responsibilities included leading PPG's global industrial segment, Asia Pacific region oversight, and functional responsibility for global procurement, resin and industrial segment manufacturing.

Prior to PPG, Rebecca served as President and CEO of Honeywell UOP, a leading international supplier to the petroleum refining, gas processing, petrochemical production and major manufacturing industries. During her career with Honeywell, she also served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, catalyst absorbents and specialties, UOP; Senior Vice President and General Manager, as processing and hydrogen; and Vice President and General Manager, electronics materials. Prior to joining Honeywell, Rebecca served as President of Reynolds Food Packaging, Alcoa KAMA.

Rebecca began her career as a Development Engineer with Nova Chemicals. She held several positions of increasing responsibility during her tenure at Nova.

Rebecca served on the board of the American Chemistry Council where she works to advance the chemical industry, fostering progress in our economy, environment and society. She also was elected to the highly esteemed National Academy of Engineering for her leadership in developing and executing innovative initiatives to strengthen and advance the manufacturing industry.

Rebecca earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky; a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University; and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Casey Mace began his assignment as the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the Embassy of the United States to the Republic of Singapore in July 2022. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Mr. Mace has worked for the U.S. Department of State for over twenty years, primarily focused on U.S. relations in the Indo-Pacific.

Mr. Mace last worked on U.S.-Singapore relations at the White House, where he served for two years on the National Security Council staff as the principal Southeast Asia advisor to President Obama and President Trump. In that role, he led U.S. government preparations for the historic 2016 U.S.-ASEAN Special Leaders’ Summit in Sunnylands, CA and for the State Visit of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to Washington to celebrate 50 years of U.S.-Singapore relations. Immediately prior to his arrival in Singapore, Mr. Mace served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. at the U.S. Embassy in Luxembourg from 2019-2022. Earlier in his career, Mr. Mace served as the Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Political Unit Chief in the State Department’s China office, and the Deputy Secretary of State’s Special Assistant for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Mr. Mace has also served at the American Consulates in Sydney and Guangzhou.

Before joining the State Department, Mr. Mace worked for a consultancy in the Space and Telecom industries. Mr. Mace earned a bachelors degree from Georgetown University, and he has studied Bahasa Indonesia and Mandarin Chinese for his career. He and his wife, Anne, have four children.

As GCSO, Mr Lim is responsible for coordinating the Singapore Government’s sustainability efforts to realise a sustainable, resource-efficient and climate-resilient Singapore.

He oversees the Public Sector Sustainability Office (PSSO), Sustainability Partnerships Office (SPO), and the Sustainability Training Development Group (STDG) at the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, which work with public sector agencies to develop and coordinate strategies and capability development for GreenGov.SG.

He also spearheads the Government’s partnership stakeholders, including businesses, civil society partners and individuals, to advance Singapore’s national sustainability agenda.

Mr Lim holds a concurrent appointment as Deputy Secretary (Special Duties) at the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, where he oversees the Science and Technology Planning Division.

Yohannes Abraham was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on September 19, 2022, after being unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Prior to assuming this position, Abraham served as Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary of the U.S. National Security Council (NSC). In this role, he oversaw NSC operations, the facilitation of the national security policy process, the White House Situation Room, and planning for President Biden's diplomatic engagements at home and abroad.

Before joining the NSC, Abraham was the Executive Director of the Biden-Harris Transition. Alongside current White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and former Senator Ted Kaufman, Abraham managed all aspects of transition planning and execution, including national security, economic, and domestic policy planning teams and the Cabinet selection process.

Abraham served in several White House roles during the Obama-Biden Administration, including as Senior Advisor to the National Economic Council and as Deputy Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement. He later helped set up the Obama Foundation as interim Chief Operating Officer. Abraham has also worked in the Vanguard Group's global investment unit and taught at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

A native of Springfield, Virginia, Abraham holds a BA from Yale College and an MBA with High Distinction from Harvard Business School.

Ley Hoon is the Group Chief Corporate Officer at CapitaLand Investment (CLI), responsible for Talent & Culture, Organisational Transformation, Legal and Corporate Secretariat, Procurement, Administration, and Group Communications. Ley Hoon also oversees government relations across the Group. Prior to her current appointment, Ley Hoon was the Chief People & Culture Officer at CLI.

Prior to CLI, Ley Hoon was the Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority Singapore (MPA) from January 2019 to September 2022, responsible for the smooth operation of Singapore as a transhipment and bunkering hub. She led MPA through its digitalisation and decarbonisation transformation, oversaw the construction of the Tuas Port Eco-system and navigated the maritime industry through the disruptions of COVID-19 pandemic including crew change.

Before that, Ley Hoon was with MediaCorp from 2013 to 2018 as Chief Editor in ChannelNewsAsia, where she oversaw the current affairs team producing programmes and documentaries covering local and global affairs, as well as international news for a year. Ley Hoon also has more than 15 years of work experience in the public sector, working in various ministries including the Ministry of Trade and Industry, then Ministry of the Environment, Prime Minister’s Office, then Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports, as well as Ministry of Finance.

Ley Hoon currently serves on the boards of CapitaLand China Trust (CLCT), SPH Media Holdings Pte Ltd, Real Tasty Pte Ltd and French Alumni (President). She has also served on the boards of Defence, Science & Technology Agency (DSTA), Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS), Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD), Singapore Trade Data Exchange Services Pte Ltd (SGTradex), Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA), Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF), Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) and Energy & Market Authority (EMA).

Ley Hoon was conferred the Knight of the French Order of the Legion of Honor (Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur) by the French government in 2022 and ranked Lloyd’s List Top 100 most influential people in shipping in 2021. She was also awarded May Day Medal of Commendation by NTUC in 2022, Aramco Trading New Silk Road CEO of the Year Award (Ports Category) in 2021, and Public Administration Medal (Silver) by the Singapore Government in 2017.

Ley Hoon holds a Master of Business Administration from IMD Business School in Switzerland, Master of Economics from the University of Pantheon Sorbonne in France, and a degree in Psychology from the University of Southern Queensland in Australia.

Claudia Chan is the Senior Director of Public Policy - ASEAN and South Pacific, at The Coca-Cola Company. She leads the company’s public policy engagement strategy across Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. She also represents the company in regional committee leadership roles at the US-ASEAN Business Council and the EU-ASEAN Business Council.

Prior to The Coca-Cola Company, Claudia held key government affairs and public policy roles at Amazon Web Services, SAP and Google, and she was also a Co-Chair for ICT industry committees in the US-ASEAN and EU-ASEAN Business Councils. Her early career consisted of regional trade and investment promotion roles with the governments of Singapore, Japan and New Zealand.

Claudia is passionate about public affairs and she serves annually as a judge for the Gold Standard Awards organized by PublicAffairsAsia and PRCA APAC.

Taimur Baig, Ph.D, heads global economics as well as macro strategy for interest rate, credit, and currency at DBS Group Research. He also advises the bank on risk management and investment strategy.

Prior to joining DBS in 2017, Dr. Baig was a Principal Economist at the Economic Policy Group, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Earlier, he spent nine years at Deutsche Bank's Singapore Office, where his last position was Managing Director and Chief Economist, Asia. During 1999-2007, he was based in Washington, DC, at the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund, where his last position was Senior Economist.

Dr. Baig has published extensively for both specialists and a general audience, on areas including monetary policy, digital currency, financial technology, climate change, demographics, frontier markets, fiscal policy efficacy, and financial market contagion. He is the host of "Kopi Time", a widely followed podcast series on markets and economies.

Dr. Baig is an Honorary Advisor to the Global CFO Network, Director Fellow at the Asian Financial Cooperation Association, and Council Member of the Economic Society of Singapore. Dr. Baig holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He attended London School of Economics and Wabash College for his B.A. in Economics.

Mr Samuel Chan is the Vice President and Head of Agrifood at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). He leads the development of the Agrifood ecosystem in Singapore, working with industry, academia, and government to spur economic growth, job creation and food resilience.

He is also the Head of Americas and leads EDB’s Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, and Washington DC offices in supporting companies as they establish and grow their operations in Asia.

Mr Chan joined EDB in 2011 and has worked in various roles including Cleantech and Infrastructure Planning and Policy. Prior to joining EDB, Samuel worked at Bain and Company Southeast Asia and at CMG Retail.

Mr Chan graduated from the Singapore Management University with a double degree in business and economics. He is also a Sloan Fellow with a Master of Business Administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mr Timothy Chin joined the Ministry of Trae and Industry in Jul 2022 as Senior Director/Americas. In this capacity, he formulates and executes strategies, policies and programmes related to Singapore's economic engagement of economies in North and Latin America. Mr Chin also oversees Government-to-Government agreements and plaforms, such as the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, and is the Deputy Chief Negotiator for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr Chin worked in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth Arts and Heritage Division, and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs including at the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta and High Commission in New Delhi. He has also worked at the Ministry of Education.

Mr Chin graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School with a Master of Public Administration. He also holds a Master of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Social and Political Science (Honours) from the University of Cambridge.

Ralph F. Ives is Executive Vice President of Global Strategy and Analysis, from August 2004 to 2022 Ives was responsible for the Association’s global efforts to provide adequate reimbursement, appropriate regulations, and open market access for medical technology products.

Ives was Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Asia-Pacific and APEC Affairs, and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Pharmaceutical Policy in the Executive Office of the President. Ives previously served as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Latin America (1993-96), Europe and the Mediterranean (1996-99), and Agriculture (1999-2000), and in various Director-level positions at USTR.

From 1974 until joining USTR in 1988, Ives was an international economist in various positions in the Department of Commerce.

From 1971-74, Ives was an officer in the U.S. Air Force.

Ives retired in 2022, while remaining a senior advisor to AdvaMed.

Kishore Mahbubani has dedicated five decades of his life to public service, for which he was conferred the Public Administration Medal (Gold) by the Singapore Government in 1998. In his 33 years as a Singapore diplomat, Kishore took on many challenging assignments, serving for example in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 1973-74 during the Cambodian Civil War. He also served two stints as Singapore’s Ambassador to the UN (1984-1989 and 1998-2004) and held the position of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1998.

Kishore had an equally illustrious career in academia. He was appointed the Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in August 2004. Despite his heavy administrative duties, Kishore proved to be a prolific author and has published ten books. His ninth book, The Asian 21st Century, is an open access volume which has been downloaded over 3.5 million times. His latest book, a memoir titled Living the Asian Century, was published in August 2024.

Kishore has been listed among the world’s top 100 public intellectuals by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines and among the Top 50 individuals who would shape the debate on the future of capitalism by the Financial Times. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in October 2019. More information can be found on http://www.mahbubani.net.

As Managing Director of BowerGroupAsia's Singapore office (BGA) since October 2021, Nydia Ngiow leverages extensive networks and a deep understanding of geopolitical risk to guide Fortune 500 clients, local start-ups, and industry associations. Nydia’s career spans over 15 years in international relations and trade, and she has a proven track record in managing complex regulatory and stakeholder engagement issues. She is dedicated to fostering global economic cooperation through effective government engagement.

Nydia’s years in BGA shows her excellence in client services, through her cultivation of strong relationships with corporate executives, government officials, and civil society experts. These have been instrumental in providing insightful analysis on AI, digitalization, sustainability, healthcare, and international trade policies. Under her leadership, the BGA Singapore office supported AmCham Singapore as a content and knowledge partner, publishing white papers on the U.S.-Singapore Partnership on Growth and Innovation as well as the chamber’s healthcare committee. BGA Singapore is also AmCham Singapore’s survey partner in better understanding the business impact of the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (USSFTA).

Nydia's expertise is widely recognized, having been quoted in leading news outlets like Bloomberg and The Straits Times, and featured on major news channels including Bloomberg Asia and ChannelNewsAsia. As an expert speaker and moderator, she has been a prominent voice at events hosted by AmCham Singapore, U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, and more. Her strategic acumen was also demonstrated at Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, where she worked with several government agencies to represent Singapore in bilateral and multilateral international trade negotiations.

Tibor Pandi is currently the Singapore Citi Country Officer and Banking Head. He was appointed the Citi Country Officer (CCO) for Singapore on February 1, 2023, and has oversight of businesses and operations in the country. He is responsible for driving overall franchise performance including fostering key client and regulatory relationships.

Prior to this, Tibor was the CCO for Thailand since September 1, 2017. He was also given the responsibility to drive the strategy and execution for the Corporate Bank that resulted in meaningful business growth and value-added client solutions.

Tibor joined Citi in 2001 as a Senior Relationship Manager with Citibank Hungary and moved on to hold various leadership roles including CCO for Romania, CCO for Romania & Bulgaria Cluster, as well as being the Banking Head for the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

Before joining Citi, he worked in a number of functions within ABN AMRO Bank in the Netherlands and Hungary. He holds a degree from the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and speaks English, Hungarian, German and Serbian.

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.