[Virtual] Southeast Asia Political & Economic Update

Event Details

Join us for a morning briefing as we discuss the latest political and economic developments around the region, including the latest from the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Phnom Penh.

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

Speakers

Elaine Collado

Country Director, Philippines of Vriens & Partners

Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

Senior Associate, Malaysia at Vriens & Partners

Piseth Keo

Associate Director, Cambodia of Vriens & Partners

Jeremy Mullins

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

Donna Priadi

Country Director, Indonesia of Vriens & Partners

Samuel Pursch

Director, Vietnam of Vriens & Partners

Yuen Sin

Senior Associate, Singapore at Vriens & Partners

Tim Van Der Lee

Senior Associate, Myanmar at 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.

Shazwan is a Senior Associate at Vriens & Partners’ office in Kuala Lumpur and brings along 10 years of professional experience in the field of politics, journalism and the media.

From 2014 to 2020, Shazwan worked for online news portal the Malay Mail as an assistant news editor and senior journalist. In this role, Shazwan directly oversaw the newsdesk’s day-to-day operations as well as its political analyses. He also led the news team in the coverage of important event like the 2018 general election, and spearheading story packages.

From 2009 to 2012, Shazwan worked as a journalist for the news portal The Malaysian Insider, where he extensively covered breaking political and economical stories.

Shazwan received his Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Monash University, and a Master in Diversity and the Media from the University of Westminster, UK. He was also a 2012 Chevening scholarship recipient.

Dr. Keo is Associate Director of Vriens & Partners’ Cambodia Office, where he leads the country team for government affairs and public policy project management, business development, client management, and multistakeholder engagement.

Before joining Vriens and Partners, Dr. Keo worked as Vice President and Director of the Centre of Sustainable Development Studies of Asian Vision Institute, a Phnom Penh based Think Tank. Dr. Keo has more than 15 years of working experience in academic policy research, project management, consulting services, and lecturing in Cambodia, the Mekong region, and ASEAN. Dr Keo has extensive experience working with government agencies, world-class universities,
international financial institutions, international Non-Government Organisations, private sectors, and rural communities.

Dr. Keo received his doctoral degree from the Joint-Doctoral Programme between the National University of Singapore and Harvard-Yenching Institute in 2018 with the dissertation on “Discourse, Power, and Institution: Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Cambodia”. Dr. Keo received his master’s degree in environmental management and development from the Australian National University in 2010.

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.

Donna is Country Director at Vriens & Partners’ Jakarta office, where she leads and manages the firm’s Indonesia-focused advisory work and designs Government Affairs strategies for multinational clients across various sectors.

With over 25 years of experience working in foreign, Indonesian, and state owned companies, Donna has built an extensive network within the Indonesian government. She possesses a depth and breadth of knowledge on Indonesia’s policy and regulatory landscape, with a focus on the energy (renewables, power generation & distribution, oil & gas), healthcare and aviation industries.

Before joining Vriens & Partners, Donna was Director of Government and Corporate Affairs at General Electric (GE) Indonesia for close to four years, where she led advocacy efforts and sought alignment between the government’s regulations and policies with GE’s business objectives.

Prior to this, Donna worked for Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE), a subsidiary of the state oil and gas company PT Pertamina and earlier, BP Indonesia. In these roles she covered various positions including Corporate & Government Affairs, Communication & Public Relations, CSR, Commercial & Business Development, and Engineering.

She currently serves on the Board of Governors for AmCham Indonesia, and has previously served as a Vice Chair of AmCham Indonesia Board of Governor (2017-2020). She has also been a company representative on US-ASEAN Business Council, USINDO, and SwissCham.

She has a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) Degree from University of San Francisco, USA, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture Engineering from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

Samuel Pursch is a Director in Vriens & Partners’ Hanoi office where he manages accounts across sectors with a particular emphasis on tech, healthcare, and industry. He also leads the Vietnam’s office public-facing activities, providing briefings 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. Having moved to Myanmar in early 2015, Samuel managed projects for clients including international hydropower and mobile finance investors, The World Bank Group, and a range of international NGOs. Andaman’s work included detailed stakeholder assessments, field research activities, including large scale surveys, and developing policy recommendations for international actors working to address Myanmar’s myriad development challenges.

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).

Tim is a Senior Associate 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.).

Organizers

AmCham Member

Employees in member company and part of the membership roster

Member PriceComplimentary

Non-Member

Attendees that are not part of a member company and/or the membership roster

Public PriceComplimentary

Member Company

Employees in member company but not in the membership roster