Barbara Weisel is a nonresident scholar in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She recently retired as a managing director at Rock Creek Global Advisors, an international economic policy advisory firm, where she focused on international trade and investment policy and negotiations as well as market access, regulatory matters, and digital trade issues.

Ms. Weisel has more than 25 years of experience in government advancing international trade and investment initiatives, expanding market access in Asia-Pacific markets, and resolving specific issues faced by businesses in the Asia-Pacific.

Ms. Weisel served as Assistant US Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. She was the US chief negotiator for the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) from its inception in 2008 through its signing in 2016.

In addition to TPP, Ms. Weisel led bilateral FTA negotiations with Malaysia and Thailand. She also led efforts to expand U.S. market access and promote U.S. economic interests in the Asia Pacific.
As Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Bilateral Asian Affairs (Korea, Southeast Asia, and South Asia), Ms. Weisel helped negotiate the FTAs with Australia and Singapore. Earlier, she served as the official responsible for managing global pharmaceutical regulatory issues and as director for Japan affairs.

Before joining USTR, she worked at the State Department from 1984-1994, serving in a variety of positions, including as international economist on Japan, the Persian Gulf countries, and North Africa.

Ms. Weisel earned two Masters’ Degrees from Harvard University in 1983 and a Bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College (Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude).

Dr. Elms serves on the board of the Trade and Investment Negotiation Adviser (TINA) at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (UNESCAP). She was on the International Advisory Council for APCO (2021-2023) and was a member of the International Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Trade Professionals Alliance and Chair of the Working Group on Trade Policy and Law. She was also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Trade and Investment Council for 2018-2020.

Prior to founding ATC/ATCF and the ABTA, she was head of the Temasek Foundation Centre for Trade & Negotiations (TFCTN) and Senior fellow of International Political Economy at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Dr. Elms received a PhD in political science from the University of Washington, an MA in International Relations from the University of Southern California, and bachelor’s degrees from Boston University.

She is the author of numerous articles, editor of several books, and regularly published the Talking Trade Blog. Dr. Elms also routinely appears on television and in major newspapers and magazines around the world to comment on trade and economic issues. Dr. Elms also makes frequent appearances at a range of global trade and economic workshops, conferences, capacity building sessions, and negotiations.

Shiumei Lin serves as Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Asia Pacific at UPS since March 2010, overseeing global trade, political risk management, government affairs, strategic communications, and corporate responsibility. Previously, Shiumei held the position of Vice President of Public Affairs, leading a team in advocacy and stakeholder engagement. Experience includes serving as Trade Counsellor at the Ministry of Trade & Industry Singapore, Director & Vice President at APCO Worldwide, and Sr. Director for International Trade Policy at the US ASEAN Business Council and US-Vietnam Trade Council. Shiumei Lin's education includes an Executive Leadership Program at INSEAD, a Master's degree in International Trade & Investment Policy from The George Washington University, a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and International Affairs from the University of Colorado Boulder, and ongoing studies at Emory University's Goizueta Business School in Executive Perspectives.

Steven Okun, Founder and CEO of APAC Advisors and Senior Advisor to McLarty Associates, is a leader on corporate public affairs, ESG, sustainability, and stakeholder engagement. A 21-year resident of Singapore, he spent the first twelve years of his career in Washington, DC, including in the Administration of President Bill Clinton as Deputy General Counsel at the US Department of Transportation. As KKR’s first Director of Asia Public Affairs from 2011-2017, he was one of the first people in the region working on ESG in private capital. From 2003-2010, he created and led Public Affair for UPS Asia. An in-demand speaker in the corporate and the financial services sector, Steve also appears frequently across global media, provides the weekly International News Review for MONEY FM (Singapore) and contributes commentary to Nikkei Asia, The Straits Times, The Business Times, Eco-Business and Asia Times.