Casey Mace represents the United States as the U.S. Senior Official to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum. In this role, Mr. Mace leads U.S. engagement to the premier economic body in the Asia Pacific region. He also oversees the work of the Office of Economic Policy in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Prior to assuming the role of Senior Official in August 2025, Mr. Mace served as the Charge d’Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore from 2022-2025. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Mr. Mace has worked for the U.S. Department of State for over 23 years, primarily focused on U.S. relations in the Indo-Pacific.

During President Trump’s first term, Mr. Mace served on the National Security Council staff as the President’s principal Southeast Asia advisor. In that role, he prepared the President for his bilateral engagements with Southeast Asian leaders, including President Trump’s first meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Earlier in his career, Mr. Mace served as a First Secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, 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 have four children.

Monica Hardy Whaley has been with the National Center for APEC (NCAPEC) since the Center’s founding after the first-ever APEC Leaders Meeting that took place in Seattle in 1993. Monica is responsible for management of NCAPEC’s policy and administrative staff, membership, fundraising and fiscal management, and serves as the public spokesperson and representative of the National Center for APEC.

NCAPEC is the home of the APEC 2023 USA Private Sector Host Committee, the U.S. secretariat for the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (US-PECC), the secretariat for the U.S. appointees to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), and Pacific Summit Resources, LLC, which partners with APEC Host economies to produce the annual APEC CEO Summit programs. NCAPEC was also the lead coordinator for the APEC 2011 USA CEO Summit Host Committee.

Prior to assuming her responsibilities at the National Center for APEC, Monica served in various roles at the Washington Council on International Trade (WCIT), the premier trade policy organization in the most trade-dependent U.S. state. WCIT served as the coordinating organization for the U.S. hosting of the 1993 APEC meetings, which were the first APEC gatherings convened at the Leaders level.

Monica holds bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and French from the University of Santa Clara and studied in Paris at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Pô). She is an Alternate Member of the U.S. APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), Chair of the US-APEC Business Coalition, a member of the U.S. Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (US-PECC) as well as being a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

She is married with two adult sons.

Alex Parle joined the National Center for APEC as Program Manager in July 2003 and served in several policy and program-focused roles before being named Executive Vice President in 2013. In his current role he oversees NCAPEC’s policy advocacy efforts, communications function and engagement with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). Alex is also responsible for NCAPEC’s external relations, including with governments and other business organizations in APEC economies. During the U.S. hosting of APEC in 2011, Alex served a one-year term as Executive Director of the APEC Business Advisory Council, an advisory body which comprises three senior executives from each APEC member economy.

Prior to joining NCAPEC, Alex supported the human resources function during the design and construction phases of Universal Studios Japan, a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. He also worked for the Kobe municipal government for three years in support of the city’s international relations efforts.

He holds Bachelor’s degrees in Japanese Studies and Organizational Psychology from Central Washington University and also studied Japanese language at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies.

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.