Michael G. DeSombre was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs on October 10, 2025. Prior to October 2025, Assistant Secretary DeSombre was a partner at the international law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell where he led the Asian Mergers and Acquisition Practice as well as the Korea and Southeast Asian Practice of the firm. Assistant Secretary DeSombre is recognized as one of the preeminent mergers and acquisitions and private equity lawyers in the world. Assistant Secretary DeSombre resided in Asia for over 25 years.

From 2020-2021, Assistant Secretary DeSombre served as the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand. A native of Illinois, he received a B.A. in Quantitative Economics, and an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University. He graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 1995. Mr. DeSombre is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and is conversational in Korean and Japanese.

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.