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).

Simon J Evenett is Professor of Geopolitics and Strategy at IMD. A globally recognized expert on trade, investment, and geopolitical dynamics, he is a leading analyst of the global business environment. For almost 30 years, he has guided board members, senior executives, EMBAs, and MBAs in understanding the significant shifts in the worldwide business environment and their implications for firm operations, performance, and strategy. In 2023, he was appointed Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Trade and Investment.

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.