Aunty Georgina Nicholson is a proud Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung women whose traditional land extends from Melbourne city, south to the Mordialloc creek, west to the Werribee river and east to Mount Baw Baw.

An Elder in her Wurundjeri Woi wurrung community Aunty Georgina is particularly passionate about sharing the stories and knowledge of her people with the broader community.

Based in Hong Kong, Tracy Alloway co-anchors “Bloomberg Daybreak Middle East” as well as Bloomberg’s “Odd Lots” podcast. As an Executive Editor for Bloomberg News, she also helps shape the company’s overall editorial coverage across the Asia region.

High-profile interviews include BP CEO Bob Dudley, Mubadala CEO Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and many more.

Tracy Alloway is an Executive Editor at Bloomberg, currently based in Hong Kong, where she’s responsible for shaping the newsroom’s overall editorial coverage for Asia. Formerly in Abu Dhabi, she currently co-anchors “Bloomberg Daybreak Middle East” and hosts a weekly finance and markets podcast called “Odd Lots.”

She was previously a U.S. financial correspondent for the Financial Times, where she covered Wall Street and built a reputation for smart and innovative coverage of subjects ranging from credit markets to financial technology. Alloway has also served as deputy editor of FT Alphaville, the FT’s award-winning finance and markets blog. In this role, she covered major market events, including the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the development of the euro zone debt crisis.

She holds a B.Sc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a postgraduate degree in periodical journalism from the University of Westminster.

Based in Singapore, Haslinda Amin is Chief International Correspondent for Southeast Asia. As a Bloomberg anchor, Amin has been at the heart of market-moving news and stories that have driven the region’s transformation.

Degree in International Politics and English, National University of Singapore. Began career in radio, covering regional politics. 2002, joined Bloomberg Television. Currently, News Correspondent and Anchor, Bloomberg Television; hosts “High Flyers”, which has been nominated for Best Talk Show at the Asian TV Awards. Based in Singapore, has been at the heart of events driving the transformation of Asia. Has reported on major financial and political developments such as Suharto's downfall, the bloody anti-government clashes in Thailand and elections across ASEAN, India and Pakistan. Has interviewed world leaders in politics and industry, including Lee Kuan Yew, Mahathir Mohamad, Joko Widodo, Benigno Aquino, Thaksin Shinawatra, Tony Blair, Joe Biden, Al Gore, Timothy Geithner, Paul Volcker, Jean-Claude Trichet, Stanley Fischer, John Travolta and Jenson Button. Speaks at conferences such as the World Economic Forum, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, ASEAN and Asian Development Bank. Has moderated discussions organized by the Milken Institute, Blackrock, UBS, Barclays, SALT and Aberdeen Asset Management. Speaks English, Malay and Bahasa Indonesia.

Dr Dewi Fortuna Anwar is a Research Professor at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and was the Deputy Chairman for Social Sciences and Humanities from 2001–10. She was Deputy Secretary for Political Affairs from 2010-2015 and from 2015 to 2017 as Deputy for Government Policy Support to the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia. She is also the Chair of the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights at the Habibie Center, and a member of the Board of Advisors, the Institute for Peace and Democracy, the Bali Democracy Forum. Anwar was a member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (2008–12), a member of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC), based in Stockholm, and a member of the International Advisory Board of the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy, ANU, Australia.

Tim Beresford is acting Australian Trade and Investment Commission's (Austrade's) acting CEO. Previously Tim was Deputy CEO of Global Client Services with strategic leadership for the promotion of trade and investment opportunities for Australia and operational responsibility for Austrade’s onshore trade and investment teams and offshore network.

Tim was previously Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Macquarie University with responsibility and oversight of operations and international student recruitment and engagement. Before that, he was Austrade’s Executive Director, Tourism, Investment, Education and Programmes.

Prior to joining Austrade, Tim was First Assistant Secretary of Social Policy Division at Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He worked at Westpac in senior line management and strategy roles, and also in the professional services sector across Europe, Asia and Australia, including five years at McKinsey & Co.

Tim holds a Bachelor Degree in Law and Economics (First Class Honours) from Sydney University and Masters of Philosophy (International Relations) from Cambridge University where he was a Menzies Scholar in 1994. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Tim is passionate about community engagement. He is Chair of The Benevolent Society (TBS) and has been a board member since 2013. Tim was also a Board Member of Plan International Australia from 2003-2012.

Ms Browning is a senior career public servant and is the Interim CEO of the National Foundation for Australia China Relations. She was previously Consul General in Hong Kong and Head of Investment, Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade). She has held a range of senior positions including Head of Established Markets and Special Adviser to the CEO on Strategy and China (Austrade) and Senior Adviser to the then Defence and Foreign Ministers. Ms Browning was also a Trade Negotiator at the Doha Development Round and for the free trade agreements Australia negotiated with the USA and Singapore. She has previously served overseas in Thailand and Singapore.

Ms Browning holds a Masters in Foreign Affairs & Trade and a Bachelor of Economics with Honours, both from Monash University.

Mr Byrne was appointed International Freight Coordinator General, Austrade on 31 March 2020 to assist with the Federal Government’s COVID-19 response.

Michael’s appointment followed a distinguished 30-year career in executive positions both in Australia and internationally in the logistics, supply chain, retail and property sectors. Previous roles include Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Toll Group Holdings; Chief Executive Officer of Coates Hire; Linfox and Westgate Holdings, as well as Non-Executive Director of Australia Post.

Ambassador Chan Heng Chee is Ambassador-at-Large with the Singapore Foreign Ministry. She chairs the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities in the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

She was recently the Chairman of the National Arts Council. She is a Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights, a Member of the Constitutional Commission 2016 and Deputy Chairman of the Social Science Research Council.

Ambassador Chan is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the National University of Singapore and a Member of the Yale-NUS Governing Board. She serves as a Member of the Advisory Council of Temasek Foundation Connects and also as a Member of the Executive Board of the China Cultural Centre. She is Global Co-Chair of Asia Society, and a Member of the International Advisory Panel, AXA Group, GIE AXA, Paris (France).

Previously, she was Singapore's Ambassador to the United States and Singapore's Permanent

Representative to the United Nations with concurrent accreditation as High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Mexico.

Ambassador Chan received a number of awards including The Public Administration Medal (Gold); The Meritorious Service Medal; The Distinguished Service Order; Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Letters from the University of Newcastle, Australia; the University of Buckingham (United Kingdom); and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Warwick (United Kingdom). When Ambassador Chan left Washington at the end of her appointment, she received the Inaugural Asia Society Outstanding Diplomatic Achievement Award, the Inaugural Foreign Policy Outstanding Diplomatic Achievement Award 2012 and the United States Navy Distinguished Public Service Award.

Greg Earl is the editor of Briefing MONTHLY, a public update with news and original analysis on Asia and Australia-Asia relations, and the essay series Disruptive Asia. Greg was the deputy editor, opinion editor, national affairs editor and Asia Pacific editor of The Australian Financial Review. He spent more than a decade as a reporter based in Tokyo, Jakarta, and New York.

He is now an independent writer, editor and consultant; is researching a book about Australia and Asia; and writes a column on economic diplomacy for The Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter. He is a member of the Australia-ASEAN Council board (AAC); and a former member of the Australian National University Indonesia Project advisory board; the Australia Japan Foundation board; and the steering committee for the Australia-Indonesia Dialogue.

His connection with the region began as a high school Indonesian language student and then as an exchange student in the Philippines. This year he has been a member of an international observer group during the Indian election; attended the Australia-Vietnam Young Leadership Dialogue in Ho Chi Minh City; and served on the selection panel for an AAC Muslim Exchange Program in South East Asia

The Asian Trade Centre works with governments and companies to design better trade policies for the region. Dr. Elms is also Vice Chair of the Asia Business Trade Association (ABTA) and sits on the International Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Trade Professionals Alliance and is Chair of the Working Group on Trade Policy and Law. She is also a senior fellow in the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry’s Trade Academy. Previously, Dr Elms 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. Her projects include the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and global value chains. Dr. Elms received a PhD in political science from the University of Washington, a MA in international relations from the University of Southern California, and bachelor’s degrees from Boston University. Dr Elms publishes the Talking Trade Blog.

Farhan joined ANZ as CEO of International Banking in August 2014 before being elevated to the position of Group Executive International, cementing the importance of Asia to the ANZ Group. Farhan leads a business representing customers across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and America with a significant franchise growth opportunity. CEOs in these markets all report through to Farhan.

The International division is responsible for providing corporate clients with leading insights capable of transforming their businesses across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and America, particularly those that do business with ANZ’s home markets in Australia and New Zealand. In addition to heading up the bank’s Institutional business internationally, Farhan is also responsible for improving regional connectivity to improve multinational companies’ experience of banking with ANZ across all of its markets.

Until August 2014, Farhan was the Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for Asia Pacific, Citigroup. During his 23-year career with Citigroup, Farhan held senior management roles in franchise building, product and customer coverage across Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa, including Head of Global Loans & Leveraged Finance, Asia Pacific, and Corporate Banking Head, Central Europe.

With an impressive track record developing businesses, Farhan is an experienced international banker, product specialist and an accomplished people leader across multiple geographies.

Farhan has a Bachelor of Science Degree – Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Doug Ferguson is Partner in Charge, Asia & International Markets and NSW Chairman at KPMG Australia. He is also Chairman of Asia Society Australia. Most people wouldn’t know that during the mid-1990s Doug studied Mandarin Chinese at University in Taiwan before becoming a professional rugby player in Hong Kong. 

Bonnie S. Glaser is a senior adviser for Asia and the director of the China Power Project at CSIS, where she works on issues related to Asia-Pacific security with a focus on Chinese foreign and security policy. She is concomitantly a nonresident fellow with the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia, and a senior associate with the Pacific Forum. Ms. Glaser has worked for more than three decades at the intersection of Asia-Pacific geopolitics and U.S. policy. From 2008 to mid-2015, she was a senior adviser with the CSIS Freeman Chair in China Studies, and from 2003 to 2008, she was a senior associate in the CSIS International Security Program. 

Prior to joining CSIS, she served as a consultant for various U.S. government offices, including the Departments of Defense and State. Ms. Glaser has published widely in academic and policy journals, including the Washington Quarterly, China Quarterly, Asian Survey, International Security, Contemporary Southeast Asia, American Foreign Policy Interests, Far Eastern Economic Review, and Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, as well as in leading newspapers such as the New York Times and International Herald Tribune and in various edited volumes on Asian security. 

She is also a regular contributor to the Pacific Forum web journal Comparative Connections. She is currently a board member of the U.S. Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific and a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. She served as a member of the Defense Department’s Defense Policy Board China Panel in 1997. Ms. Glaser received her B.A. in political science from Boston University and her M.A. with concentrations in international economics and Chinese studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Mr. Shan Huang is Deputy Managing Editor and Editorial Board Member of Beijing-based Caixin Media, equivalent of the Economist in China. He is charged with overseeing Caixin’s foreign desk and overseas branding efforts, with 15 years of experience in reporting on Chinese domestic economic & political situations, its external relations with a focus on Chinese economic diplomacy. 

Mr. Huang was a visiting fellow with the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford in the trinity term of 2018. He served as a senior research associate with the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame for the period of August 2018 through May 2019. 

Mr. Huang holds an M.A. degree in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame (UND) in the U.S. in 2004. He received his B.A. from Peking University in 2001.

Philipp commenced as CEO of Asia Society Australia in January 2015 and is leading Asia Society Australia through a period of growth and transformation. Asia Society Australia is now the 4th largest centre in the global Asia Society - the global non-profit organisation dedicated to Asia, founded by John D. Rockefeller III in 1956 with 13 centres, across four continents.

Philipp is a China specialist with extensive experience in policy, education and research and is committed to building an Asia-connected Australia. Previously, he was a policy officer and manager of the Australia-China Council at the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Philipp was one of the principal authors of the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper - China Country Strategy. Previously, Philipp was Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific at the University of Sydney, advised the University of Sydney on their China strategy and managed La Trobe University's partnerships in the Gulf States, Vietnam and Thailand. Philipp spent over 6 years in China working in education and development. He is the recipient of the ‘Rose Award’ by the Shenyang Municipal Government for his contribution to Shenyang City. In 2009 he was also awarded the Australian Government’s Endeavour Executive Fellowship to research China's policies on leadership development at the China National Academy of Education Administration in Beijing.

He is a board member of Haymarket HQ – Australia’s first co-working space for start-ups expanding to Asia. In 2015, he was invited as the only Australian to the 2015 Congress of Vienna - a global track-two dialogue on major-powers conflict, migration, equality and innovation. He is the founder of Disruptive Asia - a collection of essays now in its third year examining the impact of Asia's rise on Australia.

Philipp has a Bachelor (Honours) degree in Chinese language and history from the Far Eastern National University in Russia. He also studied in Jilin and Liaoning Normal universities in China. He holds a Master of Educational Leadership and Management from RMIT University in Australia. He grew up in Vladivostok on Russia's Pacific coast and is a fluent Chinese and Russian speaker.

Michelle Jamrisko is Bloomberg's Southeast Asia economy reporter, tracking regional developments across trade, monetary policy, economic growth and development, infrastructure and innovation.

Now based in Singapore, Michelle spent seven years in the Washington, D.C. bureau, covering the U.S. economy, Congress, and government procurement. Prior to Bloomberg, she was a White House correspondent for Kyodo News. Michelle holds an MA in Global Policy from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in Government and English from the University of Virginia.

Ed is a journalist with two decades of experience reporting on politics, world affairs, and financial markets. As a managing editor for Bloomberg News in Sydney, he oversees a team of more than 40 reporters and editors covering markets, companies, economy, and government in Australia and New Zealand.

Dr. Catherine L. Mann is the Global Chief Economist at Citibank since February 2018 where she is responsible for thought leadership, research guidance of a global team of economists, and cross-fertilization of research across macroeconomics, fixedincome, and equities. Prior to this position, she was Chief Economist at the OECD, where she also was Director of the Economics Department and was Finance Deputy to the G20 (2014-2017). Prior to the OECD, she held the Barbara '54 and Richard M. Rosenberg Professor of Global Finance at the International Business School, Brandeis University, where she also directed the Rosenberg Institute of Global Finance (2006-2014). She spent 20-plus years in Washington, DC (1984-2006) where her positions included Senior Fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics; Economist, Senior Economist, and Assistant Director in the International Finance Division at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; Senior International Economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers; and Adviser to the Chief Economist at the World Bank.

Dr. Mann received her PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her undergraduate degree is from Harvard University. Her written work includes more than 85 scholarly articles and seven books primarily on the topics of US external imbalances, trade, international capital flows and the dollar; and information technology and services trade in global markets.

Nick is the Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand for the Health & Happiness Group, a global company who owns brands including Swisse Wellness and Biostime. Nick has held senior leadership roles in sales, marketing and general management across South East Asia for almost 25 years.

Nick commenced his career in 1995, working in pharmacy sales for Gillette. After seven years working his way through the ranks with Gillette, Nick moved into the tech industry and held various senior sales and marketing roles across Asia Pacific for Motorola Mobile Phones, culminating as the Director of Marketing for South East Asia in 2008.

Nick spent the next ten years in the alcohol industry as General Manager of Marketing for Fosters/CUB, General Manager of Sales at Treasury Wine Estates and as Managing Director at ASM Liquor – a semi start-up beverage alcohol company that was disbanded when the brands in Australia were sold to Asashi Premium Beverages in September 2017.

Nick then joined Swisse as Director of Sales for ANZ. Over the past two years, Nick has reenergized the sales team, bringing a new sense of purpose and vibrancy. His accomplishments include; helping Swisse regain #1 VMS brand, further extending Swisse leadership with local Diagou and exporters and played a pivotal role in the successful Biostime launch in January 2019. Nick was promoted to the role of Managing Director, ANZ in September 2019.

Richard Maude joined Asia Society Australia in January 2020 as the inaugural Executive Director, Policy, and Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute – the first senior executive role in the Institute outside the United States. Richard Maude most recently served as Deputy Secretary, Indo-Pacific Group, in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

His portfolio covered Australia’s bilateral relations with Australia’s partners in Asia and North America, as well as Australia’s regional political, security, economic and development assistance interests.

In 2017, Mr Maude was head of the whole-of-government taskforce which supported the preparation of the Australian Government’s 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper. Mr Maude was Director-General of the Office of National Assessments from May 2013 until November 2016.  ONA reports directly to the Prime Minister and provides all-source assessments on international political, strategic and economic developments affecting Australia’s national interests.

Before taking up the position of Director-General ONA, Mr Maude was the senior adviser on foreign policy and national security issues in the Office of the Prime Minister. Mr Maude has worked extensively on international security and Indo Pacific affairs as a career foreign service officer in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has served overseas in Malaysia, where he was Deputy High Commissioner, Singapore and as the Liaison Officer for the Office of National Assessments in the Australian Embassy in Washington DC.

Mr Maude holds a first-class honours degree in politics from the University of Adelaide and a Master of Arts (International Relations) from the Australian National University.

Shivshankar Menon is a distinguished fellow at Brookings India. His long career in public service spans diplomacy, national security, atomic energy, disarmament policy, and India’s relations with its neighbors and major global powers. Prior to joining Brookings, Menon served as national security advisor to the Indian Prime Minister from January 2010 to May 2014. He currently serves as chairman of the advisory board of the Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi. He is the author of “Choices: Inside the Making of Indian Foreign Policy” published by the Brookings Press and Penguin Random House in 2016.

Menon has previously served as foreign secretary of India from October 2006 to August 2009 and as ambassador and high commissioner of India to Israel (1995-1997), Sri Lanka (1997-2000), China (2000-2003) and Pakistan (2003-2006). From 2008 to 2014, he was also a member of India’s Atomic Energy Commission. A career diplomat, he also served in India’s missions to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Geneva and the United Nations in New York.

As high commissioner of India to Pakistan, Menon restored high commissioner level relations after a gap of a year and a half and initiated what is so far the best period in the two countries’ relationship. He also served as India’s ambassador to China, restoring relations following the India nuclear weapons tests of 1998. During his work as high commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, he was responsible for the free trade agreement with Sri Lanka. Menon was the second Indian ambassador to Israel and oversaw the beginning of the now flourishing India-Israel defense and intelligence relationship.

During his service in the Ministry of External Affairs from 1992 to 1995, Menon negotiated the first boundary related agreement between the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China, the root of the subsequent series of agreements that have maintained peace on the border despite ongoing boundary disputes. He also served as special representative of the prime minister of India on the boundary issue from 2010 to 2014, and has dealt with the India-China boundary and India-China relations since 1974. Menon has been a Richard Wilhelm Fellow at the Center for International Studies at MIT and Fisher Family Fellow at the Belfer Center, Harvard University. In 2010, he was chosen by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the world’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers.” He attended the Scindia School, Gwalior and St. Stephens College of the University of Delhi, where he studied ancient Indian history and Chinese. He speaks Chinese and some German

Tom is Chief Economist for Bloomberg Economics, leading on analysis of the world economy and managing the global team.

Prior to that he was the Chief Asia economist for Bloomberg, headed the WSJ's China economy coverage, and worked as a policy analyst at HM-Treasury.

He is the author of Understanding China's Economic Indicators (FT Press, 2011) and China: The Bubble That Never Pops (OUP, 2020)

Kaixin is an Economist in the Global Markets Research team at NAB. She has a keen interest in using data and economic frameworks to generate insightful analysis.

Prior to joining the NAB, Kaixin worked as an economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia, working in the Economic Analysis Department, and tutored economics at the University of Melbourne. Kaixin holds a Bachelor of Commerce with first class Honours in Economics and a Diploma of Global Issues from the University of Melbourne.

Kaixin is an active contributor to the Australian economics community and launched the NSW branch of the Women in Economics Network.

The Hon Martin Pakula MP is the Victorian Minister for Industry Support and Recovery, Minister for Trade, Minister for Business Precincts, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Minister for Racing and Member for Keysborough. 

Martin joined the Labor Party in 1987 while studying economics and law at Monash University.

In 1993, he joined the National Union of Workers, where he served as an Industrial Officer, Assistant State Secretary, State Secretary and National Vice President.   

In 2006, he was elected to the Legislative Council as the member for Western Metropolitan Region. Between 2006 and 2010, Martin held the following ministerial appointments: Parliamentary Secretary for Transport and Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Ports.  Following that he served as Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Public Transport. In Opposition, Martin was the Shadow Attorney-General, Shadow Minister for Gaming and Racing, Shadow Minister for Corrections and Opposition Scrutiny of Government spokesperson.

In 2013, Martin moved to the Legislative Assembly in a by-election for the seat of Lyndhurst, which was subsequently renamed Keysborough. In the Andrews’ Government’s first term, Martin held the position of Attorney-General and Minister for Racing.

A keen football and racing fan, Martin has been a member of the Carlton Football Club for more than 40 years and is a member of the Victoria Racing Club. His other passions include music and running. Martin is married with two children.

Dr Chengxin Pan is Associate Professor of International Relations at Deakin University and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney. He was an Endeavour Research Fellow at the Australian Studies Centre, Peking University, in 2016-2017, and has held visiting positions at the University of Melbourne, Fudan University, China Foreign Affairs University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, University of Macau and National Taiwan University. He is the author of Knowledge, Desire and Power in Global Politics: Western Representations of China’s Rise (Edward Elgar, 2012). The book was translated and published in Chinese by Social Sciences Academic Press (SSAP) and won a 2016 SSAP Best Book Award.

Dr. June Park is a political economist working on trade, energy, and tech conflicts with a broader range of regional focuses not just on the U.S. and East Asia, but also Europe and the Middle East. She also conducts policy-oriented research on the two Koreas. She is currently an East Asia Voices Initiative (EAVI) Fellow of the East Asia National Resource Center at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University, and a Next Generation Researcher at the National Research Foundation of Korea.

Her grand theme of research is why countries fight and how, using what. She studies why countries have different policy outcomes by analyzing governance structures – domestic institutions, leaderships, and bureaucracies that shape the policy formation process.

Dr. Park earned her BA and MA in political science with a focus on international security from Korea University, received her PhD in Political Science with a focus on international political economy from Boston University as a Fulbright Fellow and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

Dr Park is an Asia 21 Young Leader (Class of 2017).

Adam S. Posen has been president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics since January 2013. Over his career, he has contributed to research and public policy regarding monetary and fiscal policies in the G-20, the challenges of European integration since the adoption of the euro, China-US economic relations, and developing new approaches to financial recovery and stability. He was one of the first economists to seriously address the political foundations of central bank independence and to analyze Japan's Great Recession as a failure of macroeconomic policy. While at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during 1994–97, he coauthored Inflation Targeting: Lessons from the International Experience with Ben Bernanke, Thomas Laubach, and Frederic Mishkin.

Daniel Russel is Vice President for International Security and Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI). Previously he served as a Diplomat in Residence and Senior Fellow with ASPI for a one year term. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service at the U.S. Department of State, he most recently served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Prior to his appointment as Assistant Secretary on July 12, 2013, Mr. Russel served at the White House as Special Assistant to the President and National Security Council (NSC) Senior Director for Asian Affairs. During his tenure there, he helped formulate President Obama’s strategic rebalance to the Asia Pacific region, including efforts to strengthen alliances, deepen U.S. engagement with multilateral organizations, and expand cooperation with emerging powers in the region.

Prior to joining the NSC in January of 2009, he served as Director of the Office of Japanese Affairs and had assignments as U.S. Consul General in Osaka-Kobe, Japan (2005-2008); Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands (2002-2005); Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus (1999-2002); Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering (1997-99); Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1995-96); Political Section Unit Chief at U.S. Embassy Seoul, Republic of Korea (1992-95); Political Advisor to the Permanent Representative to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Pickering (1989-92); Vice Consul in Osaka and Branch Office Manager in Nagoya, Japan (1987-89); and Assistant to the Ambassador to Japan, former Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (1985-87).

In 1996, Mr. Russel was awarded the State Department's Una Chapman Cox Fellowship sabbatical and authored America’s Place in the World, a book published by Georgetown University. Before joining the Foreign Service, he was manager for an international firm in New York City.

Mr. Russel was educated at Sarah Lawrence College and University College, University of London, UK.

Jodi Schneider is Senior International Editor at Bloomberg News based in Hong Kong. She is a senior editor on the editing hub, leading coverage of a range of stories in Asia and internationally, and regularly appears on Bloomberg TV and radio  discussing U.S. and international politics. She has been on the TOP team, curating and managing the front page of Bloomberg News.

She is a founder and co-leader of the Women's Voices/New Voices initiative in Asia and co-lead of the Bloomberg Women's Community in Hong Kong. She has held senior editing positions at Bloomberg, including leading coverage of the U.S. Congress and tax policy from the Washington bureau in the U.S. Before coming to Hong Kong, Schneider was an economics editor in Japan.

Prior to joining Bloomberg, she was an editor at The Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report magazine and Congressional Quarterly, among other publications. She is a past president of what was then called the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and headed the Fourth Estate Committee for the National Press Club in Washington.

Jodi is president of the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong, in her second year leading one of the world's most prestigious press clubs, and previously was on the Board of Governors of the FCC. She appears regularly on panels discussing gender and diversity issues, U.S. politics, U.S.-China relations, press freedom and the future of journalism.

Haidi Stroud-Watts is the Sydney anchor for “Daybreak Australia,” Bloomberg Television’s flagship morning program, covering market-moving business and finance news in Australia as it kicks off the Asia-Pacific trading day. She also co-anchors “Bloomberg Markets Asia,” with Rishaad Salamat in Hong Kong.

Stroud-Watts has conducted in-depth interviews with many leading business, financial and corporate newsmakers including Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, Nobel Laureate for Economics Angus Deaton, World Bank Managing Director Bertrand Badre and the founders of China’s largest conglomerate, Fosun. She has also reported live from major events, most recently China’s 19th Party Congress in Beijing.

Stroud-Watts joined Bloomberg in 2015 as an anchor for Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. Prior to joining Bloomberg, she was the Senior Business Anchor for Channel NewsAsia in Singapore. She began her career as a lawyer in Melbourne before making the switch to journalism as a Business Anchor with CCTV News in Beijing, and subsequently to Fox Business Network as its Asia Markets Reporter.

Fluent in Mandarin and English, Stroud-Watts graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, History and Political Science, and a Bachelor of Law degree.

Alexandra Veroude is an Economy Editor at Bloomberg News. Previous roles include Australia and New Zealand Economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia, where she was involved in the domestic forecasting and analysis process. Alexandra holds Bachelors in Economics (First Class Honours) from the University of Adelaide. She is based in Sydney.

Maggie Zhou was appointed Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand in March 2016 for Alibaba Group. As one of the key veterans of the company, Maggie has witnessed major company developments as the company has expanded its businesses outside of China and as well as the progression and development of Mainland China’s e-commerce market. In her current role, as part of the company’s globalisation strategy, she is responsible for establishing a local presence for Alibaba in Australia and New Zealand to further develop infrastructure and help local merchants enter the vast China consumer market.

Prior to this role, Maggie worked closely with the Australia and New Zealand business development team on Tmall Global, a cross-border B2C business platform for Tmall, and was in charge of overall government and public affairs for the platform. She has worked closely with the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade), showcasing the value of the China e-commerce market to Australian brands and businesses. In Maggie’s earlier days with Alibaba, she helped the Group establish Taobao Marketplace in 2003 as one of the nine founders of the C2C platform, and served as Executive Assistant to Jack Ma, the founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba, for almost five years. Maggie joined Alibaba in early 2000 as one of the veteran employees of the company.  In August 2017, Maggie Zhou was appointed a Victorian Business Ambassador by the State Government of Victoria.

Maggie has been a key contributor to Alibaba Group’s strategy to internationalise its business and its mission – to make it easy to do business anywhere.

Rocco Fazzari is an independent artist who graduated from the South Australian School of Art. He has won numerous art awards and is represented widely in both public and private collections. For 28-years his cartoons and illustrations appeared in Fairfax press, featuring regularly in The Sydney Morning Herald. As a painter he has exhibited for 15-years and is currently represented by Maunsell Wickes Gallery.

His portfolio is extensive, with works featuring in the likes of Rolling Stone Magazine and American Sports Illustrated. Rocco has also created and collaborated on works for the ABC, FaceBook, Newcastle Writer’s Festival the Greater Sydney Commission, News Ltd, the Law Society of NSW, the UTS, and the UNSW. He also regularly leads drawing workshops at the Art Gallery of NSW.  

A pioneer in digital art, he feels as comfortable drawing on paper as he does on his smartphone or iPad. He brings his stills to life through productions of short form video and animation. In 2015 he was shortlisted for best animation in the Australian Youtube Online video awards.

In 2017 he was awarded a grant by the Pulitzer Foundation to create a 3 minute animated video for the Washington based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. In 2018 he was part the ABC’s multiple award winning team with his striking imagery for the Walkley foundation administered Our Watch awards.

See all Rocco's live animation from past Asia Briefing LIVE events.

Each year the MSO engages with more than 5 million people through live concerts, TV, radio and online broadcasts, international and regional tours, recordings and education programs.

The MSO is a vital presence, both onstage and in the community, in cultivating classical music in Australia. Internationally acclaimed, the Orchestra nurtures strong cultural partnerships throughout South East Asia. The MSO is the only Australian orchestra partnered with UNITEL, the world’s leading distributor of classical music programs for film, television and video.

The MSO regularly attracts great artists from around the globe; including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lang Lang, Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson, while bringing Melbourne’s finest musicians to the world through tours to China, Indonesia, Europe and the United States.

The nation’s first professional orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has been the sound of the city of Melbourne since 1906. The MSO was the first Australian orchestra to perform overseas (1965) and the first to debut at Carnegie Hall (1970).

From its home at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, to free summer concerts at Melbourne’s largest outdoor venue, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, to its Secret Symphony performances at unique inner-city locations, the MSO inspires a broad range of audiences with more than 160 concerts a year.

Committed to shaping and serving the city it inhabits, the MSO regularly reaches beyond the customary classical audience by collaborating with artists such as Sting, Professor Brian Cox, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, Flight Facilities, Kate Miller-Heidke, Tim Minchin and Laura Mvula.

As a national ambassador for the arts and a champion of music education, the MSO campaigns for the rights of all people to access and learn music. Boasting carefully curated learning programs, a regional touring schedule, accessible concerts and free community events, the MSO provides opportunities for music lovers to be involved with the Orchestra, no matter their age or location.

The MSO’s 2020 Artistic Family includes Principal Guest Conductor Xian Zhang, Principal Conductor in Residence Benjamin Northey, Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis, Cybec Assistant Conductor Nicholas Bochner, Composer in Residence Deborah Cheetham AO and Ensemble in Residence Melbourne Ensemble.

How should Australia and the region build resilience in the face of enduring US-China tension? Analysts, government and policy leaders assess.

How will prolonged insecurity weigh on global economic resilience in the coming months and years? Join economists and policymakers as they analyse the short-and-long term roadmap to global economic recovery.

Following the launch of his report, Weaponizing the Belt and Road Initiative, international security expert Daniel Russel examines the goal of the BRI and its possible strategic and military implications for China and the region.

Experts from the Indo-Pacific’s middle powers examine the region under geopolitical, economic, and pandemic stress.

2020 has been a pivotal year for Hong Kong. Protests, pandemic and major changes to national security laws have seen its status as a stable, open, financial and business hub challenged.

Global business leaders and policy makers explore how COVID-19, geopolitical tensions and rapid digitisation are changing how we engage in trade.

We wrap up the themes discussed throughout the day and take our annual interactive poll of Australia’s connectivity with the region.