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Bill Reinsch
Co-Host, The Trade Guys and Senior Adviser and Scholl Chair in International Business at CSISWilliam Reinsch holds the Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and is a senior adviser at Kelley, Drye & Warren LLP. Previously, he served for 15 years as president of the National Foreign Trade Council, where he led efforts in favor of open markets, in support of the Export-Import Bank and Overseas Private Investment Corporation, against unilateral sanctions, and in support of sound international tax policy, among many issues. From 2001 to 2016, he concurrently served as a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is also an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, teaching courses in globalization, trade policy, and politics.
Reinsch also served as the under secretary of commerce for export administration during the Clinton administration. Prior to that, he spent 20 years on Capitol Hill, most of them as senior legislative assistant to the late Senator John Heinz (R-PA) and subsequently to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV). He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies respectively.
Greg Poling
Senior Fellow for Southeast Asia and Director, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative of CSISGregory B. Poling is a senior fellow for Southeast Asia and director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is one of the world’s foremost experts on the South China Sea disputes and conducts research on U.S. alliance relations, democracy and governance in Southeast Asia, and maritime security across the Indo-Pacific. Mr. Poling’s writings have been featured in Foreign Affairs, the Wall Street Journal, Nikkei Asian Review, and Foreign Policy, among others. He is the author or coauthor of multiple works on the South China Sea, maritime security, and U.S. relationships in Southeast Asia. Mr. Poling received an MA in international affairs from American University and a BA in history and philosophy from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Alex Capri
Senior Advisor at Bower Group AsiaAlex is a thought leader in the secure supply chain space with a special expertise on disruptive technology and supply chain traceability. He has over 30 years’ experience in global value chains, trade and geopolitics, global technology, the digital economy and industries-of-the-future. His areas of focus include IT solutions for traceable supply chains, sanctions, export controls, free trade agreements and trade optimization.
Alex has advised clients on cross‐border projects in more than 40 countries and has worked in some of the world’s most challenging environments. He was formerly a partner and managing director in the Asia-Pacific practice of global consultancy firm KPMG. He has worked with multinational enterprises extensively in emerging economies, developing and enabling entrepreneurs in local export markets and has assisted micro-, small and medium-size enterprises to develop mobile financial strategies, peer‐to‐peer lending scenarios, artificial intelligence and e‐commerce strategies. Alex’s work with multinational enterprises includes optimizing cross‐border trade strategies around free trade agreements and free trade zones; designing transparent, traceable supply chains for export controls and controlled technologies; and monitoring supply chains for carbon footprints and labor practices.
Alex is currently a senior fellow and lecturer at the National University of Singapore. He writes a regular column for Forbes Asia and Nikkei Asia and is a frequent guest on global television and radio networks including BBC International, CNBC, Bloomberg and Channel NewsAsia. He is the author of Techno‐nationalism: How its Reshaping Trade, Geopolitics and Society (Wiley), due out in late 2021.
Alex holds a M.Sc. in international political economy from the London School of Economics and a B.Sc. in international relations from the University of Southern California.
Joe Christofanelli
Director of Ernst & YoungJoseph Christofanelli has over 35 years of experience negotiating, structuring, and implementing global incentives in the public and private sector to support business expansion, relocation, new developments and R&D.
Dato' P'ng Soo Hong
Vice President & Managing Director of First Solar Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.P’ng Soo Hong (P’ng) is the Vice President of Manufacturing Operations and Managing Director of First Solar Malaysia Sdn Bhd. He oversees the company’s overall strategic direction and is responsible towards the company’s operations, EHS, Quality & Reliability, Human Resources, Finance, IT and Supply Chain performance.
P’ng joined First Solar in October 2008. Prior to First Solar, he was attached to Intel Corporation and had served the company for 17 years after graduating from university.
While at Intel, P’ng had the opportunity to lead several major functions, which include Operation Management, Manufacturing System/Process, and Supply Chain Management development. He was the General Manager for Intel’s largest Assembly-Test Chipset Operation in Chengdu, China, from 2004 to 2007. It was also the company which he helped start-up. After his assignment there, he was relocated to Intel’s 300mm Fab at Arizona.
P’ng currently holds the position of the President of Kulim Industrial Tenants Association (KITA), Vice President of Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association (MSIA), Governing Committee of Electrical Electronic Productivity Nexus (EEPN), the Board of Director of Malaysian Industry Government Group for High Technology (MiGHT), Kedah Industrial Skills and Management Development Centre Sdn Bhd (KISMEC) 2019 present), American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) and Junior Achievement (JA) Malaysia. He is also the Board of Director/Vice Chairman of Kedah Industrial Skills and Management Development Centre (KISMEC) (2020 present), and Chairman of Malaysian Alternative Renewable Industry (MARI).
P’ng is a graduate from the University Science of Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia. He is also a certified JONAH in the global Theory of Constraints community.
Zainal Amanshah Bin Zainal Arshad
South East Asia Sub-Regional Market Leader (Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines & Thailand) Vice President, Key Accounts, Asia at AECOM Perunding Sdn BhdDatuk Zainal Amanshah is South East Asia Sub-Regional Market Leader (Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines & Thailand) and Vice President, Key Accounts, Asia for AECOM, a Fortune 500 global infrastructure firm. He joined the team in 2019 and heads AECOM’s multi-discipline business operations in Malaysia, oversees the company’s presence in other Southeast Asian countries covering Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand and leads the company’s key clients program in Asia.
Prior to joining AECOM, he was Chief Executive Officer of InvestKL, a government Investment Promotion Agency mandated to attract Fortune 500 and Forbes 2000 type multinational companies to establish their regional hubs and undertake regional activities in Greater Kuala Lumpur. Under his 8-year pioneering leadership, InvestKL achieved more than 80% of its KPIs and won s e v e r a l international awards. Before that, Zainal was in the private sector for more than 22 years. His vast experience included senior positions in multinational organizations, several local organizations, including one local public listed organization, and start-up organizations dealing with various sectors such as banking, insurance, oil & gas, automotive, manufacturing and government.
Zainal obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in 1989 (Electronic Engineering) from the University of Kent, United Kingdom. He has attended several Executive Programs including the Harvard Premier Business Management Program in 2007 and the Warton School of Finance Program.
He is currently Chairman of the Malaysian French Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCIFM). He has also been member of several notable high-level committees including the Investment Committee, Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia, the British Malaysia Chamber of Commerce, as Board Member, and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall/Pemudah Committee, as Steering Committee Member. He is also member of Vistage Malaysia, a premier CEO development organization, the Kuala Lumpur Business Club (KLBC), Asia Strategic Leadership Institute (ASLI) and the Harvard Club of Malaysia.
Columba McGarvey
Vice President of Operations at Dexcom Malaysia Sdn. BhdColumba McGarvey is the Vice President of Operations for Dexcom (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. responsible for the start-up of their new manufacturing facility on a 28 acre site in Penang.
Prior to joining Dexcom, Columba held Management positions in both Abbott and AbbVie across Manufacturing and Engineering in Ireland and Puerto Rico.
Columba has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Mark Arthun
Managing Director & Site Leader of Smith & Nephew Operation Sdn BhdMark Arthun is the Managing Director & Site Leader for Smith & Nephew's greenfield manufacturing site in Penang, Malaysia.
Mark oversees all Malaysian operations, from construction to the manufacturing and distribution of Orthopedics products globally. He is an expert in developing and deploying operational strategies in medical device and aerospace operations. An Industrial Engineer by training, Mark has held leadership roles at Abbott, Alere, and Boeing. Mark has relocated from the United States to Penang with his wife, Jocelyn.
Cash McCracken
Senior Director of Global Government Affairs at Seagate TechnologyCash McCracken is the Senior Director of Global Government Affairs for Seagate Technology. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he advises Seagate’s senior leadership on worldwide public policy and geopolitical issues, and leads Seagate’s government affairs function to advance Seagate’s public policy goals and identify strategic opportunities for collaboration and dialogue with governments and other relevant stakeholders around the world.
Prior to joining Seagate, Cash served as a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service at the U.S. Department of State. His assignments included serving as Economic Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore, Digital Economy Officer at the U.S. Mission to ASEAN based in Jakarta, and additional tours serving in Vietnam, Sudan, Somalia, and Washington D.C.
Dr. Mohamed Aly
CEO & Founder of SeelozDr. Aly is a firm believer in the power of AI-Driven Automation and positive effects it would bring. Prior to starting Seeloz, Dr. Aly worked at Google Research and Yahoo! Research and developed his expertise in building large-scale ML/AI software platforms talking complex applications including user modeling & targeting. and more. His true passion lies in solving complex business problems at the enterprise stage through Vertical-Specific AI Driven Solutions.
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The Trade Guys- CSISTrade experts Scott Miller and Bill Reinsch break down the buzz around trade, how it affects policy, and how it impacts your day-to-day. The Trade Guys is hosted every week by H. Andrew Schwartz at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C..
Y.A.B. Chow Kon Yeow
Chief Minister at Government of Penang
Siobhan Das
Chief Executive Officer at American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM)Siobhan Das joined the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AmCham Malaysia) in 2016 and is the organization’s first Chief Executive Officer in its 43 year history.
Siobhan has created an action-oriented policy platform at the Chamber that is designed to address both the strategic concerns of American multinational companies and the tactical day to day challenges faced by operations on the ground. With the common goals of a successful Malaysia, Siobhan has sought to make the Chamber a collaborative partner with local and international associations along with government stakeholders in this journey.
Siobhan plays an active role in the 28-member strong AmChams of Asia Pacific (AAP), serving in 2020 as a Vice Chair. She also serves on local boards: Junior Achievement Malaysia, focused on delivering education programs to school aged children in areas like financial literacy and entrepreneurship, and Global Shepherds, an NGO that provides care, welfare and intervention to those in poverty, victims of gender based violence and other forms of abuse, neglect and exploitation.
Siobhan is a Sloan Fellow from the London Business School where she received her Masters in Leadership and Strategy and has a Bachelors of Science in Broadcasting & Film and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Boston University.
Ambassador Brian McFeeters
U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia at U.S. Embassy Kuala LumpurBrian D. McFeeters has served as U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia since February 26, 2021. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Brian previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy, Baghdad, Iraq, Senior Advisor in the Office of the Counselor to the Secretary of State, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs in Washington. Brian has spent half of his 30-year Foreign Service career working on Southeast Asia, including as Deputy Chief of Mission of U.S. Mission Indonesia, as Political Counselor at U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur, and as Deputy Director of the State Department’s Office of Maritime Southeast Asia.
Mr. McFeeters’ other assignments include service as the Economic Minister Counselor of the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium and Economic Minister Counselor for U.S. Embassy Baghdad, and Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Brian previously served in the U.S. Air Force, attaining the rank of Captain.
Mr. McFeeters was awarded B.A. and B.S. degrees from the University of Notre Dame, an M.S. from the University of New Mexico, and an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. His foreign languages are Malaysian, Indonesian, French, Spanish, and German.
Sumit Ray
Vice President at Dell Global OperationsSumit Ray is a Vice President with Dell Global Operations, leading a global organization that is responsible for procuring and ensuring company-wide continuity of supply of leading-edge technology components across Dell’s product lines.
He joined Dell in May 2008 and has since held leadership roles within world-wide procurement in Dell Austin, India and Singapore, supporting commodity procurement, materials management, inbound logistics and supply chain strategy, gaining deep experience in complex negotiations, supply chain enablement and operations management.
Based in Singapore office, Sumit oversees ~$7B USD of production component spend, end-to-end strategic sourcing activities, including long-term planning, commodity strategy, cost negotiations, incubation of commodity related technology innovations and operations management, as well as supplier relationship management. He is also the Executive Sponsor of Dell APJ PRIDE employee resource group, which promotes inclusiveness of LGBTQ team members.
Before joining Dell, Sumit spent 11 years in IT Services industry, where he managed software delivery, business process consulting, quality assurance, and business development.
Sumit graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology in India and holds an MBA with a specialization in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University.