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Katherine Tai
United States Trade Representative at Office of the United States Trade RepresentativeAmbassador Katherine Tai was sworn in as the 19th United States Trade Representative on March 18, 2021. As a member of the President’s Cabinet, Ambassador Tai is the principal trade advisor, negotiator, and spokesperson on U.S. trade policy.
Prior to her unanimous Senate confirmation, Ambassador Tai spent most of her career in public service focusing on international economic diplomacy, monitoring, and enforcement. She previously served as Chief Trade Counsel and Trade Subcommittee Staff Director for the House Ways and Means Committee in the United States Congress. In this capacity, Ambassador Tai played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. trade law, negotiations strategies, and bilateral and multilateral agreements, including the recently re-negotiated United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
Ambassador Tai is an experienced World Trade Organization (WTO) litigator. She previously developed and tried cases for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, eventually becoming the Chief Counsel for China Trade Enforcement. Before transitioning to federal service, she practiced law in the private sector, clerked for district judges, and taught English in Guangzhou, China.
Ambassador Tai earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Yale University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. She is fluent in Mandarin.
Ramin Toloui
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at U.S. Department of StateRamin Toloui is the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. In this role, Toloui leads the Department’s efforts focused on expanding opportunity for American workers and businesses, deepening cooperation with other countries on shared economic challenges, and leveraging economic tools to advance U.S. national security objectives.
Before joining the Department of State, Toloui was Professor of the Practice of International Finance at Stanford University and the Tad and Dianne Taube Policy Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. His research and teaching focused on global markets and international economic cooperation, prevention and management of financial crises, and the impact of technological change on economic and financial stability. Toloui served from 2014 through 2017 as the Assistant Secretary for International Finance at the U.S. Treasury Department, where he was responsible for international monetary affairs, global financial markets, coordination with the G-7/G-20, and regional and bilateral economic issues. From 2006 to 2014, Ramin served as Global Co-Head of Emerging Markets Portfolio Management at PIMCO, directing portfolio strategy and trading for $100 billion in emerging market investments. Ramin began his career as a civil servant at the U.S. Treasury Department working on financial stabilization programs around the globe, including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Turkey, and the Balkans.
Ramin received an A.B. summa cum laude in Economics from Harvard University and an M.Phil in International Relations from Balliol College at Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
Dominic Ng
Chairman and CEO of East West BankDominic Ng joined East West Bank in May 1991. As its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, he has since transformed a small savings and loan with assets of $600 million into a global commercial bank with over $60 billion in assets. The bank placed first in the $50 billion and above category in Bank Director’s 2021 Bank Performance Scorecard and Best Board in 2022.
A thought leader in banking, economics, foreign policy, arts and culture, Mr. Ng serves on the governing boards of Mattel, University of Southern California and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. He is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has been widely profiled for his business achievements, civic and philanthropic leadership. Mr. Ng was recognized by American Banker as Banker of the Year and awarded United Way Worldwide's highest honor. He was named Los Angeles Business Journal Business Person of the Year, and one of Los Angeles Times 100 most influential people in Los Angeles. In addition, Mr. Ng's commitment to deepening cultural understanding between the East and the West helped expand the permanent collections of the L.A. County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, L.A.
Mr. Ng's extensive past board service includes PacifiCare Health Systems; Federal Reserve Bank San Francisco - Los Angeles Branch; and the Committee of 100 of which he served as Chairman.
Laura Lane
EVP & Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer at UPSLaura Lane is Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer. In this role she oversees Public Policy and Government Affairs, Communications, Sustainability, Community Relations and The UPS Foundation and is a member of UPS’s Executive Leadership Team reporting to CEO Carol B. Tomé.
Laura began her UPS career as president, Global Public Affairs in 2011 and was responsible for worldwide government affairs activities for UPS in over 220 countries and territories. She managed a global team of over 80 government affairs and strategic communications professionals. In this role, she strengthened UPS growth and competitiveness, including successfully advocating for comprehensive tax and pension reform; enhancing network efficiencies through infrastructure investments; securing alternative fuel credits in support of sustainability; working to modernize trade agreements and customs processes; leveling the playing field with postal networks; facilitating UPS Flight Forward certification; and advocating for laws that promote equity and justice in the workplace.
Prior to joining UPS, Laura served in both the public and private sectors. She was managing director and head of International Government Affairs at Citigroup and vice president for Global Public Policy with Time Warner.
In her government career, Laura served as a trade negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in the negotiation of China’s entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the WTO Financial Services Agreement and the WTO Basic Telecommunications Agreement. She also served as a diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1990-1997, including serving at the American Embassy in Bogota, Colombia and Kigali, Rwanda. In Rwanda, she led evacuation efforts during the outbreak of civil war and returned as political advisor to U.S. forces providing humanitarian relief in the post-conflict environment. In her TED Talk, Laura describes that first-hand account and the importance of advocating for positive change.
Laura is one of three U.S. government-appointed business representatives serving on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council (ABAC). Laura previously served as a member and co-chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa. She also currently serves as a member of the Board of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees USA (UNHCR-USA) and the CDC Foundation, in addition to several other U.S. business associations and non-profits including the Atlantic Council, the German-American Business Council and the Woodruff Arts Center.
Laura graduated summa cum laude from Loyola University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and history. As a Truman Scholar, she also graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University with a Master of Science degree in foreign service in international economics and business diplomacy.
Karan Bhatia
Vice President, Government Affairs and Public Policy at GoogleKaran Bhatia is the head of government affairs & public policy at Google, a role he has held since joining the company in 2018. In this role, he leads the company’s engagement on a broad array of public policy issues and oversees its engagement with government officials and key political stakeholders in the United States and more than 100 other countries.
Prior to joining Google, Karan worked at General Electric for a decade, where he similarly led its government affairs function. Earlier in his career, he served in senior positions in the US Government, including at the Departments of Commerce and Transportation. His last role was as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative with the rank of Ambassador, overseeing U.S. international trade policy with respect to Asia and Africa. Before government service, he was a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering.
Karan has written and spoken widely on technology and international economic policy, taught at Georgetown University Law Center, and testified on many occasions before Congress. In addition to the Partnership for Public Service, he sits on the boards of the Urban Institute and the US Global Leadership Coalition.
Bhatia holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton, a master’s from the London School of Economics, and a law degree from Columbia. He and his wife Sara have two grown
sons.
Monica Hardy Whaley
President at National Center for APECMonica Hardy Whaley was named the President of the National Center for APEC in January of 2009. She served as NCAPEC’s Deputy Director at its founding in 1994 and as the Executive Director since November of 2002. 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.
Prior to assuming her responsibilities at the National Center for APEC, Monica was the Interim President and Program Director of 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.
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, as well as being a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy. She serves on several Advisory Boards, including those for Seattle University Albers School of Business-Department of Economics, the Seattle World Affairs Council and the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle. She is also very active in local organizations in support of children’s charities, school and community groups.