Chris Humphrey is a Business Development and Government Relations professional with more than a decade of experience running business units throughout Asia, and over 20 years of experience of either working for or dealing with Governments and regulatory authorities.

Chris began his varied professional career as a UK Civil Servant where, amongst other things, he was a Private Secretary to a Minister and an Air Services Trade Negotiator covering the Asia Pacific Region.

After leaving Government, Chris moved to the private sector working initially in the Government and external relations teams at two British airlines, before moving to Shanghai, China with Virgin Atlantic where he headed up the airline’s China operation and oversaw the rapid expansion of their business in China. Whilst in Shanghai, Chris also sat on the Executive Committee of the British Chamber of Commerce. After a short spell in Hong Kong with Virgin, Chris then joined a UK based security and defence group where he led their Asia Pacific team for over five years and was instrumental in them getting contracts with the Japanese and Singapore Governments and also with SOEs in China.

Chris has now been in Singapore for over a decade and has been running the EU-ASEAN Business Council since its formal inception in 2014, where he has overseen a 325% increase in its membership and helped make the Business Council the foremost business body for European industry in ASEAN.

Bernadette Fatima T. Romulo-Puyat (born May 14, 1969) is the current Secretary of the Department of Tourism after being appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018. She attended the University of the Philippines and pursued an undergraduate and a Masters degree in Economics.

Secretary Romulo-Puyat was a former lecturer at the UP School of Economics (1994-2006). She also served as an Economic Consultant at the Housing and Urban Development Coordination Council (HUDCC) (2001-2002) and the Presidential Management Staff (2005-2006), and was Deputy Cabinet Secretary at the Office of the President in 2006.

She was appointed as Undersecretary at the Department of Agriculture from 2007 to 2018 where she was designated to handle Special Concerns, Administration and Finance, and Agribusiness and Marketing.

Secretary Romulo-Puyat assumed office as the Secretary of the Department of Tourism on May 14, 2018.

Wouter van Ravenhorst graduated with a Master’s in International Business and Strategic Management from the University of York. He is the Managing Director of Control Union Philippines and focuses on developing, among others, agri-food related activities in the Mindanao region. Next to this role as MD, he is also part of regional and global experts’ teams surrounding various commodities and services. His strengths lie in business development, project management and client relationship management. Wouter has over 8 years experience in international commodity supply chains focusing on sustainability, traceability, certifications, inspections and fumigation.

Mark Van Steenwyk is an expert in agriculture and agribusiness with over forty years of experience designing and managing agricultural business development activities in the Asia-Pacific Region, including long-term assignments in the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and numerous short-term engagements in Nepal, India, Maldives, Bangladesh, Fiji, Nauru and Vanuatu.

In the Philippines, where he has more than 30 years of experience, he began his agribusiness development work in the 1970s, first as a US Peace Corps volunteer and later as a USAID agribusiness advisor. During the 1980s and 1990s he completed a series of both long and short term assignments with a particular focus on agricultural, agribusiness and peace building issues related to economic growth strategies, including serving as the Chief of Party of the Agro-Enterprise Growth and Investment Support (AEGIS) project in Mindanao, 1992-1994, and subsequently as Team Leader/COP of the SME Development Service Centers project, 1994-1998, where he worked closely with local government and the business community to support agribusiness value chain growth and expanded regional business services capacity, particularly in conflict affected areas of Mindanao.

Mr. Van Steenwyk’s Sri Lanka experience includes serving for two years as Executive Director, Business Services Support Facility under the ADB-funded Small and Medium Enterprise Sector Development Program, 2003-2005, where he worked closely with business chambers and managed a network of six regional business development centers that promoted agribusiness value chain development countrywide.

His work illustrates a broad knowledge of market driven enterprise development, business development services and improved access to finance.

Colin is the Head of the UK Government’s Digital Trade Network for Thailand and ASEAN. He is currently based at the British Embassy Bangkok and works extensively with governments and businesses to promote digital trade and regulatory cooperation across the UK and ASEAN. Prior to taking up his current posting, Colin worked in a number of emerging technology policy and digital transformation delivery roles across government – including at the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, Ministry of Justice, and Cabinet Office. Colin has also worked in related digital transformation and communications roles across the private sector in the UK and overseas, including at the British Chamber of Commerce Shanghai.

Colin previously studied Law and Mandarin Chinese at the University of Southampton (UK) and Fudan University (Shanghai, China).