Meet the speakers that will be participating in the trade and investment seminars at the 9th International Conference of Asia Scholars (ICAS9)
Read more about the seminars here. If you would like to attend, registration is essential.
Alfred Huang AM
Dr Alfred Huang AM
Alfred Huang was born in Chengdu, China and came to Australia in 1965 to study Civil Engineering at the RMIT University. Over a period of 25 years, he held senior positions in engineering and management in Federal Government in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
In 1992, Alfred was elected Councillor of the Adelaide City Council, and became the Deputy Lord Mayor three years later. He was elected the first Chinese born Lord Mayor of an Australian Capital City in May 2000.
Alfred received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of South Australia and was named by the Australian Government a recipient of the AM award for his contribution to the community and education in 2003. Alfred was an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Business, University of South Australia and lectured at a number of Chinese universities. He is currently the China Business & Cultural Adviser to the South Australian Government, an Advisory Board Member of the UniSA Business School and the President of the China Business Network of South Australia Inc.
Brian Croser AO
Brian Croser AO
Brian Croser began as a winemaker with Thomas Hardy and Sons in 1969.
In the early ‘70’s Brian attended The University of California at Davis for a masters program and went on to establish the Wine Science program at Charles Sturt. By 1976 Brian had established Petaluma and in 1978 gave it a home in the Piccadilly Valley and in 1986 established Argyle winery in Oregon.
Brian served as Chairman of Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney and Perth wine shows and twice as President of the Winemakers Federation. For his service to industry he was awarded an Order of Australia, the Maurice O’Shea award and was Decanter Man of The Year in 2004.
Brian was Deputy Chancellor of University of Adelaide from 1999 to 2007 and was awarded the degree of Doctor of the University for his service.
Brian still lives at the Tiers Vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley and is the winemaker for Tapanappa Wines and Tunkalilla wines in Oregon.
Brian is currently Deputy Chairman of AGWA. BJC.
Helen Leake
Film Producer (including: Wolf Creek 2, Swerve, Black and White, Heaven’s Burning), CEO of the South Australian Film Corporation (2004-07), and previously served on Australian Film Commission Board, and AusFilm
Helen Leake is one of Australia’s most experienced producers. Her latest feature WOLF CREEK 2, directed by Greg McLean, had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and was No #1 at the Australian box office on its release in February 2014. Her previous feature SWERVE performed well in ancillary markets after its platform theatrical release in Australia and sold to major territories including the United States where it had a theatrical release. Other credits include BLACK AND WHITE starring Robert Carlyle and HEAVEN’S BURNING with Russell Crowe; both were hits at over 30 international Film Festivals, including Toronto, London, Karlovy Vary and Pusan. Key projects in development are a feature on the Australian WW1 General Sir John Monash and his crucial role in ending the war, and a romantic ghost story based on a play by J.M. Barrie of Peter Pan fame. Helen also contributes her time and skills to industry organizations, Chief Executive Officer (2004-07) of the South Australian Film Corporation (2004-07), Chair of the Board of the Australian International Documentary Conference (2007 -2013), a Commissioner (1996-2004) on the Australian Film Commission (1996-2004) and a Board member of AUSFILM(2004-07). Helen has excellent mentoring skills; it is central to her work.
Professor Patrick Messerlin
Professor Patrick Messerlin
– Professor of economics (emeritus), Sciences Po
– Director, Groupe d’Economie Mondiale at Sciences Po (GEM)
Research topics
– World Trade Organization (WTO), EU trade policy
– Regulatory impact assessment, European Single Market
– Millennium Development Goals, Development
Academic cursus
– Gastprofessur, Raymond Barre-Stiftung, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Frankfurt Am Main, 2006
– Professeur, Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Paris, depuis 1990
– Professeur des universités, 1981
Other Activities
– Chairman, European Center for International Economic Policy, Brussels (2006-..)
– Co-chair with Ernesto Zedillo (former President of Mexico, director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization) of the Task Force on Trade for Development, United Nations Millennium Devlopment Goals (2003-2005).
– Special Adviser to Mike Moore, WTO Director General (2001-2003)
– Trade adviser, Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe (2001-2006)
– Senior Economist, World Bank (1986-1990)
– Member of the International Advisory Board, Acta Oeconomica Review, Budapest
Ibu Mari Pangestu
Ibu Mari Pangestu
Ibu Mari Pangestu is one of the highest profile members of the previous Indonesian government. Known by many as “the woman behind Indonesia’s economic growth”, Ibu Mari has had vast experience over twenty-five years in academia, international organisations and government, working in areas related to international trade and investment.
The first female Chinese Indonesian to hold a cabinet position in Indonesia, she is widely respected both at home and internationally, and is known as an impressive public speaker.
Born in 1956 in Jakarta, Ibu Mari obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees at the Australian National University, where she was later (2013) awarded an honorary doctorate in recognition of her achievements as an economist and policy maker in Asia. She obtained a Doctorate in Economics at the University of California.
In her role as Indonesia’s Minister of Trade Mari Pangestu not only led all trade negotiations but focused on how entrepreneurs, particularly women, could better access and benefit from trade. In her later role as Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy she helped Indonesia foster creative sectors of the economy, such as the performing arts, film, music, design, digital content and research and development.
In 1997 she became an Executive Director of the Centre for Strategic and International studies (CSIS) in Jakarta and was active over a long period in various trade forums such as the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC). She is regarded as one of the most well-known economic experts on trade issues in Indonesia. She has also served as an instructor in the Faculty of Economics in the University of Indonesia, and was nominated for the position of Director-General of the World Trade Organisation by the Indonesian Government in 2012.
Mari Pangestu is married to Adi Harsono and has two children, Raymond and Arya.
Des Pearson
Des Pearson
Mr Des Pearson has nearly three decades of public policy experience and has taught Economics at University level for over 10 years. He is a former First Secretary (Economic) at the Australian High Commission in Ottawa, where he reported on Canadian economic, agricultural and trade policies and their implications for Australia. At the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Canberra, Des focussed on South-East Asian trade policies and their implications for Australian trade and his work was published by DFAT’s East-Asia Analytical Unit. In the earlier part of his professional career, Mr Pearson was a research economist with Australia’s Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics in Canberra.
Mr Pearson has also been a policy advisor at the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources, where he provided analysis and briefing on APEC, WTO and Free Trade Agreement issues relating to Australia’s manufacturing sector. He was also a Manager of a Policy Advising unit at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry where he managed the International Wool and Dairy Section. Since moving to Adelaide in 2007, Mr Pearson has been the Manager, Trade Policy at South Australia’s Department of Trade and Economic Development and more recently, Executive Officer of the South East Forestry Industry Roundtable at the South Australian Department of Treasury and Finance. Mr Pearson is currently Trade Adviser with the Department of State Development.
With respect to his academic career, Des Pearson is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Adelaide’s School of Economics and the Ngee Ann-Adelaide Education Centre in Singapore where he lectures in International Trade and Investment Policy II/IID. Mr Pearson is also Lecturer for the Economics of Climate Change, a Masters’ level course. Earlier on his career Mr Pearson taught Macroeconomics at the University of Canberra and he has also taught Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and International Economics at the University of South Australia.
Frances Wong
Frances Wong OAM
Francis Wong is a prominent business entrepreneur based in Adelaide, South Australia. Over the past 26 years he has been a great role model migrant of Australia with his business, community engagements and contributions. On Australia Day 2014, he was honored with an Order of Australia Medal OAM for his contribution to business and Service.
He migrated from Brunei Darussalam in 1988 to establish Encounter Australia Pty Ltd., which is now one of the leading and most awarded national Inbound and Destination Management Tourism companies in Australia. He also co-managed a successful outbound retail travel company trading as Lai Lai Travel. Over the past 20 years, the agency has consistently won top performance awards for Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways.
Francis Wong’s positive attitude and entrepreneurial style with very strong marketing background has won respect in Australia. His experience in various industries in Australia, coupled with his influential network within the governments and private enterprise has brought many rewards to the Australian tourism industry and business communities. This has also led to him being awarded the Council for International Trade and Commerce of South Australia (CITCSA) International Business Ambassador for 3 consecutive years, 2002, 2003 and 2004. In 2005 he was awarded as CITCSA Life Business Ambassador and is now the Chairman of the Council for International Trade and Commerce of South Australia.
In 1998, he was appointed by the Australian Federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to serve on the Business Advisory Panel, advising the Minister and the Department on the national skill migration policy.
In 2003, he is the first Asian in Australia to receive the prestigious national award – ‘Most Outstanding Contributing by an Individual to the Australian Tourism Export and in 1998, the South Australian Most Outstanding contribution by an Individual to Tourism.
Francis Wong understands the importance of keeping abreast both the domestic and international market environment. His ability of understanding the value of capitalizing on networks has brought many rewards to the Business, Tourism and Multicultural community of Australia.
Kym Anderson
Kym Anderson AC
Kym Anderson is the George Gollin Professor of Economics, foundation Executive Director of the Wine Economics Research Centre, and formerly foundation Executive Director of the Centre for International Economic Studies at the University of Adelaide in Australia, where he has been affiliated since 1984.
Previously he was a Research Fellow at the Australian National University’s Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (1977-83), following doctoral studies at the University of Chicago and Stanford University (1974-77); and in 2012 he rejoined ANU part-time as a Professor of Economics in its Crawford School of Public Policy. He was on extended leave at the Economic Research division of the GATT (now WTO) Secretariat in Geneva during 1990-92 and at the World Bank’s Research Group in Washington DC as Lead Economist (Trade Policy) during 2004-07. He is a Fellow of the AAEA, AARES, AAWE, ASSA and CEPR.
He is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Washington DC-based International Food Policy Research Institute, and is President of the Policy Advisory Council of Australia’s Centre for International Agricultural Research.
He served as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Australia’s Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation during 2000-05. He has published more than 350 articles and 35 books, including The Political Economy of Agricultural Protection (with Yujiro Hayami), Disarray in World Food Markets (with Rod Tyers), Agricultural Trade Reform and the Doha Development Agenda (with Will Martin), The World’s Wine Markets: Globalization at Work and, during 2008-10, a set of 4 regional and 3 global books on Distortions to Agricultural Incentives.
His publications have received a number of awards, including the AAEA’s 2010 Bruce Gardner Memorial Prize for Applied Policy Analysis. He is a co-founder of the American Association of Wine Economists, and a co-editor of its Journal of Wine Economics which is published by Cambridge University Press.
He has compiled two compendia of global wine data and one of Australian wine developments, which are available from the University of Adelaide Press as free e-books at (www.adelaide.edu.au/press/titles). They are Global Wine Markets, 1961 to 2009: A Statistical Compendium (with Signe Nelgen), 2011, Which Winegrape Varieties are Grown Where? A Global Empirical Picture (with the assistance of Nanda Aryal), 2013, and Growth and Cycles in Australia’s Wine Industry: A Statistical Compendium, 1843 to 2013 (with the assistance of N.R. Aryal), 2015. The second of those books received the OIV Prize in 2014 from the International Organization of Vine and Wine.
His current wine research is focused on the economic history of wine market developments in the New World, and on the next phases of wine globalization.
Lakmini Mendis
Lakmini Peiris Mendis
Lakmini has working experience in the private, semi government and public sector. Her career spans from a banker, a market researcher, trainer/consultant, commercial officer to a Government representative.
In 2002 she joined the Department of Commerce, Sri Lanka which is the foreign trade policy formulating arm of the government and the focal point for World Tarde Organization (WTO). She serves as a Deputy Director and has actively engaged in bilateral and regional trade negotiations and trade promotion work. Overseas trade representation is a significant area falling under the purview of the Department of Commerce and she has been posted in Malaysia as 2nd Secretary Commercial, then in UK as the 1st Secretary Commercial where her main role was to promote trade, investment and tourism, facilitate businesses and report economic and trade policies. She has firsthand experiences in liaising with the host country government officials, trade chambers, businesses and other research organizations. Her last posting was at the Permanent Missions of Sri Lanka to the UN & WTO in Geneva as the Minister Counsellor and Chargé d´ Affaires representing Sri Lanka at WTO, UNCTAD, ITC and other UN organizations.
Completing her tenure as a Delegate, now Lakmini is researching on “How Global Food Security Challenges could be addressed in the context of a Multilateral Trading System?” at the Institute of International Trade, University of Adelaide where she is a PhD candidate since August 2013.
She also holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and a MBA from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura, Sri Lanka.
Mandar Oak
Mandar Oak
Mandar Oak is an Associate Professor of Economics at University of Adelaide, Australia. His areas of research specialization are political economy, development economics and applied game theory. He has published several journal articles in these areas. He has a Masters degree from the Delhi School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Cornell University, Ithaca NY in 2002. Before moving to Adelaide in 2008, he was Assistant Professor at Williams College in Williamstown, MA. He is a regular visitor at the Indian institute of Management, Bangalore, India. Formerly, he was the Head of the School of Economics at Adelaide.
Mark Rowley
Mark Rowley has been with Wine Australia as an industry analyst for seven years. Before this, he was a resource economist and also worked with Macquarie Bank. He graduated from Adelaide University with an honours degree in economics. Mark was first introduced to the wine industry when his father planted some vines on the banks of the River Murray. Here he experienced the boom years and the subsequent downturn which resulted in the grubbing of those vineyards just ten years later.
Today he combines the knowledge of the vineyard and also markets to provide analysis and information on the global wine markets to Australian wineries and growers. He has a particular interest in analytical technology and how this can be applied to the Australian wine industry.
Steve Guy
Steve Guy
Steve Guy has a degree in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Adelaide and a degree in oenology from Roseworthy Agricultural College. He has worked for some of Australia’s major wine companies, including Seppelt, Wynns, Mildara and Wolf Blass.
After nearly twenty years working as a wine chemist and winemaker he joined the Australian Government’s statutory wine authority in September 2000 where he is responsible for regulatory matters and international trade issues.
He is closely involved with a number of international bodies covering the wine sector, including the World Wine Trade Group and FIVS, the Paris-based wine and spirits trade association.
Steve has been a regular attendee of the APEC Wine Regulatory Forum since it first met in San Francisco and believes this forum has the potential to reduce unnecessary technical trade barriers. Steve also holds an MBA and a diploma in wine law from the University of Champagne in Reims, France.
Dr Jimmyn Parc
Dr Jimmyn Parc
Jimmyn Parc (Ph.D.) is a visiting lecturer at Sciences Po Paris and an associated researcher at the EU Center, Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University. He has published several academic articles and conducted a number of research projects related to competitiveness of organizations, industries, and countries. His main research topics are on strategies of different business systems and cultures with historical approaches.