APEC Comes to Seattle

Thirty years after the very first APEC Leaders’ Summit took place in Seattle, APEC will return to the city in August this year. While this year’s Leaders’ Summit will be held in San Francisco, Seattle will host the third Senior Officials’ and several Ministerial-level meetings on women’s empowerment, health, energy, food security, disaster management and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Washington State and Seattle have long been at the center of U.S. engagement with the Asia-Pacific region across business, trade, and culture.

Seattle also holds the distinction of being the home to the National Center for APEC (NCAPEC). Join us on March 7, when Monica Hardy Whaley, President of the NCAPEC, will share her insights on the APEC process and some of its successes and challenges. Monica will also explain what APEC’s coming to Seattle this year will mean for the region.

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SPEAKER

Monica Hardy Whaley, President, the National Center for APEC (NCAPEC)

Monica has been with the NCAPEC since the Center’s founding after the first-ever APEC Leaders Meeting that took place in Seattle in 1993. 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.

NCAPEC is the home of the APEC 2023 USA Private Sector Host Committee, the U.S. secretariat for the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (US-PECC), the secretariat for the U.S. appointees to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), and Pacific Summit Resources, LLC, which partners with APEC Host economies to produce the annual APEC CEO Summit programs. NCAPEC was also the lead coordinator for the APEC 2011 USA CEO Summit Host Committee.

Prior to assuming her responsibilities at the National Center for APEC, Monica served in various roles at 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, which were the first APEC gatherings convened at the Leaders level.

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, a member of the U.S. Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (US-PECC) as well as being a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

MODERATOR

Nor Coquillard, Executive Director, the Washington State China Relations Council

Nor served as a business executive in Asia running the operations of Cargill, Incorporated in Korea, Japan and China from the mid 1980’s until 2010. During that time, he held numerous positions in business associations including serving as the Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai for several years.

Nor served as the Chairman and President of Enactus China, the China operations of the U.S.-based non-profit. From 2011 to 2017, he also served as the of Chairman of IMA China, an organization that hosts forums for the China-based CEOs of multinational corporations.

Nor is on the International Advisory Council of the global consulting firm, APCO and is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.