Dr. Deborah Elms
Founder and Executive Director, Asian Trade Centre
President, Asia Business Trade Association
Dr. Deborah Elms is the Founder and Executive Director of the Asian Trade Centre (ATC) and the President of the Asia Business Trade Association (ABTA).
Concurrently, she is a member of APCO’s International Advisory Council, the G20 Trade and Investment Research Network, and the Advisory Board of the Trade and Investment Negotiation Adviser (TINA) at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP).
Dr. Elms has extensive experience working with governments, international organizations, and businesses and is one of the leading experts on trade policy in the region. She was also active in her past leadership posts in international trade groups having served on the Trade and Investment Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF) from 2017 to 2019, the International Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Trade Professionals Alliance (GTPA), as well as being the chair of its Working Group on Trade Policy and Law.
Prior to her current role, Dr. Elms was head of the Temasek Foundation Centre for Trade and Negotiations and Senior Fellow of International Political Economy at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Dr. Elms received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Washington, an MA in international relations from the University of Southern California, and bachelor’s degrees from Boston University. Dr. Elms frequently appears in the media to provide expert analysis on trade issues in the region and publishes the Talking Trade Blog. |
 Arpaporn (Gift) Samabhandhu
Managing Director Thailand And New Territories Of Johnson & Johnson
Gift Arpaporn Samabhandhu is the Managing Director for Johnson & Johnson Thailand & Emerging Territories, leading across Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Consumer Health sectors. Johnson & Johnson believes good health is the foundation of vibrant lives, thriving communities and forward progress. The company strives to improve access and affordability, create healthier communities, and put a healthy mind, body and environment within reach of everyone, everywhere. They are blending their heart, science and ingenuity to profoundly change the trajectory of health for humanity.
A Thai national, Gift has lived in six countries (Thailand, Canada, Vietnam, Spain, Singapore, Indonesia) with over 25 years work experience in the fields of Nutrition and Healthcare, Gift has held both commercial and regional roles in Asia Pacific. Gift started her career in FMCG, working successively for LOWE Lintas, then Coca-Cola Thailand, Boots Healthcare International, Danone Groupe (both in Baby Nutrition and Dairy divisions) and Mead Johnson Nutrition Vietnam, where she also served as Chairwomen of the Nutrition Food Group sector under EUROCHAM. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Gift was the Head of ASEA Zone and General Manager TMS for Sanofi Consumer Healthcare, covering a span of 11 countries across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong Taiwan, and South Korea.
Gift has a Bachelor of Business Degree from the Assumption University, Thailand, and an International Executive MBA Degree from the University of Victoria, Canada. She also holds a certificate for High Performance Leadership and Orchestrating Winning Performance from IMD Lausanne, Switzerland.
On top of her passion to make a difference in peoples’ lives and in healthcare, Gift is passionate about building purposeful brands and has a strong track record in building high performing diverse teams with a sincere interest in people growth and development. During her free time, she loves to water-ski and wakeboard and believes in work-life integration. |
 Billie Tan
President, UPS South Asia Pacific
Billie Tan is president of UPS in South Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, she is focused on driving strategic growth for UPS’s express operations across a diverse range of 32 emerging and mature markets across Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.
A UPS veteran of more than 20 years and a proven leader, Billie started her career with the global logistics leader in Penang, Malaysia and was rapidly promoted into various positions in business development, customer solutions and operations.
Billie relocated to Singapore in 2009 as director of sales for South Asia following business development assignments in Malaysia and Hong Kong. She then took on the role of vice president of enterprise sales in 2012 and vice president of business development for UPS Asia Pacific in 2015. Under her leadership, UPS’s sales force trailblazed innovative solutions that set UPS apart in a dynamic market, receiving numerous accolades from its customers.
Most recently, Billie was president of international sales and customer solutions in 2019. In this role she was based at UPS’s headquarters in Atlanta and led UPS’s international growth strategy across Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America and ISMEA regions through a time of unprecedented global disruptions.
Billie is an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and serves on UPS’s global DEI council. She was one of the early founders of UPS’s Women’s Leadership Development business resource group in Asia Pacific and was named the region’s diversity & inclusion ambassador in 2017. She continues to be an active sponsor for various business resource groups, including the Asian Business Resource Group in Atlanta, U.S., which recognises and celebrates Asian and Pacific Islander heritage.
She holds a Master of Business Administration from Herriot Watt University. A multilingual speaker, Billie can converse fluently in English, Mandarin and Malay; and Asian dialects, Cantonese and Hokkien. |
Mary Tarnowka
