Authors

Dr. Pitman B. Potter is Professor Emeritus in Law at the University of British Columbia; Distinguished Fellow, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; and, a Member of the Order of Canada.

Pitman Potter retired from UBC in 2020. Before his retirement, he served in various roles at Allard Hall, including as Director of Chinese Legal Studies, Director of Asian Legal Studies, Director of the Graduate Program, and Associate Dean. Potter also served as Director of UBC’s Institute of Asian Research during 1999-2008, where he held the HSBC Chair in Asian Research (1999- 2016). 

Dr. Potter’s research extends to many areas of PRC and Taiwan law and policy, including human rights, foreign trade and investment, business regulation, and dispute settlement. He has published many books, including his most recent work, Exporting Virtue? China’s International Human Rights Activism in the Age of Xi Jinping (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2021). 

Potter's research has supported significant legal reform and policy advancement. In Canada, his work has supported integrated approaches to trade and human rights. The impact of his work has also spanned Asia, from food-security law and education systems in rural India to housing policies in Shanghai. 

The Hon. Bryon Wilfert, P.C., M.A., ICD.D., is a former Canadian Member of Parliament and former Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs, founder and Chair of the Canada-Vietnam Parliamentary Association, and Special Advisor to the Canada-Vietnam Trade Council. He has visited Vietnam 12 times and has been engaged in strengthening Canada–Vietnam relations for more than two decades. 

A.W. Lee is Director of Inclusive International Trade at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. In his role, he promotes diversity in international trade – diversifying both Canada’s global markets as well as the profile of its exporters. A.W. Lee joined the Foundation in 2017 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Global Social Policy at the University of Toronto, where he focused on studying export needs in Ontario and trade opportunities in Asia.

Before joining the Foundation, A.W. Lee lectured on gender, race, and economic inclusion in the Women's Studies and Sociology departments at the University of Toronto and Queen's University. He holds a PhD in Cultural Studies and an MSc in Anatomy and Cell Biology from Queen's University.

A.W. Lee has also been actively involved in advocating for migrant women's rights and worker safety in the Chinese Canadian community. He has served as the Chairperson for the Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNCTO) and currently serves as a Board Director for the National Coalition of Canadians Against Anti-Asian Racism (NCCAAR), where he contributes to addressing anti-Asian violence and discrimination through fundraising and educational initiatives. 

Dr. Kati Suominen is Founder and CEO of Nextrade Group and ideates and leads Nextrade Group engagements with the company's more than 50 clients. She has ideated and built dozens of data and analytical products, pilot initiatives, and eight global initiatives and public-private-partnerships to support Nextrade's clients in enabling world trade through technology.

Kati is the author and editor of over 120 papers and 10 peer-reviewed books on trade, globalization and technology and has spoken and keynoted numerous times at such venues as Davos, World Trade Organization, World Trade Symposium, Global Trade Review, ICC Banking Commission, Institute of International Finance, IMF, and World Bank, APEC Senior Officials' Meeting, and commented in such media as Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Time, Politico, BBC, CSPAN, USA Today, and Los Angeles Times. 

Danielle Goldfarb is an expert on trade, real-time data, economics, and public policy. She is a McArthur Research Fellow and a Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, and a Fellow at the CSA Public Policy Centre. She has developed leading-edge research programs and written almost 100 policy papers for Canadian and U.S. think-tanks. 

Research Areas: Natural resource policy, foreign direct investment, free trade.

Rachael Gurney is a Senior Project Specialist, International Trade and Investment, at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She has a M.A. in Political Science and Contemporary East Asian and Southeast Asian studies from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia. Her master’s research focused on resource nationalism in Indonesia’s critical mineral mining policies. Her research interests concern natural resource policy, foreign direct investment, and free trade.

Anastasia Ufimtseva is the Senior Program Manager with the International Trade and Investment team at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She holds a PhD in Global Governance from the Balsillie School of International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University, with a specialization in international political economy. Her research focuses on foreign direct investment, international trade, economic security, and Canada’s economic relations with the Indo-Pacific. 

Anastasia's academic work has been published in leading international journals, including the Academy of Management Perspectives, Journal of International Business Policy, Energy Policy, Global Policy, and Cambridge Review of International Affairs. She leads research for APF Canada’s Investment Monitor, which tracks two-way investment between Canada and the Asia Pacific. She is also a faculty fellow at the Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University.

Justin Wong is the APEC Networks Officer at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. He was previously a Research Scholar with APF Canada's International Trade & Investment team. 

Before joining the Foundation, Justin worked in the Asia-Pacific Branch at Global Affairs Canada and with INTERPOL's Special Representative Office to the United Nations in New York. He holds a Master of Management from the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business and a dual Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia and Sciences Po Paris. 

His work focuses on artificial intelligence policy, cross-border investment, and Canada-Asia business engagement.