Executive Roundtable with Asian Development Bank U.S. Director Chantale Wong – Opportunities and Prospects between the U.S. and Asia

Join us for an off-the-record discussion with Ambassador Chantale Wong who serves as the U.S. Director for the Asia Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, Philippines. In this discussion Ambassador Wong will provide insight on ADB projects, discuss overall U.S.-Asia political and economic relations, and provide insights into the upcoming APEC Summit. This private event is for Board, Advisory Council, Groundbreaker, and Innovator Members and will be held on Monday, September 18 from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Pacific in San Francisco.

This Executive Roundtable Program is for Innovator, Groundbreaker, Advisory Council, and Board Members and will be held on Monday, September 18 from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Pacific in Silicon Valley. 

This event is private and off-the-record. Registration and confirmation are required at least 24 hours before the event. Space is limited. Lunch will be served.

AGENDA 

Date: Monday, September 18, 2023 from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Pacific  

Board, Advisory Council, Groundbreaker and Innovator Members Event.

• 11:00 a.m.     Event Registration and Networking 
• 11:30 a.m.     Event and Q&A Discussion, lunch will be served 
• 12:45 p.m.     Networking 
• 1:00 p.m.       Event Concludes

Location:

Your participation will be confirmed via email 1 week before the program begins.

SPEAKER BIO

Ambassador Chantale Wong was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate on February 8, 2022 as the U.S. Executive Director to the Asian Development Bank with the rank of Ambassador. Ambassador Wong has had a long and distinguished career in public service, a leader-participant in some of the most significant events in U.S. history. Until August 2016, she was the Senior Vice President at a technology startup firm, Amida Technology Solutions, where she focused on solving data interoperability challenges by developing agile, open source tools. Just prior to that, she was appointed by President Obama to serve as Vice President for Administration and Finance, and Chief Financial Officer at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

Chantale was also intimately involved in the financial rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and in developing the framework of the financial instruments of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). During her career, Chantale has held leadership positions at the Office of Management and Budget, Departments of Treasury and Interior, NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency.

F. Cleo Kawawaki has more than 32 years of professional work experience, including 22 years in ADB. Cleo has led ADB projects worth over $6 billion and managed a $7 billion portfolio. In December 2014, she was promoted to Director and went on to become Deputy Director General in the Southeast Asia Department in July 2017. In 2021 she became a Senior Advisor in the Central and West Asia Department. Cleo was appointed Head of OPPP in January 2022.

Ms. Kawawaki joined ADB in October 2000 as a Commercial Cofinancing Officer in the former Office for Cofinancing Operations. In January 2004 she joined ADB’s Southeast Asia Department as a Senior Private Sector Development Specialist. In 2006 she was transferred to the Central and West Asia Department as a Senior Private Sector Development Specialist and was promoted to Principal Energy Specialist in 2008.

Before ADB, she worked as an investment banker at Nomura Securities in Japan and in Hong Kong, China. There, she led documentation for UK electricity privatization and worked as a transaction advisor for state-owned enterprises. Cleo also structured finance and managed syndication for equity and bond sales. Immediately before joining ADB, she structured transactions for Miyazawa initiative debt guarantees to support ASEAN countries.

Danica R. Starks is the Senior U.S. Commercial Liaison and Advisor to the U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank and Head of the Commerce Department’s Multilateral Development Bank Group. Physically embedded at the World Bank in Washington, DC, Danica represents the interests of the U.S. Department of Commerce to the World Bank Group and serves as a liaison between the Bank and U.S. business community. In this role, Danica also oversees the Department of Commerce’s
Liaison Offices at the other multilateral banks, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (London, UK), Asian Development Bank (Manila, Philippines), African Development Bank (Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire) and Inter-American Development Bank (Washington, DC).

Danica has over twenty years of experience in international economic policy, commercial
diplomacy, trade, and national security, with a specialization in Europe and Eurasia. Most
recently Danica served as the Director of the Policy Team at the U.S. Department of Commerce
in the Office of Russia, Ukraine & Eurasia. She has also previously done assignments as a Senior
Advisor at the U.S. Helsinki Commission and to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global
Markets.

Danica is a Presidential Management Fellow alumna and holds a Master’s of Science at the
Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, one of two Joint U. S.
Military War Colleges, at the National Defense University, where she pursued a concentration in
European Studies and was named top student in the Space Industry Study. Danica also holds an
M.A. in International Affairs with concentrations in Development and Transition Economics and
Russian, Eurasian and Eastern European Studies from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze
School of Advanced International Studies and a B.A. in International Studies and Economics with
a minor in Russian and Eastern European Affairs from The American University. Danica speaks
Russian and Spanish and has studied Czech, Italian, Serbo-Croatian and Norwegian.

Danica is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (and currently heads the Refugee
Assistance in America Program for her local chapter) as well as Chief. She has a passion for
mentoring which she does through several organizations, including her own Monthly Mentoring
Mondays program, is the Prince George’s County Lead for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense
in America, the Co-Founder of the ITA Ambassadors Program, a diversity recruitment initiative
and serves on the board of E.M.I.C.- Engaging Minorities in International Cultures.