Archived events
Asia Pacific - Canada’s opportunities and challenges in the region
December 5, 2023 @ Vancouver, BC
This month’s event was presented by
Meet the panelists
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Sukesh Kumar is an audit partner with KPMG Canada and has over 27 years of experience. He has served as a member of KPMG’s National Audit Leadership Team focusing on driving audit‐related initiatives for the private companies. He works with several companies, serving them as a Trusted Business Advisory and helping them grow and make their business better. For his contributions to the CPA profession and the community, Sukesh was awarded Fellowship by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia.
Sukesh is also the National Leader of India Practice in Canada for KPMG. As the leader of India practice in Canada, Sukesh is actively involved in the Canada‐India Business Corridor with the focus on supporting trade and investment opportunities between Canada and India. He is actively engaged in policy dialogue on promoting trade between Canada and India. Sukesh regularly visits India and leads a dedicated team in Canada and India focusing on supporting bilateral trade and investment opportunities. Sukesh is involved in various organizations focusing on Canada‐India Trade corridor, including currently serving as the Board Chair for Canada‐India Business Council. He had the opportunity to serve on various boards, including BC Tech, Vancouver Enterprise Forum, SUCCESS.
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Duncan Wilson joined the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s executive team in 2011. In his role as the vice president, environment and external affairs at the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, he leads a diverse portfolio including the organization’s government, community, and Indigenous relations; external communications; customer engagement; climate action and sustainability, ecosystem management, and project and environmental review functions.
Since joining the port authority in 2003, Duncan has been integral in the development of some of the organization’s key sustainability initiatives, including the port authority’s vision for the Port of Vancouver to be the world’s most sustainable port. As part of that work, he facilitated collaboration with the community and stakeholders to define a sustainable port as one that delivers economic prosperity through trade, maintains a healthy environment, and enables thriving communities. Duncan has also overseen the significant expansion of the port authority’s environmental work, including the world-leading ECHO Program.
Duncan has a distinguished track record of community leadership, having served three consecutive terms as commissioner on the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, including three years as chair of the board. In 2012, his work in community service and leadership earned him the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Duncan is a founder and former board member of Clear Seas Centre for Responsible Shipping in Canada. He is also a governor and past chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, a board on which he served for 10 years.
Duncan holds a bachelor of arts degree and certificate in liberal arts from Simon Fraser University, and a post-graduate diploma in financial strategy from the University of Oxford. He is also a graduate of the University of Oxford’s Advanced Leadership and Management Program.
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Jeff Nankivell is the President and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Prior to joining APF Canada in late 2021, Jeff had a 33-year career in Canada's Foreign Service. He held various positions at the Canadian International Development Agency between 1988 and 2008, working on programs related to China, Russia, strategic policy, and international financial institutions. A fluent Mandarin speaker, he was posted three times to Canada's embassy in Beijing – in the development assistance section 1991-95 and 2000-04, and as Deputy Head of Mission 2008-11.
From 2011 to 2016, Jeff served in Ottawa/Gatineau as Director General responsible for Canada’s official development assistance programs across Asia, first with the Canadian International Development Agency and then with Global Affairs Canada. In 2016 he was appointed Consul General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao, serving in Hong Kong until May 2021.
Jeff holds a Master’s degree in political sociology from the London School of Economics, BA in international relations from the University of Toronto and Université Laval, and certificate (one-year program) in Chinese language and culture from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
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Michael de Jong was re-elected in 2020 as the MLA for Abbotsford West, an area he has represented since first being elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in a 1994 by-election. He currently serves as Shadow Minister for the Attorney General.
In the past, he has served as Minister of Finance, Minister of Health, Attorney General, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, Minister of Labour and Citizens’ Services, and Minister of Forests. In addition, he served as Government House Leader.
He has chaired the Treasury Board and the Legislative Review Committee and was a member of the Cabinet Working Group on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), the Priorities and Planning Committee, and the Cabinet Working Group on Core Review.
Before he was elected a Member of the Legislative Assembly in 1994, de Jong served two terms as a school trustee for Abbotsford School District 34 and was a practising lawyer with his own Abbotsford firm. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton University in Ottawa and a law degree from the University of Alberta.
Michael has also been involved with the Abbotsford-Matsqui Arts Council and the Matsqui Youth Commission and holds the rank of Captain in the Canadian Armed Forces Air Force Reserve.
Still an avid hockey player, in his teen years de Jong was a member of the Abbotsford Pilots Junior B hockey team. He attended Mouat Secondary School and still lives on the Matsqui Prairie farm where he grew up.
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An engineer, Dr. Indira V. Samarasekera is former president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta (2005-2015), and has honorary degrees from the University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, Queen's University Belfast, University of Montréal and the University of Western Ontario. She has been awarded the E.W.R. Steacie Fellowship (1991), the Peter Lougheed award for leadership in public policy and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012). She is an Officer of the Order of Canada (2002) and a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Engineering (2014).
Dr. Samarasekera is a member of the board of directors for Scotiabank and Magna International, and a member of the advisory board for Canada's Outstanding CEO of the Year award. She has been a member of the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, which advises on Senate of Canada appointments, since 2016. She serves on the boards of the Asia-Pacific Foundation and the Rideau Hall Foundation. Dr. Samarasekera is a Distinguished Fellow in Residence at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia.