Curtis S. Chin Keynote Speaker

Curtis S. Chin is an internationally respected former U.S. Ambassador, business executive and commentator with a unique perspective on emerging markets, U.S.-Asia economic and political relations, and global trends. From his start as a White House intern in the Administration of President Reagan to his bipartisan service as one of the highest-ranking Asian-Americans in U.S. government, Curtis’s globe-trotting career has encompassed the public, private and non-for-profit worlds, and economic and development issues at the highest levels. In 2014 he became an Asia Fellow of the Milken Institute.

Curtis was a member of the international affairs teams at the U.S. Treasury Department under U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, from 2007-10, during one of the world’s most challenging economic times. Prior to his unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate in 2007 as only the fourth U.S. ambassador of Chinese heritage, Curtis built his career as a counsellor to business and government clients in Asia, Europe and the United States while with crisis management and public affairs consultancy Burson-Marsteller.

As the 15th U.S. Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Curtis S. Chin helped lead the call for critical reforms and more “responsible development, focused on people, on planet and on partnership”. His experiences at Asia’s leading international financial institution focused on poverty reduction led Curtis to create the acronym “the little ‘bric”. This refers not to a grouping of nations, but to the bureaucracy, regulation, interventionism and corruption that he argues are the true constraints to growth and the real threat to institutions and business across all industry sectors, from education to energy.