Latest Interviews

Future-Proofing Cities: Evolutions in Sustainability-Centric Urban Design | Asia Summit 2024

Erin Murphy, Stephane Asselin, Clarence Barboza, Skye d'Almeida, Andrew Hodgson, Shruti Narayan, Sarah Murphy, Andy Hodgson

Moderated by Sarah Murphy, a panel of experts from C40 Cities, Arup, and Cisco Systems examined critical sustainability challenges facing Southeast Asian cities, ranging from decarbonizing transportation to managing cyber threats against digital infrastructure. The discussion highlighted a structural financing gap between institutional investment preferences and the need for distributed green assets, proposing blended finance models and corporate partnerships to de-risk municipal projects. Key strategies for future-proofing urban centers included adopting circular economy principles, integrating climate goals into municipal budgeting, and leveraging nature-based solutions to address resilience against climate disasters.

Powering the Transition to Sustainability-Centered Growth | Asia Summit 2024

Meghan Morris, Anindya Novyan Bakrie, Penny Burtt, Amit Midha, Nik Nazmi bin Nik Ahmad, Anindya Bhairavi, Penny Bush, Amit Mehta, Nick Nazmi

Industry leaders and government officials from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia convened to address the $3.2 trillion annual investment gap in global energy transition, highlighting regulatory hurdles in aviation and the critical need to integrate SMEs into sustainable practices. Key figures discussed leveraging Southeast Asia's 500 gigawatts of renewable potential and critical minerals while showcasing how AI and electric vehicle pilots have already reduced emissions and operational costs. The dialogue emphasized public-private partnerships as essential for achieving 2050 net-zero targets, with specific forecasts for normalized sustainable aviation fuel usage and a functional global carbon market by 2034.

Long-term Investing: Adapting Investment Portfolios Amid Global Uncertainty | Asia Summit 2024

Manisha Tank, Edoardo Collevecchio, Aaron Costello, David Elia, Don Guo, Lee Ming San

The event was a corrupted and incoherent transmission intended to function as a panel on long-term investment, which failed to produce any verifiable facts or strategic insights. Despite isolated mentions of unrelated topics ranging from traffic flow and AI to historical dates and climate change, no clear panelist identities, actionable data, or coherent investment thesis were established. The session dissolved into repetitive pleasantries and circular statements without defining any specific outcomes, forward-looking strategies, or formal agreements.

Mini-Lateralism? Political and Economic Alignments in this Transformed Era | Asia Summit 2024

Dino Patti Djalal, Dato Onn Hafiz Bin Ghazi, Ford Hart, Kishore Mahbubani, Veerle Nouwens

Amidst a perceived decline in traditional multilateral efficacy, a strategic shift toward minilateralism is underway as like-minded nations prioritize speed and trust over broad inclusivity to address urgent security and economic challenges. Key coalitions such as the Quad and AUKUS, alongside regional frameworks like ASEAN, are increasingly viewed as complementary rather than competitive, allowing for targeted action on issues ranging from supply chain resilience to infrastructure development without necessarily undermining established regional centrality. This evolving global governance model balances the legitimate but slow consensus of large bodies with the agile effectiveness of exclusive groups, enabling states to navigate geopolitical tensions and pursue growth even under constitutional non-alignment constraints.

Innovations to Build Food Resiliency | Asia Summit 2022

Holly Freishtat, Beverley Postma, Ian Roberts, Pier Luigi Sigismondi, Sunny Verghese

Industry leaders from OLAM International, Dole, and Euler Group convened to address the deepening global food insecurity affecting 345 million people by outlining aggressive strategies to decarbonize agriculture and digitize smallholder supply chains. These executives detailed concrete commitments, including OLAM's accelerated net-zero timeline and AI-driven agronomy tools, Dole's direct sourcing shifts to bypass intermediaries, and Euler Group's push for rapid technology scaling in cellular agriculture. The panel concluded that overcoming the current crisis requires consolidated capital and mandatory transparency measures like carbon labeling to transform the sector from an extraction-based model to a resilient, inclusive ecosystem.

Transitioning to a Food Environment Built for Health | Milken Institute Global Conference 2023

Allison Aubrey, Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, Nancy Dalton, Anthony Pratt, Craig Wichner, Dr. Kathleen Medina, Elizabeth Littlefield Jr., Eliza Bailey

A diverse panel of leaders from agriculture, technology, and food security organizations outlines a critical strategy to transition the U.S. toward a health-promoting food environment by addressing systemic failures like obesity, food waste, and monoculture dependency. Through proposed policy reforms—including cover crop incentives in the Farm Bill, permanent SNAP online access, and insurance-linked nutrition rewards—experts aim to shift subsidies from low-value commodities to nutrient-dense production while leveraging digital tools and behavioral science. The discussion emphasizes that immediate public-private partnerships are essential to reverse soil degradation, reduce methane emissions, and ensure universal access to nutritionally adequate food.

The Future of Food Retail | Global Conference 2024

Holly Freishtat, Jason Buechel, Nancy Dalton, Rodney McMullen, Leslie Sarasin

Retail leaders including Kroger's Rodney McMullen and Amazon's Nancy Dalton discuss a fundamental shift where food retailers evolve into healthcare hubs by integrating nutrition data, expanding SNAP access, and treating food as medicine to combat chronic disease. The industry is simultaneously restructuring supply chains from "just-in-time" to resilient models while deploying hyper-local AI for personalized assortments and launching urban "Daily Shop" formats to serve diverse consumer needs. These strategic pivots aim to align 82% of retailers with dietitian-led wellness programs, reduce a third of global food waste, and build a "healthiest workforce" through data-driven benefits that address the intersection of convenience, health, and sustainability.

Young Leaders Conversation: Defining the New Age of Asia's Creative Economy | Asia Summit 2024

Phoebe Lai, Reta Lee, John Penotti, James Shin, Rochelle

Moderated by Rochelle Lee, this panel explored the strategic pivot of Asia's creative economy as James Shin and John Penelty advocate for private financing and proprietary ownership to secure long-term value amidst a streaming market shifting from growth-at-all-costs to profitability. The discussion highlighted how regional hubs like Singapore are leveraging tax incentives to host culturally specific storytelling, while new brand-underwriting models and AI-driven pre-visualization tools are accelerating production efficiency and reshaping talent management. By prioritizing original content over established IP retreads and adapting to emerging demographics in Africa and Southeast Asia, the panel outlined a roadmap for navigating a post-strike industry defined by transparency and diverse distribution channels.

The Asia Pacific Investment Outlook | Asia Summit 2024

Tim Dattels, Abdulla Al-Kuwari, Patrick Graham, Munirah Khairuddin, Eli Lee, Matthew Michelini

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Riding the Waves of Credit: Strategies for an Uncertain Future | Asia Summit 2024

Sharon Chen, Matthieu Boulanger, Patrick Dennis, Katherine Grawe, Joshua Pack

A disjointed panel discussion involving numerous unidentified speakers and audience members covered fragmented topics ranging from real estate and banking to pandemic recovery without establishing a cohesive narrative or actionable conclusions. The dialogue featured conflicting data points, such as a $4 to $5 billion market figure and a claim regarding New York office locations, alongside frequent expressions of uncertainty that prevented the synthesis of specific insights on economic cycles or global geopolitics. Ultimately, the session failed to produce definitive resolutions or forward-looking statements, ending abruptly with unresolved questions and incoherent remarks.

Global Investment Outlook | Asia Summit 2024

Martin Soong, Jeffrey Jaensubhakij, Jenny Lee, Todd Sisitsky

A panel hosted by the head of the American Foundation in London brought together four experts and advisors to discuss fragmented topics ranging from uncertain Asian economic forecasts to the undefined role of AI in business. Participants cited vague numerical figures and generalized concerns about wealth balance and social inclusivity without establishing concrete investment strategies, policy frameworks, or measurable outcomes. The dialogue ultimately failed to provide definitive market trends or implementation plans, concluding with general expressions of gratitude rather than specific forward-looking milestones.

The Growing Need for Digital-Centric Mental Health Strategies | Asia Summit 2024

Jean Liu, Wendy Chapman, Prem Kumar Nair, Lee Cheng, Ramesh Rajentheran

Driven by post-pandemic policy shifts and substantial public investment, the mental health sector faces a critical need to regulate an oversaturated market where 75% of the 20,000 available digital apps lack clinical evidence. Industry leaders and governments are responding by establishing interoperability standards and hybrid care models that integrate telehealth with physical facilities to overcome privacy barriers and low user retention rates. Looking ahead, artificial intelligence and immersive technologies are poised to scale workforce capacity and enable personalized, proactive treatment, provided that robust data governance frameworks are successfully implemented to ensure patient safety and trust.

The New Climate Reality: Financing for Adaptation, Resilience, and Recovery | Global Conference 2024

Aimée Christensen, Gillian Caldwell, Jeff Goodell, Ekhosuehi Iyahen, Stacey Swann, Amy Christensen

Addressing the critical $3 trillion to $5 trillion annual financing gap for climate resilience, the event highlighted strategic efforts by USAID, the Insurance Development Forum, and 21 global foundations to leverage public capital in de-risking private investment. Speakers detailed innovative mechanisms such as BlackRock's new infrastructure fund, parametric insurance tools, and the IRA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to overcome pipeline challenges and the protection gap in emerging markets. The proceedings further underscored the economic viability of adaptation through evidence of a median $9 return per $1 spent while exposing contradictions in the $7 trillion in global fossil fuel subsidies and rising litigation against the sector.

Flying Cars Have Arrived! eVTOL Panel: Archer, Joby, Wisk | All-In Summit 2024

Friedberg

Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation are targeting late 2025 commercial launches in the UAE and 2026 operations in the United States, aiming to deploy eVTOL aircraft for urban air mobility. Supported by significant capital from investors like Stellantis and United Airlines, these companies are developing high-volume manufacturing and safety-focused technologies such as Archer's Midnight aircraft to navigate complex U.S. certification hurdles while advancing ahead of regulatory frameworks in international markets. The industry anticipates transitioning from dedicated urban "hero routes" to broader multimodal networks as battery density improves and autonomous flight capabilities evolve to offer safer, quieter alternatives to traditional helicopters.

The best consumer companies incorporate both virality and network effect to grow organically.

Metcalfe's Law posits that a network's value scales with the square of its user base, transforming a single-user platform like WhatsApp from worthless to globally vital. This dynamic illustrates how the mathematical relationship between nodes and utility drives exponential growth for individual participants. Consequently, consumer companies achieve organic expansion by strategically combining distinct mechanisms of virality and network effects.