Karima Chaisaengchan is a Regional Programme Manager at UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, where she oversees initiatives advancing gender-responsive procurement.  Her career has centered on advancing inclusive economic opportunities at the intersection of sustainability, private sector development, women’s entrepreneurship, and digital transformation. 

She has worked across the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, and PwC. At USAID, she managed digital development portfolios across Southeast Asia, while at IFC she supported private sector-led initiatives to expand economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs and low-income populations, including the Sourcing2Equal program promoting market access for women-owned businesses through corporate procurement. At PwC, she supported corporate sustainability strategy and reporting for private sector clients. 

Mr. Phimpha Phommavong is a seasoned public finance and procurement professional with over two decades of service at the Ministry of Finance of the Lao PDR. Since joining the Ministry in 2004, he has built a distinguished career progressing from Technical Officer and Project Coordinator at the Procurement Monitoring Office to increasingly senior leadership roles. He served as Deputy Director of the Procurement Monitoring Division (2014) and later as Director of the Public Procurement and Price Management Division (2018) under the Department of State Asset Management. Since 2025, Mr. Phimpha has served as Director of the Contract Management Division under the Department of Evaluation and Public Procurement, where he plays a key role in overseeing and regulating public procurement processes on behalf of the Government of Lao PDR — ensuring transparency, accountability, and value for money in the use of public resources.

Max Simpson is a neuroinclusion leader, entrepreneur, and CEO working across Southeast Asia to redesign how businesses approach disability inclusion, skills development, and the future of work. Over the last decade, he’s built organisations, research hubs, and partnerships that turn inclusion from a statement into a measurable, practical actions. 

As founder of Steps, the Neurodiversity at Work Research Centre (NWRC), and the Thailand Business and Disability Network in partnership with the International Labor Organisation, he works with governments, multinational companies, and international bodies to localise global best practice, develop accredited training, and shape policies that create real opportunities for neurodivergent people and people with disabilities. His focus is simple: make inclusion operational, culturally grounded, and sustainable. 

Chau Lon Molika is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cambodian Standard Development & Supply Co., Ltd. (CSDS), a Cambodian agrifood supply-chain company working to strengthen inclusive, climate-smart and market-driven value chains. Through CSDS, she works closely with thousands of smallholder farmers and hundreds of MSMEs to improve market access, food safety, supply-chain resilience and women’s economic participation. She is actively engaged in women’s economic empowerment, inclusive procurement and responsible business initiatives, including UN Women’s WEPs and WE RISE Together programmes.

Ms. Le Hong Thuy Tien is Chief Executive Officer of Imex Pan Pacific Group (IPPG), Vietnam’s leading multi-sector conglomerate, partnering with more than 138 international brands across some 1,500 stores and employing over 25,000 people — more than 62 per cent of them women. A signatory leader of the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles and recipient of UN Women’s 2021 WEPs Award for “Leadership Commitment and Action for Gender Equality,” she is a Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and has been named among Forbes Vietnam’s Top 50 Most Influential Women and the Business of Fashion “BoF 500.” She speaks internationally on inclusive growth, women’s economic empowerment and responsible business.