Gateways to Growth: South Asia Port Opportunities Webinar Series

Ms. Alia Shahid has more than 20 years of executive experience. She has done her Masters in International Development from the United Kingdom. She has served in various capacities both at the Federal and Provincial levels. She has served as Secretary to the Government of Sindh for Departments of Education, Boards & Universities, Social Welfare and Women Development. At the federal government, she has served as Joint Secretary in the Ministries of Kashmir Affairs & Northern Areas, Overseas Pakistanis Human Resource Development and Establishment Division. Committed to continuous professional development, she has undergone a number of national and international training programs and has recently attended the Senior Managers in Government course from Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Zamir has been the CEO of QICT, owned by DP World, since 2016.  Zamir has been associated with DP World for over 20 years and previously worked in Mozambique and Dubai for the company.  Zamir is a graduate from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom (UK).

Khan has led KGTL since 2023 when the Abu Dhabi Ports Group took over the Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) at Karachi Port.  Khan had been leading PICT since 2014 before the change in management and was asked to stay on to lead KGTL.  Prior to this, he spent almost 14 years with DP World serving in various countries.  Khan graduated from Middlesex University, UK.

Rear Admiral (retired) Syed Moazzam Ilyas was appointed as Chairman of Port Qasim Authority in 2024.  Illyas served over four decades in the Pakistan Navy before retiring in 2024.  He is a graduate of the Pakistan Navy War College, Joint Command and Staff College in the United Kingdom, and holds two master's degrees from King's College London and Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.  He is on the faculties of the Pakistan Navy War College and the National Defense University in Islamabad.

Scott Urbom took up duties as Consul General in Karachi, Pakistan in August 2024.  Scott previously served as Director of the Office of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Maldives Affairs; Deputy Director of the Office of Korean Affairs; Deputy Political Chief at the American Institute in Taiwan; and DPRK Unit Chief in the Office of Korean Affairs.  His earlier foreign assignments included Beijing, China; Bridgetown, Barbados; and Kyiv, Ukraine.  Before joining the Foreign Service, he taught English as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan.  He graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and received master’s degrees from Harvard University and the National War College.  He and his wife Sonia, a teacher and retired U.S. diplomat, have two daughters in college.

Ambassador Hugo Yon took up his position as the first fully dedicated U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Maldives in September 2023.

A career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor, Ambassador Yon previously served in numerous senior leadership positions.  In Washington, he served as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment; Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Transportation Affairs; White House National Security Council Director for Global Economic Engagement; and National Security Council Director for South Asia.  Overseas, Ambassador Yon has worked at U.S. embassies and consulates in New Delhi, Jakarta, Beijing, and Guangzhou, as well as at the American Institute in Taiwan.  In these capacities, Ambassador Yon has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Presidential Rank Award Commendation, Cordell Hull Award for Senior Economic Performance, Frank Loy Award for International Environmental Achievement, and National Security Service Award.

Ambassador Yon holds a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton University and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Economy from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also a collegiate athlete in American football.  He speaks Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, and Indonesian.

Ambassador Yon is joined by his spouse Mrs. Liza Yon.  They have a son, Hudson, and a daughter, Hannah.  Having grown up in San Francisco less than one half mile from the Pacific Ocean, Ambassador Yon is thrilled to again be close to the ocean in Maldives.

Ambassador Julie Chung has been the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka since February 2022. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Career Minister, Ambassador Chung has previously held senior positions throughout the Indo-Pacific and Western Hemisphere.

Prior to her current role, Ambassador Chung served as the Acting Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. She also has extensive experience in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, including as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Japan, Deputy Chief of Mission in Cambodia, and Economic Counselor in Thailand. In addition, she has served at the U.S. embassies in Iraq, Colombia, Vietnam, and Japan, and the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China. She also served as an advisor on nonproliferation discussions of the Agreed Framework with North Korea while working in the Office of Korean Affairs in Washington.

As a child, Ambassador Chung immigrated to the United States from Korea and was raised in Huntington Beach, California. She received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California San Diego and an M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University and joined the Foreign Service in 1996. Ambassador Chung has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Presidential Rank Award and the Secretary’s Distinguished Honor Award, and speaks Korean, Japanese, and Spanish.