On August 5th, AMCHAM’s Western Region organized a breakfast session on ‘The Global Perspective and Navigating New Geopolitical Realities’ with Mr. Brad Staples, Global CEO, APCO Worldwide as part of the Western Region Thought Leadership Series. The session commenced with brief opening remarks by Ms. Winnie Lobo, Programme Assistant, AMCHAM. This was followed by a welcome address by Ms. Kaku Nakhate, National Executive Board Member, AMCHAM and President & Country Head (India), Bank of America, N.A. Through her address, Ms. Nakhate welcomed participants, introduced the speaker, Mr. Brad Staples, and set the stage for the session.

In an interactive dialogue, Mr. Staples shared a global perspective on the impact of geopolitical factors affecting governments, businesses, and the common man. He spoke of the effects of the widening wealth gap, climate change, inflation and how COVID has caused destabilization of governments in Latin America, the EU, Middle East and Asia. He also touched upon the conflict and unrest with Russia-Ukraine, U.S.-China and the implications for India. He stated that geopolitics and international business were intertwined like never before in a new era of ‘multi-stakeholderism.’ He encouraged leaders of multinational organizations to take a cautious stand on their global alliances, ESG and diversity practices.

An interactive Q&A followed. The session concluded with closing remarks and vote of thanks by Mr. Anand Vijay Jha, Managing Director, Government Relations, Blackstone Advisors India Pvt. Ltd. On behalf of AMCHAM, Mr. Jha expressed his gratitude to Mr. Staples and APCO Worldwide for the engaging and valuable insights and thanked members for their participation.