International experts provide expert advice for the “Doing Business Amidst New Threats” conference.


ROHAN GUNARATNA is a specialist of the global threat environment, with expertise in threat groups in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. He is Head of Singapore’s International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), one of the largest specialist counter terrorism research and training centres in the world. He is also Professor of Security Studies at the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

A Member of the Steering Committee of George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute, Gunaratna is also Senior Fellow both at Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy's Jebsen Centre for Counter Terrorism Studies and the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, Oklahoma. A former Senior Fellow at the United States Military Academy's Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point, he holds a masters degree in international peace studies from Notre Dame, US, and a doctorate in international relations from St Andrews.

Invited to testify before the 9-11 Commission on the structure of al Qaeda, Gunaratna led the specialist team that built the UN Database on al Qaeda, Taliban and their Entities. He was debriefer of detainees in the U.S., Asia, Middle East including high value al Qaeda detainees in Iraq.
Author and editor of 12 books including “Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror” (Columbia University Press), an international bestseller, Gunaratna is also the lead author of Jane’s Counter Terrorism, a handbook for counter terrorism practitioners. His latest book with Chandler, former Chairman of the UN Monitoring Group into the Mobility, Weapons and Finance is "Countering Terrorism: Can We Meet the Threat of Global Violence?” He also serves on the editorial boards of "Studies in Conflict and Terrorism" and "Terrorism and Political Violence," the leading academic journals in the field, and on the advisory council of “Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism.”

A litigation consultant to the U.S. Department of Justice, Gunaratna was United States expert in the Jose Padilla trial.


MARIA A. RESSA has lived and worked in Southeast Asia for 25 years. She set up and ran CNN’s Manila and Jakarta bureaus, reporting events for CNN for 18 years. She became CNN's lead investigative reporter in Asia specializing in terrorist networks.

Videotapes of her coverage of terrorism were found in what experts believe to be Osama bin Laden’s private videotape collection in Afghanistan. She is the author of “Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda’s Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia” (Free Press, 2003).

For the past six years, she determined strategic direction and managed the largest television news group and multi-media, multi-platform news operations in the Philippines at ABS-CBN. Her work aimed to redefine journalism by combining traditional broadcasting, new media and mobile phone technology for social change.

Ms. Ressa graduated from Princeton University. She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to the Philippines in 1986, where she attended graduate school at the University of the Philippines. She has won numerous awards including the Overseas Press Club Award for Best Documentary, the National Headliner Award for Investigative Journalism, an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Investigative Journalism, and the Asian Television Awards.

She taught broadcasting principles at the University of the Philippines, and at Princeton University, she designed and taught a course on Politics and the Press in Southeast Asia.

Ms. Ressa is presently Rappler CEO & Executive Editor and Author-in-Residence at the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore.


STEPHEN P. CUTLER is currently the President and CEO of Official Global Control Corporation focusing on Information Technology program and project management consulting work for government and businesses. He consults for leading risk management firms that operate throughout Asia for physical and cyber security matters. He also consults on anti-money laundering and corruption concerns for terrorism matters, as well as infrastructure development projects.

He retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation after a long and distinguished career. During his FBI career, he worked in the US and in several of the FBI’s international locations. He led highly productive offices in all aspects of FBI work, concentrating on counter terrorism matters, cyber and
e-business, and counter-corruption investigations.

His writings have been published in international professional magazines. He lectures frequently on technology, cyber and physical security, future threats and terrorism.


KRISTIN HOSKIN is a specialist in Emergency management planning; risk management; risk communication; project coordination; response coordination, fire engineering.

Immediately following the 4 September 2010, Boxing Day 2010 and 22 February 2011 earthquake and aftershocks, Kristin coordinated the emergency engineering building assessments of the Christchurch central business district and arterial roads. She was also a liaison between USAR and Emergency Operations Centre building assessment teams. In all three events, Kristin developed the rapid building assessment strategies that were used. Following the events, she assisted a variety of public sector agencies with debriefing staff and post earthquake reviews. She also developed and led a Christchurch based recovery workshop for non-profit, private sector, and public sector organisations to share recovery problems and solutions.

Ms. Hoskin brings technical knowledge and process analysis experience and communications skills to her work which spans emergency preparedness, development and facilitation of exercises that test emergency plans and organisational relationships, critiquing plans and improving resilience of operations.

She is the current president of the Oceania Council and the Global Membership & Marketing Director of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) where she was also previously the Global Professional Standards Director. In 2006, she received an Executive Citation in recognition of her contribution towards expanding the international presence of the IAEM.

Ms. Hoskin holds the Certified Emergency Manager® (CEM®) credential, an internationally recognised credential in emergency management. Here articles regularly appear in the IAEM Bulletin - a monthly international newsletter circulated to 5000+ emergency management professionals. She has also written articles for the American Planning Association and contributed to several CAENZ publications in editorial, authoring and/or project management capacities.

Ms. Hoskin’s career has always involved risk management. On completion of her B.Sc., she entered the food sector, applying HACCP and other quality assurance processes. She gained further risk management experience through work in the electricity sector with high voltage equipment manufacture; biosecurity; and hazardous substances/dangerous goods.

A Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), Ms. Hoskin is a member of the Institute of Fire Engineers (MIFE). She holds a Master’s Degree in Fire Engineering, University of Canterbury, a Graduate Diploma in Emergency Services Management, Massey University and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, University of Canterbury.

DONDI MAPA is Microsoft’s National Technology Officer for the Philippines. He is the President of the Infocomm Technology Association of the Philippines (ITAP).

As Commissioner in the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) from 2004 to 2006, Mr. Mapa spearheaded the creation of the Philippine Cyberservices Corridor which opened the door for the Philippines to become a global leader in outsourcing services.

He served as Chairman of the Philippine Senate’s Technical Working Group for the Republic Act 9369, the Amended Elections Automation Law. This paved the way for the first automated national elections held in the Philippines in 2010.

Mr. Mapa has served as President of prestigious professional organizations. He was former President of the Unix Users Club of the Philippines and the Philippines Association for Open Computing. He is also the Founding Secretary of the IT Foundation of the Philippines.

Over the years, Mr. Mapa has served on the management team of Arthur Andersen Business Consulting, Hewlett Packard Phils., James Martin & Co., Dell International Services, Unisys Phils., Duotal, and Hatchasia.com.

At Microsoft, he is now responsible for projects to enhance the country’s competitiveness in the global environment.

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