Ambassador Michael Tay is the 17th Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat. He concurrently holds the position of Executive Director of the Russia-Singapore Business Forum Organizing Council.

Ambassador Tay has taken office at one of the most challenging moments in APEC's 20-year history, as a global economic recession takes hold. His main priority in the 2009 Singapore year is to keep APEC focused on the path of free trade, resisting protectionism while accelerating economic integration of the Asia-Pacific, and improving links with the business community. He will also play a lead role in paving the way for a new fixed-term Executive Director who will lead the Secretariat from 2010-2012.

His links to APEC date back to the conception and establishment of APEC, and to the founding of the Secretariat. He has since been witness to the evolution of the process.

Ambassador Tay brings to the position his unique strengths and experience in mobilising business linkages, in forging new ways of building diplomatic ties, including through the arts, and in strategic foreign policy thinking.

Prior to joining the Secretariat, Ambassador Tay served as Singapore's Ambassador to Russia from 2003-2008. While there he initiated the Russia-Singapore Business Forum, which is the only international business-to-business platform engaging Russian business. He also changed the nature of Singapore-Russia diplomatic ties when he commissioned - as a private sector initiative - the renowned Russian composer, Vladimir Martynov, to compose a symphony about Singapore.

The finished piece, "Singapore: A Geopolitical Utopia", is an enduring testament to the collaboration. It was premiered in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow in 2005, and can be heard by visitors to the National Museum of Singapore.

This demonstration of the value of soft power and non-traditional diplomacy has reinforced Ambassador Tay's belief that the real agents of change in regional and global processes are people. For all change or inertia in systems and organisations is mediated through individuals.

Ambassador Tay has considerable experience in Southeast Asia and of regional multilateral fora, thanks to his involvement with ASEAN. From 1999 to 2002, he was the Director-General of ASEAN-Singapore, which placed him at the centre of the ASEAN policy-implementation and budgetary processes. During Singapore's Chairmanship of ASEAN in 1998-1999, he was the chief coordinator for the ASEAN Ministerial Meetings and the Summit.

Other regional postings include his time at the Singapore Embassies in Tokyo, Japan (1995-1998) and in Seoul, Korea (1989-1992): during the latter posting, his first overseas, he was tasked with establishing the first Singapore Embassy in Korea.

His various stints in the Singapore HQ of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have given him exposure to the entire gamut of issues and concerns relating to the region and to the wider global community, including the US, East Asia, Latin America, Europe.

In 2006, Ambassador Tay was awarded the Singapore Public Administration Medal (Silver) and bestowed with the honour of "Patron of Art of the Century" by a foremost Russian foundation.

Ambassador Tay holds Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy) (Hons) and Master of Arts (Philosophy) degrees from the National University of Singapore.