Cyber ASEAN

Mark Bryan Manantan

Director of Cybersecurity and Critical Technologies, Pacific Forum

Mark Bryan Manantan is the Director of Cybersecurity and Critical Technologies at the Pacific Forum in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the Forum, he currently leads the US Technology and Security partnerships with Japan, Australia, Taiwan and South Korea as well as the Digital ASEAN Initiative that focuses on cyber-capacity building, artificial intelligence, foreign interference, and space diplomacy. He is also the host of Pacific Forum’s official podcast, the Indo-Pacific Current.

Mr. Manantan is a non-resident fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, National Chengchi University, Taiwan, and formerly a research consultant at the Asia Society Policy Institute, Washington, DC. He has held visiting fellowships at the Japan Foundation, the Center for Rule-Making Strategies at Tama University in Tokyo, Japan, and the East-West Center, Washington, DC. Prior to that, he was a media, public relations, and advertising executive for Procter & Gamble, Wells Fargo, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, and UNICEF.

Crystal Pryor, Ph.D.

Director of Research, Pacific Forum

Crystal Pryor is Director of Research at the Pacific Forum. Crystal works on nonproliferation in Asia while developing research agendas on technology policy and Women, Peace, and Security. She has researched U.S.-Japan outer space security cooperation, strategic trade control implementation in advanced countries, and Japan’s defense industry and arms exports. Crystal received her doctorate in political science from the University of Washington, master’s degrees in political science from the University of Washington and the University of Tokyo, and bachelor’s degree in international relations with honors from Brown University.

Jesslyn Cheong

Senior Program Manager, Pacific Forum

Jesslyn Cheong is senior program manager at Pacific Forum. She has been with Pacific Forum since August 2014 and provides support for local and overseas conferences. Previously, she was a program manager at Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. She received her BS in international politics from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Francesca Spidalieri

Cybersecurity and Digital Development Consultant, The World Bank Group

Francesca Spidalieri currently serves as a Senior Cybersecurity Consultant for the World Bank's Digital Development Global Practice and a Program Advisor for the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) in The Hague, Netherlands. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Cybersecurity Policy at Salve Regina University, a Senior Fellow for Cyber Leadership at the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, and the Co-Principal Investigator for the Cyber Readiness Index project at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. In addition, Francesca serves as a cybersecurity subject-matter expert for the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the EU CyberNet, the Ponemon Institute, and other research centers and organizations in the U.S. and Europe. Her academic research and publications have focused on cyber resilient development, national cybersecurity preparedness, cyber capacity building, cybersecurity workforce development and awareness, and cyber risk management. Francesca holds an M.A. in International Affairs and Security Studies from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and the Harvard Kennedy School, and has completed additional cybersecurity coursework at the U.S. Naval War College.  She lectures regularly at cybersecurity-related events in the U.S. and Europe and contributes to journal articles and other publications on cyber policy matters affecting countries and organizations worldwide.

Koichiro Komiyama

Senior Researcher, Keio Research Institute at SFC

Koichiro Komiyama is a senior researcher at the Keio Research Institute at SFC, Japan. His current interests are norms in cyberspace, confidence building and capacity building for cyber security. He is also the Director of the Global Coordination Division at JPCERT/CC, the Japanese Computer Emergency Response Team. He has worked as a security analyst and led the security information collection and publishing alerts and advisories. Now his role is shifting to international relations of CSIRT operation. Prior to joining JPCERT/CC, he worked as a systems engineer for Internet Security Systems (IBM ISS), where he was in charge of enterprise IDS/IPS system operations. From 2014-2018, he served as a member of the Board of Directors of FIRST, the global Forum for Incident Response and Security Teams. From 2017-2019, he also works for the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, a multi-stakeholder forum aims to propose norms and policies to enhance international security and stability. He holds a PhD in Media and Governance from Keio University.

Elina Noor

Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Elina Noor is a senior fellow in the Asia Program at Carnegie where she focuses on developments in Southeast Asia, particularly the impact and implications of technology in reshaping power dynamics, governance, and nation-building in the region. 

Previously, Elina was director of political-security affairs and deputy director of the Washington, D.C. office at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Prior to that, Elina was an associate professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu. She spent most of her career at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia, where she last held the position of director, foreign policy and security studies. Elina was also formerly with the Brookings Institution’s Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World. 

Between 2017 and 2019, Elina was a member of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace. She currently serves on the ICRC’s Global Advisory Board on digital threats during conflict. 

Elina read law at Oxford University. She obtained an LL.M (Public International Law) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, graduating with distinction at the top of her class. A recipient of the Perdana (Malaysian Prime Minister’s) Fellowship, she also holds an MA in security studies from Georgetown University, where she was a Women in International Security Scholar.

Gen Macalinao

Senior Planning Officer, Cybersecurity Bureau Department of Information and Communications Technology, Philippines

Ms. Gen Macalinao serves as the Policy Lead of the Cybersecurity Bureau of the Department of Information and Communications Technology and handles the Critical Infostructure Protection program of the Bureau. She was awarded the Certified in Cybersecurity credential by the International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC)² in January of this year. She is an alumna of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch, Germany.

Dr. Lam Nguyen

Visiting Lecturer, Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam

Nguyen Viet Lam, PhD, is an occasional lecturer at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV). His studies focus on cybersecurity, peace and security, climate change, international politics, and foreign Policy of Vietnam. He worked as the diplomat at the Permanent Mission of Viet Nam to the United Nations in New York, USA (2012-2015 and 2019-2022). He was also Head of the research group and covered the United Nations Security Council affairs including Iran, Yemen, West Africa and the Sahel and issues related to strategic studies at the Mission when Viet Nam assumed its role as non-permanent member of UNSC from 2019-2021. He was the panelist and speaker at several international work-shops, conferences on cybersecurity in Singapore (2017), Indonesia (2018, 2019), Australia (2018). He was Senior Researcher at the Institute for Foreign and Strategic Studies, DAV. Nguyen Viet Lam holds a PhD degree in International Relations from DAV and an MA Degree in Public Policy at LKYSPP, National University of Singapore.

Fitri Bintang Timur

Consultant, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Indonesia

Fitri is a cyber security project lead, and senior researcher at the International Relations Department, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia. Broadly, her research focus includes Women, Peace and Security, peacekeeping, peace and mediation, security sector reform and human rights, as well as cyber security. She obtained her PhD in Security and Defence Studies from Cranfield University, United Kingdom. Her publications include “Towards a Resilient Regional Cyber Security: Perspectives and Challenges in Southeast Asia” (2019) and “Rowing Between Two Digital Reefs: The Encroaching Great Power Competition” (2022). Fitri is also a member of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) roster of experts on cyber diplomacy, Co-Chair of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Study Group of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP), and UN Women consultant on Cybersecurity Implications for the WPS Agenda.

Farlina Said

Senior Analyst, ISIS-Malaysia

Farlina Said is a Senior Analyst in the Foreign Policy and Security Studies programme of ISIS Malaysia. She graduated from S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University with a MSc (Strategic Studies). As a part of the think tank she was involved in crafting various dialogues and forums on cybersecurity, radicalisation and Malaysia-Korea relations. Her written work and comments have appeared in local, regional and international media such as New Straits Times, the Nation (Thailand), China Daily, CGTN and South China Morning Post.She is active in networks, inclusive of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) where she had constructed discussions in the Malaysian-leg of the CSCAP Study Group on International Law and Cyberspace. She was also appointed to be a part of the South East Asia Regional Centre for Counter Terrorism’s Experts on Violent Extremism and Community Engagement (EVOKE) Council (2018-2019) and had participated in the ROK Ministry of Unification Institute for Unification Education (IUE) Emerging Leaders Fellowship in 2019.

David Sandell

Chief Executive Officer, CI-ISAC Australia

David is a security professional with a career spanning two decades locally and abroad, having moved to Australia in 2019 from the UK. He’s worked for several global organisations leading both technical and non-technical teams to establish new products and capabilities. A builder at heart, his true passion is creating and leading teams to achieve great outcomes while ensuring a healthy dose of innovation is included along the way. Having built one of the leading Threat Intelligence functions in the APAC region at the National Australia Bank (NAB), he was the driving force behind intelligence sharing across the public and private sectors. David advises companies on designing and implementing Intelligence and Zero Trust capabilities, driving execution, and making technical concepts universally understood. He is passionate about making Intelligence capabilities accessible, having presented on the topic at AISA Canberra in 2022. He co-founded CI-ISAC Australia with the vision of building a suite of enabling capabilities that our nation’s critical infrastructure entities can leverage to uplift their collective cyber defences. David holds numerous technical and security certifications (CISSP, CCSP) in addition to his Masters in Business Administration (MBA), awarded with Merit by the Open University (UK) in 2011.