Professor David Widdowson is the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Customs and Excise Studies at the University of Canberra. He is the President of the International Network of Customs Universities; Editor-in-Chief of the World Customs Journal; an Advisory Group member of the World Customs Organization’s Partnership in Customs Academic Research and Development; and a founding director of the Trusted Trade Alliance.

 

David holds a PhD in Customs Management, and has over 30 years experience in his field of expertise. He served with the Australian Customs Service for 21 years, including seven years in the Senior Executive Service. His research areas include Trade Facilitation, Regulatory Compliance Management, Risk Management and Supply Chain Security.

 

Bryce Blegen is CEO of Trusted Trade Alliance LLC, responsible for managing the organization’s global activities from its headquarters in Vancouver, Washington, USA. Previously, he was President of MIC Customs Solutions, a provider of global customs and trade software solutions.

 

Mr. Blegen served as Global Customs Counsel and Regional Director of Customs, Europe at Delphi Corporation, and prior to joining Delphi, he spent 10 years at Robert Bosch, as Senior Counsel in the company’s corporate legal department at Bosch’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, after serving as Manager, International Trade and Assistant General Counsel for Bosch’s North American operations. An attorney specializing in global customs compliance and trade issues, Mr. Blegen has been active in spearheading customs simplification and trade facilitation initiatives in the U.S., Mexico, Europe and China, working closely with trade associations and government officials. He has been a member of US Customs and Border Protection’s Trade Support Network since 2004.

 

Allen Bruford is Deputy Director Facilitation & Compliance of the World Customs Organization. Prior to taking up his current position he worked for the New Zealand Customs Service in a variety of executive level roles. Most recently, he was located in the New Zealand Embassy in Washington DC working on customs, security and trade related issues.

 

In the Customs area he has experience with trade negotiations, trade risk assessment, cargo examination, revenue collection, audit and oversight of customs controlled areas. From 2000 to 2005 he lead the introduction of trade facilitation and security programmes in New Zealand including container security arrangements with the United States. New Zealand is acknowledged as an innovative administration with its recent work in the area of export supply chain management and mutual recognition being at the forefront of international best practice. During his career Mr Bruford has also been responsible for managing New Zealand’s largest ports and airports.