IGF 2024

As a Co-founder and Managing Director of APAC GATES, Seth Hays is leading a non-profit membership organization accelerator/incubator and association management consultancy, offering  expertise in regional public policy strategy and research services for non-profit organizations navigating the multifaceted markets of the Asia-Pacific region.

Additionally, Seth supports the work of the NGO Digital Governance Asia as a board member, advising on policy advocacy and strategy for a multi-stakeholder approach to AI governance in the Asia-Pacific region.

Seth has over two decades of experience in the non-profit sector, including working with universities, trade associations and other non-profits. He has established and operated offices in Shanghai, Beijing, and Singapore, as well as executed policy advocacy strategies across the Asia-Pacific region and with inter-governmental organizations such as the United Nations, INTERPOL, APEC, ASEAN and SAARC. He has organized sessions at the United National Develop Program's Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum, spoken at the the UN's Internet Governance Forum and events by The Economist, testified before the Hong Kong Legislative Council on innovation policy, and contributed to briefs before the Supreme Courts of India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. He also currently is a penholder on an AI Liability research paper at the UN IGF's Policy Network on AI (PNAI).

Seth was previously a visiting scholar at the East-West Center and Korea Foundation researching US and Korea cooperation on economic security issues in Southeast Asia.

He is a member of the New York State Bar, studied non-profit management at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, has a graduate degree in Pacific and Asian Studies from the University of Hawai'i and an undergraduate degree in science, technology and society from Vassar College. He speaks Mandarin and has lived and worked in Japan, China and Southeast Asia. He currently resides in Taipei with his family.