Tan Sri Datuk Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria

Former Executive Director, APEC Secretariat

 

 

 

 

 

Until 31 Dec 2024, Tan Sri Datuk Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria was the executive director of the APEC Secretariat based in Singapore. Prior to joining the APEC Secretariat, Dr Sta Maria was a top-level Malaysian civil servant and trade negotiator. She was recently appointed the Pro Chancellor of Sunway University, one of the premier private universities in Malaysia.

She began her career in the Administrative and Diplomatic Service in 1981 and served in various capacities in the then Ministry of Trade and Industry.

She retired from the Malaysia Civil Service in 2016, having served as Secretary-General of the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry from December 2010 to July 2016.

In the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Dr Sta Maria chaired the body that drafted the 2015 and 2025 ASEAN Economic Community Blueprints.

An accomplished academic and writer, Dr Sta Maria’s scholarship has been recognized by the American Academy of Human Resource Development (Malcolm Knowles Award 2000 for the best dissertation of the year in the field of human resource development) and from the University of Georgia. In 2017, she authored a book about her personal slice of Malaysian heritage and cuisine, called The Smell of Home.

In 2024, she was featured in Forbes’ third annual 50 Over 50: Asia list, which showcases 50 inspirational women over the age of 50 from across the Asia-Pacific region.