Speakers

Masayuki Omote works for public procurement reform projects with more than 15 countries in Europe and Latin America. Before joining the OECD in 2017, he worked in Japan, Afghanistan, and Bolivia as a public procurement specialist at a procurement agency affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. He also worked at the country office of the Inter-American Development Bank in Peru in the field of public governance and public financial management.

As a scholarship recipient from the World Bank, he holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) from Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. (concentration on international development and public governance).

Nikki is a globally connected procurement leader with a proven track record over three decades of strategic and operational delivery within both private and public sectors. This has included directing transformational change programmes at local, national and international levels; and building the capability of individuals, organisations and supply chains.

With a key role in driving public procurement reform, Nikki has lead a range of initiatives with innovative programmes being cited in international case studies. This includes establishing progressive and sustainable best practice standards; addressing socioeconomic inequalities and the climate crisis; and building a procurement profession for the future.

Member of the CIPS Foundation Steering Committee, the CIPS Fellows Committee, and the Institute of Directors.

Christopher R. Yukins has many years of experience in public procurement law. He was for several years a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, where he handled trials and appeals involving bid protests and contract claims against the U.S. government.

He teaches on government contract formations and performance issues, bid protests, Contract Disputes Act litigation, and comparative issues in public procurement, and focuses especially on emerging public policy questions in U.S. procurement.

He is an active member of the Public Contract Law Section of the American Bar Association, serves on the steering committee to the International Procurement Committee of the ABA International Law Section, and previously served as the president of the Tysons Corner Chapter of the National Contract Management Association.

He is a faculty advisor to the Public Contract Law Journal, and has contributed pieces on procurement reform, international procurement, electronic commerce and information technology to a broad range of journals, including Washington Technology, Government Contractor, Legal Times, and Federal Computer Week. He has published on procurement reform in scholarly journals, including the Public Contract Law Journal, Georgetown Journal of International Law, and Public Procurement Law Review (United Kingdom).

Together with Professor Steven Schooner, he runs a popular colloquium series on procurement reform at The George Washington University Law School. In private practice, Professor Yukins has been an associate, partner, and of counsel at leading national firms; he is currently of counsel to the firm of Arnold & Porter LLP. He is an advisor to the U.S. delegation to the working group on reform of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Procurement Law, and he teaches and speaks often on issues of comparative and international procurement law.