On Thursday, March 6, 2025, the British American Business Council of Greater Philadelphia welcomed more than 75 guests from the international business community for the Annual Global Economic Update. This event proved itself to be highly anticipated by leaders across industries, selling out within hours of the event. Leading industry experts from both the public and private sectors spoke about how AI and innovative technologies are shaping economies around the world. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP hosted the event in their beautiful new building located in Center City, Philadelphia. The setting sun and spectacular views of the City were the perfect backdrop for this timely discussion featuring Ryan Wang, US Economist, HSBC Securities; Zac Taormina, Regional Operations Director – Clean Air US, Johnson Matthey; Jen Gilburg, Deputy Secretary, Technology and Entrepreneurship, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development; Rhett Workman, Managing Director – PHL Customer Care, American Airlines; Doneld Shelkey, Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP; and Joe Cowen, Second Secretary Technology Policy, The British Embassy, Washington, D.C.. Barbara Murphy Melby, Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP led the speakers through the fireside chat.  

Michael Pedrick, Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and longtime BABCPHL Board Member was our host for the evening. He provided opening remarks, welcoming guests, and introducing Barbara Murphy Melby, a leader in technology, digital transformation, and outsourcing legal markets, advising customers and select service providers in structuring, negotiating, realigning, and terminating a wide range of strategic commercial relationships. Barbara is currently the deputy leader of the corporate and business transactions (CBT) practice, the Philadelphia office leader for CBT, and co-leader of the firm's Data Center Strategic Initiative; she also serves on the firm's advisory board. 

To begin the conversation, Ryan Wang, US economist for HSBC Securities, a principal line of business for HSBC Holdings plc, one of the world's largest banking and financial services organizations opened the panel. He provided an overview of the economy at the end of 2024 and an update about how things are going so far in 2025. Ryan touched upon the recent tentative signs of softer momentum in some economic data, and the potential impacts of tariffs. In addition, he provided insight about the outlook for the labor market in 2025, and how the Federal Reserve is likely to respond in terms of policy interest rates. Ryan laid the foundation for subsequent speakers from both public and private sectors.  

The next panelist was Zac Taormina, Regional Operations Director – Clean Air US at Johnson Matthey. Zac is responsible for all manufacturing and operations across North America and has been with JM for 13 years, working in China, South Africa, the UK and presently in the US. Johnson Matthey is a world leader in sustainable technology solutions, solving some of the world's toughest problems. Zac discussed how Johnson Matthey uses their partnerships and advocacy efforts to manage tariffs. He also provided an update on the market outlook for North America and Europe for the next year, and explained how Johnson Matthey is using AI and automation in their business. He closed, by emphasizing the opportunities and forward looking focus on data centers and the AI race. Johnson Matthey is a big employer in the State of Pennsylvania. The company works closely with the Governor and the economic development office.  

Jen Gilburg, Deputy Secretary, Technology and Entrepreneurship, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) from the State of Pennsylvania spoke next. Jen implements the Shapiro Administration's and DCED's vision of attracting, fostering, and investing in people and companies focused on technology and innovation across multiple sectors, and throughout the state. A year ago, Governor Shapiro rolled out a 10 year economic plan. Jen explained how AI plays into this strategy, the opportunities for AI companies in PA, and how the Shapiro administration approaches the government's use of AI. 

The next speaker, Rhett Workman, Managing Director – PHL Customer Care for American Airlines, provided information about how the Airline is utilizing AI to improve the customer experience and employee operations. Rhett recently returned to Philadelphia after seven years overseeing American's strategic performance across 28 airports in 17 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. He was American's highest-ranking employee in Europe and Asia Pacific. Rhett's presentation described how American uses advanced technologies to help benefit its customers, and how the same technology is strengthening American's workforce and improving day to day functions for team members. He closed by describing how the Airline plans to use technology moving forward. 

Following Rhett, Doneld Shelkey, Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP spoke. Don is the global leader of the firm's technology transactions, outsourcing, and commercial contracts (TOC) practice, regularly negotiating deals that focus on artificial intelligence, data rights, assets, software as a service, cloud computing, data acquisition and services, enterprise resource planning, blockchain, software licensing and development, social media, sponsorships, and strategic joint ventures and business collaborations. He talked about trends in the types of deals he is seeing and spoke about the advice he is being asked to give about the AI space. Don's discussion focused on how clients' concerns have migrated from wanting a generalized understanding of AI and its risks to organizations, which were focused generally, to more direct use-case based concerns and negotiation strategies, such as data rights usage and prohibitions, ensuring smooth integrations, and developing meaningful service levels. He also spoke about the fact that AI is causing a renewed interest in (and investment in) data centers, data related consulting and migration work, and fine tuning data usage rights from a contractual perspective.  

Our last speaker was Joe Cowen, Second Secretary Technology Policy, The British Embassy, Washington, D.C. Joe leads the AI portfolio at the British Embassy. He spoke about how other countries like the UK are approaching some of the issues prior speakers covered related to AI. Joe presented the steps the UK is taking to meet challenges, secure investment and maximize the opportunities. He discussed ideas for further international collaboration with the US, for example, supporting investment, best practice information sharing, R&D collaboration, and computer access. 

To close the whirlwind discussion, Barbara invited the audience to ask the panelists questions. Countless hands went up and the discussion continued with emphasis on tariffs, the housing market, labor issues, and the regulatory environment here in the US, the UK, Europe, and other parts of the world.  

Special thanks to Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP for sponsoring and hosting the meeting, to our knowledgeable panel of speakers for sharing their wisdom, and to our event partners, the Chilean, German, Irish, Japanese, and Norwegian Chambers of Commerce, the Consular Corps, the Commerce Department, the World Affairs Council, and the World Trade Center of Philadelphia for collaborating with us to deliver this timely, educational and interesting forum.  

Guests remained in the room long into the evening, creating valuable business connections, and enjoying the food and beverage while enjoying the bird's eye view of the beautifully illuminated City.  

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