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Obed D. Louissaint
Vice President of Human Resources and Research at IBM Watson and Cognitive Solutions UnitsObed D. Louissaint serves as IBM vice president of human resources for IBM Watson, Cognitive Solutions and Research and technical talent. In this role, Obed is responsible for the people strategies and investments for several of the company’s fastest-growing and most strategic parts of the information technology market – Watson, Watson Health, Watson IoT, education, security and commerce.
Obed was most recently vice president human resources of the HR Partner Organization, with global responsibility for the HR business partners who advise over 40,000 managers across the enterprise. The HR generalists are the client facing segment of the global team of HR professionals and collaborate with each of the functional disciplines to administer corporate policies and people solutions.
During his tenure, he has held successive HR roles across multiple geographies, business units and at the enterprise level leading diversity, workforce programs, and delivery centers across growth markets. Obed has led HR teams within several growth businesses to reinvent recruitment, talent management, compensation/incentives, and global mobility policies.
Obed is a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in Industrial Labor Relations with focus in Economics & Organizational Behavior. He is a trustee of the Student Agencies Foundation, on the Management Advisory Council for the National Academy of Minority in Engineering and a member of the INROADS alumni association.
Lydia Zhou
HR General Manager at ConocoPhillipsLydia Zhou is General Manager, Human Resources for ConocoPhillips China. Lydia has over 14 years of experience in human resource roles, which include the oversight of compensation & benefits, succession planning, organizational and leadership development, performance management, staffing and employee relations. Lydia has extensive experiences in talent management during organizational changes. She is very passionate in HR practices and how HR can add value in the business.
Lydia began her career as a teacher in Tsing Hua University for 5 years before moving her career to multinational companies including Kodak, Nortel Networks, Deloitte and ConocoPhillips.
Lydia holds a master degree in Human Resources Management from Manchester University and a BA degree from China Language and Culture University.
Lin Gao
Partner at Intellect AssociatesLin has over 20 years’ experience with Fortune 500 companies both in China and the U.S. across the areas of government affairs, IT, supply chain and marketing. Prior to setting up her own consulting, coaching and training business, Lin held the position of senior director of Global Government Affairs at Motorola Solutions China, and was responsible for managing relationship with various government bodies and trade associations for business advocacy. She was also responsible for corporate governance as well as CSR programs in Asia Pacific and Middle East region. Prior to this role, Lin had held multiple senior positions in Motorola including CIO for Asia Pacific.
Lin has served on the board since 2013 and has frequently met with senior officials from both Chinese and U.S. government to advance American businesses’ interests in China.
Horst Gallo
Vice President HR Greater China Group at IBMHorst was appointed Vice President HR Greater China Group in October 2013.
In June 1999 Horst joined IBM’s HR Service Centre in Portsmouth, England as HR Specialist
for Workforce Management. During these more than 15 years in IBM, Horst has enjoyed an
international career working in six different countries (England, France, Spain, USA, Czech Republic and twice in China), gaining experience at various levels of the organization (Service Center, Geo, IOT, GMT and Global) supporting the business in both major and emerging markets. Horst has held various HR generalist positions as well as in the Talent and Business & Technical Leadership arena.
During his time in IBM, Horst has worked on several important projects such as the centralization of recruitment activities, the divestiture of the PC business, the re-organization in Europe and CEEMEA, the set up of two separate Integrated Operating teams (IOT’s) as well as the pension projects for different countries around the world. Horst worked as Executive Assistant to Randy MacDonald, Senior Vice President, Human Resources IBM Corporation during the world economic crisis. Prior to his current assignment he was the Director of HR for Central & Eastern Europe supporting 17 countries including Russia and Turkey.
Before joining IBM, Horst worked for different local companies in Germany and lastly for a national insurance company as an HR generalist supporting the sales organizations.
Horst holds a bachelor degree in Business Administration from the Verwaltungs- und Wirtschaftsakademie in Nuremberg, Germany, which he obtained in evening classes over a period of 3 years.
Horst relocated in November 2013 with his wife Elena and his 2 small sons Daniel and Manuel to Beijing.
Lan Gao
Vice President of Human Resources at Lenovo DCGGao Lan joined Lenovo in August 2009 and is currently Vice President of Human Resources in Data Center Group
In the past 6 years in Lenovo, Lan has held different Vice President roles leading Emerging Markets Group HR Partner, APLA & China HR Partner, People & Organization Capability, and HR Strategy & Operations. She has provided strategic HR support to business, led organization design and restructure projects, initiated talent development programs, organized and delivered global leadership development programs, and led culture and HR operation integration of X86 and Motorola, drove transformation to customer centric organization. She has built up strong teams and delivered high value of HR support to business.
Before joined Lenovo, Lan worked for Thomson as HR VP for Asia Pacific. Prior to that, she worked as HR VP for Asia Gas in BP. And prior to that, Lan was Country Head of HR for Novartis China and Hong Kong.
Lan holds Bachelor Degree of Science majored in Environmental Chemistry from Nankai University in China. She studied in Environment and Department in the University of Cambridge in UK. She also studied Human Resource Management in Western Management Institute of Beijing, and completed Leadership Excellence for Business HR Program in Stanford University in the US.
Alex Peng
Chief of Strategy at Microsoft Greater China RegionAlex Peng joined Microsoft in February 2011 as Chief of Strategy, Microsoft Greater China Region. In this role, he serves the strategic planning needs of Microsoft across business groups within the Sales, Marketing, and Services Group (SMSG.) He works to strengthen Microsoft’s business in China working with local government, industry and business leaders to drive a holistic and integrated Research & Development (R&D) and Marketing approach for the company. He is responsible for ensuring that Microsoft embraces a competitive, long-term commercial strategy that benefits, business customers, consumers and communities.
Alex has a wide range of experience helping Chinese state-owned enterprises and multinational companies design strategies and transformation programs. Before joining Microsoft, he was a partner at McKinsey & Company in Beijing. During his 10 years with McKinsey, Alex was a co-leader of the Asia-Pacific Telecoms Practice and the China Public Sector Practice.
Alex was born in Beijing, China. He received a BA from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Princeton University, both in Mathematics.
Sarah Kemp
Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs at U.S. Embassy, Beijing, ChinaSarah Kemp is Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, overseeing the U.S. Department of Commerce’s trade promotion and trade policy activities in its operations in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang and Wuhan. As Commercial Counselor, Sarah serves as a key adviser to the Ambassador on commercial affairs, and as an exceptional interlocutor for the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) with Chinese trade entities. Advising U.S. CEOs --from Fortune 500 companies to SMEs -- on China business strategy, she leads a team of 150 staff, promoting U.S exports, industry standards and assisting with anti-subsidy / countervailing duty cases, intellectual property protection, and export controls.
Prior to her posting to Beijing, Ms. Kemp was Commercial Counselor for the U.S. Commercial Service in Vietnam, Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Deputy Chief Commercial Consul for the U.S. Commercial Service’s operations in Hong Kong where she oversaw the Macau portfolio. Prior to Hong Kong, Ms. Kemp led the Beijing Information Technologies and Medical team for the Commercial Service. Her first overseas assignment was in Bangkok, Thailand.
Ms. Kemp joined the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1992 as a Presidential Management Intern, and during her tenure in D.C. helped formulate and draft the first National Export Strategy and focused on U.S.-ASEAN trade promotion and policy. Previously, Ms. Kemp worked for the Center for Chinese Legal Studies at Columbia Law School and the America-China Society in New York.
Sarah received her Master of Business Administration degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2006), her Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University (1992), and her Bachelor of Arts in Psychological Anthropology from Hamilton College (1988).
Carol Li Rafferty
Managing Director of Yale Center BeijingCarol Li Rafferty is managing director of Yale Center Beijing, a convening space and intellectual hub for all of Yale University’s activities in China. As the inaugural head of the center, Carol is responsible for building and maintaining relationships with key business, government and thought leaders from all disciplines and developing programs and events that facilitate meaningful dialogue between China and the world. Prior to this role, Carol was senior vice president at the China Investment Corporation (CIC), China's sovereign wealth fund, where she worked on private equity and strategic investments. Carol has a passion for championing women’s empowerment and co-founded the Lean In Beijing organization in 2013, which has grown into a network of over 80,000 women across China. Carol is a member of the founding family of the Bank of East Asia (HKSE: 23), and her grandfather founded the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE). Carol received her J.D. degree from Stanford Law School, and dual B.A. degrees in Economics and International Studies from Yale University.
Cathy Yu
Director of Human Resources Talent and Development at General Motors ChinaCathy Yu is director of Human Resources Talent and Development at General Motors China. She is also responsible for strategic human resources support for GM’s joint ventures in China.
Yu has more than 20 years of experience in human resources, including mergers and acquisitions, talent management, leadership development, talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, and labor relations, with Fortune 500 companies and their joint ventures.
For the last 15 years, Yu has worked with GM China in a variety of human resources areas with an increasing scope of responsibility, especially in areas involving driving and leading change initiatives to help businesses become successful. They include strengthening talent and development initiatives at GM China, providing strategic human resources support to GM’s joint ventures in China, elevating the Human Resources Business Partner team, restructuring the Human Resources Center of Expertise, serving as human resources lead for GM’s mergers and acquisitions in China, and supporting the establishment and working at joint ventures.
Before joining GM, Yu worked in human resources, marketing communications, and aerospace research and development.
She received a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Beijing University of Aviation and Aerospace, and a Master of Economics degree from Renmin University of China.
Rina Joosten
Co-Founder and CCO of Seedlink TechRina Joosten is entrepreneur, board member and publicist.
Since 2002 she works on the subject of innovation in both China and Europe. Rina is co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of technology venture Seedlink Tech in China. Besides, she is the founder and currently serves as a Board Member of international HR consultancy International Top Talent. Rina held various management positions at a global science@based company active in health, nutrition and materials. Here she focused on the commercialization process of R&D and innovation. At Seedlink Tech, Rina heads Strategy and the Marketing & Sales organization in China.
Rina is Board member of the Benelux Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. Here, she chairs the Innovation Platform with R&D and Technology Directors of multinationals. Rina is advisor and coach of Xindanwei ‘Ask Lab’ (top 10 most innovative Chinese companies in 2013), New Venture and various technology start-ups. She serves as a jury member for the HULT prize in Asia, an initiative to steer social entrepreneurship by the Bill Clinton Foundation. She is associated with Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Wageningen University and Tiasnimbas as a speaker and trainer.
Rina is a regular speaker and writer for both Chinese and European media on entrepreneurship, innovation, human capital and China. In 2011, she appeared in a documentary of a Dutch television show on her role in the venture International Top Talent.
Rina has an MSc in Medical Sociology and an MA in Journalism from Groningen University. She is married and has three kids.
Frank Gallo
Founder & President of Calypso ConsultingFrank Gallo is the founder and president of Calypso Consulting, a firm dedicated to improving the level of leadership in China. He is the former Chief Leadership Consultant, Greater China, for Aon Hewitt. He is one of the foremost leadership consultants and executive coaches in China. With over 30 years of management and human resources experience, he works with both Chinese and Western executives helping them to be successful leaders in China. Frank has lived in China for fourteen years and is the retired president of Watson Wyatt China. He also serves as the Chief Leadership Consultant for Mindset Matters Group in Beijing and is a leadership professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Tongji University in Shanghai.
Alan Beebe
President at American Chamber of Commerce in ChinaAlan Beebe was appointed President of the American Chamber of Commerce in China on Mar. 14, 2016.
Alan was an Executive Director based in Beijing, leading EY China’s Cleantech and Supply Chain and Operations (SC&O) practices. His clients include major global corporations, primarily diversified industrials and high-technology companies operating in China.
Prior to joining EY, Alan held Executive positions with the China Greentech Initiative (CGTI), IBM, and management consulting firms AT Kearney and PRTM. He has twenty years of management consulting experience in the US, China and other Asian countries helping clients develop and implement sound business, operations and technology strategies. At EY China, he helps global clients transform their business models to drive new revenue opportunities and preserve profitability in China’s changing economic climate.
From 2010 to 2013, Alan was a Managing Director with CGTI, a collaboration platform serving over 50 international energy and environmental companies. At CGTI, he led advisory services and strategic research across all major areas of energy and cleantech. In 2014, CGTI merged with the Paulson Institute, founded by Hank Paulson.
Alan holds a Master’s degree from Yale University in International Relations and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Computer Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the United States. He is a Board of Advisor of the Yale Club of Beijing and in that capacity promotes academic and cultural exchanges between the United States and China. Alan has lived in China since 2002 and speaks Chinese fluently.
Wang Jun
Director of Organizational Development and Talent ManagementDr. Wang Jun is currently Director, Organizational Development and Talent Management at Schneider Electric- an energy management and automation Company. Dr Wang has experience on talent strategy, leadership development, succession planning, organization efficiency, high performance culture, employee engagement etc. Dr. Wang worked on Learning Development & Organization Effectiveness at Hewitt Packet, Leadership & Learning at Motorola before.
Nimo Firooz
Senior Director of Career InternationalNimo’s focus is to understand Career International’s client business strategy and expansion plans in order to be an asset to our client’s future growth and recruiting needs. In particular Fortunte 500 and MCNc across all industries.
Nimo has a Bachelor Degree in Marketing obtained from Hawaii Pacific University, U.S.A. and Master in Business Administration (MBA) in University of Phoenix, California, U.S.A.
Prior to joining Career International, Nimo has held various managerial positions in publicly traded Technology companies as well as nationwide financial services company in the United States, Europe , Middle East and South America.
Nimo has the ability to communicate fluently in 4 languages
Carmen Law
Chief Human Resources Officer at New H3C GroupAs Chief Human Resources Officer of the New H3C Group, Carmen is responsible for organization design, corporate culture, talent strategies, and other HR related policies and planning for the newly formed Company, a joint-venture between Unisplendor Group and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Prior to joining New H3C, Carmen served in the HR Division of Intel for over 16 years. She has assumed regional/country level positions within Asia & Pacific and China in Compensation & Benefits, Mergers & Acquisition, Business HR, talent management, leadership development and HR operations. During 2013-2015, as the Human Resources Director for Intel China, Carmen led her team across a total platform of manufacturing, sales & marketing, engineering, research & development and product group divisions in China. She was also one of the founders and key leaders driving diversity and inclusion in the region.
Carmen started her Human Resources career in 1990 as a Management Trainee with the Jardines Group. Between 1996 and 1999 she held various HR positions in Ciba Geigy, Novartis and Exxon Chemical.
Carmen holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Management Studies) degree from the University of Hong Kong in 1990. She also holds an MBA degree from the University of Southern California for Professional Studies.
Alex Lee
Executive Recruiter at Dell Computers ChinaAlex joined Dell Computers China in Shanghai as the Executive Recruiter covering Greater China across all functional groups in 2005. He then moved into a team leadership role managing all of the non-sales hiring for Greater China. In 2010, he moved to head up the Executive Recruiting for the Asia Pacific region. Earlier in 2013, he took on additional responsibility to run the Regional search team. Most recently, in Feb 2014, he moved to head up the Greater China Talent Acquisition (TA) team. He has over 17 years of experience in Executive Search and Corporate TA in Europe and Asia. Born in Taiwan, Alex has lived or worked in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Africa and P.R. China. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Manchester, UK.
Annie Li
Founder of Beijing Change Mag ConsultingAnnie Li, is a leading change management professional in China. She is one of the top 88 certified change management professionals in the world by Association of change management professionals. (ACMP), and the only one in Asia Pacific Area, She has been recognized as the first Chinese change management practitioner who stepped on international stage.
Annie founded Beijing Change Mag Consulting Co., Ltd,, the only qualified change management education provider by ACMP in China. Prior to this, Annie served as Strategy & Transformation managing consultant at IBM. She has rich practical experience in change management consulting and training for all kinds of organizational change and change leadership development program. As a change management leader, Annie participated the M&A program of Nokia and Siemens in China from end to end, which is a complex organizational change, business transformation, and the whole process and system integration.
Annie integrates her facilitation skill and team coaching skill in change management practice. Her specialty lays in facilitating cross-functional staff to reach consensus on change vision and change approach, and using a variety of ways to promote behavior change within organizations. Annie got high recognition from clients for her accumulated knowledge and experience in the field. With her professional skill and dedication to the project culture building. CIO in CRC commented on her as “a real change leader".
Vivian Liu
Head of Human Resources at Amazon Web ServicesVivian Liu currently the Head of Human Resources in Amazon Web Services, she directs the HR business to support AWS China in partnering with country leaders in delivering the full spectrum of both strategic and tactical HR services, programs to employees and managers. Before AWS, Vivian was HR Director for VMware China Research and Development Center. She brought with her 19+ year’s HR experience, with 3 years abroad in Finland and Dubai, 10 years leadership and people management experience in IT industry. She holds many years of HR strategic leadership experience from companies such as Nokia, Oracle and VMware Information Technology, where she led the HR team to work on strategic human resources management, diversity program, performance management, employee retention, learning and organizational development, she also obtained International working experience when she worked for Nokia Headquarter, Finland. There she focused on HR management for sales and marketing staff, as well as on curriculum development and professional & effective capacity building. Vivian was Nokia's first China National to work in Nokia China Institute; she was responsible for various human resource services, succession planning, electronic management in E-HR services. She has special expertise in organizational development, team effectiveness, and talent development.
Vivian holds HBDI, MBTI, DISC, Leadership 360 Assessment, CPCC Co-active coaching qualifications, and also the DDI, Situational Leadership, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Six Thinking Hats Certified Instructor certificates.
Elisa Mallis
Head of Executive Coaching at MDSElisa Mallis is an experienced Executive Coach, Speaker and Human Capital Consultant with a passion for developing people and their global mindset. She has coached numerous managers and senior leaders across the United States, Europe and Asia over the last 14 years. She is known for her ability to successfully blend a focus on values, purpose and meaning with practical actions and results.
As Head of Executive Coaching at MDS, Elisa leads a team of highly qualified Executive Coaches to deliver world class leadership development and executive coaching solutions.
Prior to MDS, Elisa spent 10 years at Accenture, working as a Management Consultant in the areas of human capital strategy, talent management, coaching and leadership effectiveness. A few of Elisa’s current and past clients include Microsoft, Swiss Reinsurance, Total, Vodafone, Toshiba, Ingersoll Rand, The Irish Police Department, Scholastic Publishing, Lloyds TSB and the UK Department of Work and Pensions. In addition, Elisa is a coach for members of the World Economic Forum’s Global Leadership Fellows Program.
As an executive within Accenture, Elisa developed the Human Capital Strategy for nine countries in the Asia Pacific region, including China, and led the development of the Culture Change portion of Accenture’s Global Human Capital Strategy from 2008 to 2010. Prior to working in Asia, Elisa provided consulting and coaching to numerous Accenture Fortune 500 clients across the United States and Europe. She led teams of up to 35 people on multi-million dollar transformation projects and also led the development of several large coaching initiatives within Accenture. Before joining Accenture, Elisa worked as a therapist for several years, supporting and developing programs for community mental health centers in the New York City Bronx.
Elisa has earned a Masters in Organizational Psychology and a Master of Education in Counseling Psychology both from Columbia University in New York City. She completed her initial coach training in 2002, is a Results Certified Coach and received her ACC credential from the International Coach Federation. Elisa is also an accredited practitioner for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and the Leadership Effectiveness Analysis™ (LEA) 360.
Elisa was the Chair of the European Chamber of Commerce in China’s HR Forum from 2011 to 2013, leading two Human Capital Conferences with over 150 participants. From 2005 to 2009 Elisa served as the Selection Committee Chair for the International Spirit at Work Awards. Elisa has also been a frequent speaker and workshop leader at a number of Human Capital, Leadership and Coaching Conferences in the US, Europe and China. For the last seven years Elisa has been based in Beijing with her husband and their two little boys.
Amanda Ou
Head of Global Strategic Accounts at LinkedIn ChinaAmanda currently leads the Global Strategic Account team for LinkedIn China. Amanda’s team partner with LinkedIn’s biggest strategic accounts world wide, and help them best leverage the LinkedIn’s big data to build world class talent strategies. Her clients include some of the big names like Microsoft, Amazon, Nike, Pfizer, etc.
Joined LinkedIn in 2013, Amanda was the first field employee for the China operation. By leveraging the LinkedIn Talent Solutions platform Amanda helped recruit and build the first field sales team with zero cost on other channels. The team was recognized later as one of the most high-performed teams in LinkedIn Globally for exceptional performance.
Amanda is a LinkedIn certified LinkedIn Recruiter, and have spent 4+ years in professional recruiting prior to LinkedIn. She’s passionate about technology, transformation and making a positive impact to her clients and team.
Sylvia Pan
Vice President at United Family HealthcareSylvia has been with United Family Healthcare since 1996. Her career has advanced over the past 20 years due to her hard work, dedication, commitment to excellence, loyalty, and desire to constantly learn and change. Sylvia has held positions as project assistant, government relations and accreditation coordinator, assistant to General Manager, assistant General Manager and acting General Manager of Shanghai United Family Hospital.
Sylvia holds a Master’s degree in Healthcare Business Administration from the University of Colorado, a Master’s degree from Peking University’s Guanghua Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in English literature. She is studying at University of Alabama at Birmingham on her doctor degree in health administration.
Sylvia became one of the first cohorts of JCI consultant from Mainland China in 2016.
Margaret Ren
Principal Consultant, Leadership Consulting at Aon HewittMargaret is a Principal Consultant with the Aon Hewitt Leadership Consulting Practice in Beijing. She has over 15 years’ experience of management and leadership consulting. She is the expert in organizational transformation, talent management strategy, leadership assessment and development, coaching, emotional intelligence quotient assessment and development. She has consulted with a range of leading organizations in the industries of financials, automobile, manufacturing, IT & tele-communications, pharmaceuticals, etc.
Margaret is one of the most preferred consultants and trainers for the Hewitt Academy. She facilitated both public and in-house trainings around leadership development, coaching skills, performance management, EQ development, MTP, people strategy, team leadership, etc.
Prior to joining Aon Hewitt, Margaret has been holding senior management positions in various multinational companies in the consulting, financial and IT Industries.
She graduated with CEIBS’ EMBA program. She also has ACCA certificate and the university degree of Management Information System.
Shaun Renwick
Human Resources Site Director of Procter & Gamble Beijing Research & Development CenterShaun Renwick is the Site Director for the Procter & Gamble Beijing Research & Development Center. He oversees the talent management of over 500 employees through P&G’s ‘Build From Within’ philosophy; a process where employees are hired into entry level positions and developed up to the most senior positions within the Company.
In his 7 years at P&G, Shaun managed the HR Outsourced Services for Australia & New Zealand before acting as the National Talent Manager where he lead Company recruitment and learning & development initiatives, including senior management development programs.
Shaun’s international experience expanded to the start-up and Site HR Management of a P&G Manufacturing Plant in Singapore and an organization restructure of Cross Border Logistics roles across Asia. In addition to Strategic Talent Management, Shaun manages a team of HR Professionals which cover Recruitment, Learning & Development, Compensation & Benefits, Outsourced Services, HR Operations, Employee Relations and Health & Wellness.
Yang Shu
Talent Acquisition Director of Alibaba GroupYang Shu is the talent acquisition director of Alibaba Group, responsible for Alibaba group recruiting team and recruitment operations center.
She has 13 years recruiting experience and 5 years head-hunting experience. Before Shu joined Alibaba group, she served as the North Asia Talent Acquisition Director at Oracle.
Yang Shu is specialized in recruiting and deploying talent. She is also one of the main members of HR brother which is an NGO Committee. She has been committed to welfare activities for university students as well as training activities to improve the abilities of human resources professionals.
Audie Wong
President at Amway ChinaAudie Wong is President of Amway China. He is also Executive Vice Chairman of Amway Charity Foundation.
Mr. Wong has served Amway, a US-based multinational direct selling company, for 35 years. He joined Amway Hong Kong in 1981, and was General Manager of Amway Taiwan during 1991-1994. In 1995, he helped opened Amway in Mainland China, and has been head of Amway China ever since. Under his leadership, Amway China became a US$4 billion company in 2014, and the largest affiliate of Amway Corporation.
As a direct seller of consumer goods in China, Amway China has been exemplary in many areas. An incentive trip in 2009 involving 13,000 sales personnel was the ice-breaking passenger cruise after 60 years’ cross-strait non-communication. With 70,000 registered volunteers, Amway China boasts the largest corporate volunteer force in China, and has won many accolades including Professional Consultant in Volunteer Work for its work in supporting national events such as the Special Olympics World Games, the Beijing Olympics, and the Shanghai World EXPO. In terms of care for employees, it has received many “Best Employers” awards, many for multiple years.*
Amway China is also well-known for its corporate citizenship. It has received the China Charity Award seven times from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, more than any other companies in China. In 2008, it was the only US company in China nominated by the US Ambassador to contest for the Secretary of State Annual Award for Corporate Excellence, and won 11th place among global contestants. In 2011, Amway set up the Amway Charity Foundation. It was the first foreign-invested charity foundation registered directly under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and is still the only one to date. The Foundation’s signature project—Spring Sprout Kitchen Program—has built 3,800 school kitchens in rural China. It was the only China program to be presented on stage at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in 2013.
Mr. Wong has been Vice Chairman of China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (CAEFI) since 2009. He is a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the 12th CPPCC, and a member of the 8th Council of China Overseas Chinese Association.
Pro. John Yang
Co-Dean, BiMBA at National School of Development at Peking UniversityDr. Yang received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from Columbia University, New York in 1991, majoring in management. He got his M.A. in Sociology from the same institution in 1985. He was also granted an MPA degree in International and Public Affairs from The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs of Princeton University in 1984. He graduated from the English Language and Literature Department of Peking University, China.
Dr. Yang’s main teaching and research interests involve Fundamentals of Management, Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management, Organizational Innovation and Cultural Change, MNC Operation and Management, International Leadership, etc. He has published a large number of articles and columns in leading academic journals and business press in China and the United States.
Steven Zhang
Chief Economist and Head of Research at Morgan Stanley Huaxin SecuritiesSteven Zhang is the Chief Economist and Head of Research at Morgan Stanley Huaxin Securities. Before this role, he was Senior Economist of UBS. Before UBS, he was the China Economist of Morgan Stanley (Asia), and Research Analyst at International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Steven has deep insights and thorough understanding in large financial institutions in China. He was engaged in the research of ICBC and ABC’s Hong Kong IPO when working at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse respectively. He is an active columnist for many mainstream media including Sina, Tecent and Caiijng Magazine.
James Zimmerman
Chairman at American Chamber of Commerce in ChinaJames Zimmerman is the 2016 Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, and also served as the chairman in 2007, 2008, and 2015, and as a vice chairman in 2005 and 2006. Mr. Zimmerman is the managing partner for the Beijing office of the international law firm of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, and is the author of several publications concerning trade and China related issues, including the well-recognized China Law Deskbook, a publication of the American Bar Association (now in its 4th edition).
Mr. Zimmerman has been a registered foreign lawyer with the Ministry of Justice since 1998 and is recognized as one of Asia’s leading business lawyers in the AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers Survey and is listed as a Leading Individual in the category of Corporate/M&A for foreign law firms in China of the AsiaPacific Legal 500: The Guide to Asia's Commercial Law Firms. Mr. Zimmerman is a member of the California Bar (since 1988) and admitted to practice before the United States Court of International Trade and various other federal courts.
Mr. Zimmerman served on the board of the International Institute of Conflicts Prevention & Resolution (2009-2012) and the Business Advisory Council of the United Nation’s Greater Tumen Initiative (2009-2011). Mr. Zimmerman also serves on a number of non-profit boards focused on child health and education issues in China and is active as a fundraiser for charitable organizations. He has lived and worked in Beijing since 1998.