(Former USTR 1997-2001)

Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky is WilmerHale's Senior International Partner. She joined the firm after serving as the US Trade Representative—the chief trade negotiator and principal trade policymaker for the United States—from 1997 to 2001, and acting as deputy USTR from 1993 to 1996. As the USTR and a member of the President's Cabinet, she was responsible for the negotiation of hundreds of complex market access, regulatory and investment agreements with virtually every major country in the world. She is best known internationally as the architect and chief negotiator of China's historic WTO Agreement, as well as global agreements in financial services, telecommunications, intellectual property rights, high-technology products and cyberspace. She is recognized as a central figure for international business and international economic and trade issues. Her 25-year legal career in the field has encompassed international litigation, commercial negotiations, investment and regulatory advice, and dispute resolution, and she has written and lectured extensively both here and abroad.

Jordan Berke leads Tomorrow, a strategic consulting firm focused on digital transformation within retail. He has over 20 years of digital retail and marketing experience, having been an early leader in the online marketing industry in the United States and subsequently leading Walmart’s e-commerce and in-store digital efforts in China for nearly 10 years.

Jordan began his career with Beyond Interactive, one the world’s first digital marketing agencies (now owned by WPP). At Beyond, Jordan worked with leading brands to create digital acquisition and retention programs, while setting industry standards for digital display media, email-based CRM, and ad-tracking.

Jordan joined Walmart in 2005 and held positions in Merchandising, Store Operations, Finance, Strategy, and eCommerce. In 2010, he led the launch of Sam’s Club’s e-commerce business in China and expanded its O2O offering across multiple regions.

In 2015, Jordan’s team launched Walmart’s e-commerce business in China and was instrumental in the company’s subsequent alliances with Tencent, JD, New Dada. He led the expansion of Walmart's e-commerce business to include multiple offerings, including its pioneering one-hour fresh and grocery service, which now serves millions of customers across 30 cities.

Jordan pioneered Walmart's use of in-store digital innovation and CRM in China, where the company took significant steps to digitize and personalize the in-store experience. Walmart's Scan & Go WeChat Mini Program is considered a leading example of retail digitalization worldwide, transforming how customers experience the physical store, while providing brands with a platform to engage users on a 1-to-1 level.

Jordan now advises leading retailers on accelerating digital transformation, with a focus on strategies to win in eCommerce, personalization, and omni-channel fulfillment.

Daniel Fung served as the last Solicitor General of British-run Hong Kong and the first Solicitor General of the territory as newly restored special administrative region of China straddling its historic, constitutional transition in the 1990’s. As a private lawyer over the past 20 years, he has led many UN, World Bank and civil society initiatives to develop legal rights and protection in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa including as Chair of International Bridges to Justice. He currently serves on his fourth five-year term as national delegate to China’s upper house the CPPCC. Daniel is the founding chair of Cambridge Global Conversations, a forum for addressing existential challenges to humankind and the biosphere lying beyond resolution by individual nation states requiring therefore a deepening of global collaboration and a pooling of sovereignty.

Robert T. Grieves is Founder and Chairman of Hamilton Advisors Limited, a strategic communications firm established in Hong Kong in 2009. Following a career in journalism for The Times (London) and The Economist, both in Beijing, and Time magazine and Forbes, in New York, Robert served in top-tier regional and global communications roles. His communications career includes senior positions at Burson-Marsteller, Head of Marketing and Communications for Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific, Global Head of Communications for The Bank of New York and President, Hong Kong, for Edelman.

Robert is Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and a former Chairman (2015-2017) of the Council of Public Relations Firms of Hong Kong. He has lectured at Tsinghua University in Beijing, at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., and in Nanjing as a speaker at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council conference on Chinese brands.

Robert graduated from Hamilton College magna cum laude with a B.A. in British literature and East Asian history, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his M.S. in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a concurrent certificate from Columbia’s East Asian Institute.

With over 20 years of experience in financial technology, intellectual property and consultancy services across Asia Pacific, and over a decade spent in leadership positions with P&L responsibility, Joanne is motivated by supporting organizations to excel in Asia.

Joanne has held leading positions in new business development, sales & marketing, corporate branding, legal strategy and investors relations across various sizes of firms. Her achievements include establishing presence across Asia Pacific for various MNCs to open doors, build brands, and expanding market share and profitability for them. She creates and leads corporate and people strategy execution that underpins growth and vision.

Before Broadridge, Joanne was the Head of APAC for Dealogic. She also led a number of multi-national companies including CPA Global and Thomson Reuters in Asia Pacific. Joanne holds a Master of Science degree in Financial Management from the University of London. Born in Hong Kong and having spent most of her life there, Joanne is very passionate about social and business matters. She is a committee member at the YWCA Hong Kong, responsible for Corporate Business.

Yukon Huang is a senior fellow with the Asia Program. He was formerly the World Bank’s country director for China and earlier director for Russia and the Former Soviet Union Republics. He is an adviser to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and various governments and corporations. His research focuses on China’s economy and its regional and global impact.

Huang has published widely on development issues in both professional journals and the public media. He is a featured commentator for the Financial Times on China, and his articles are seen frequently in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Foreign Affairs, the National Interest, and Caixin. His books include East Asia Visions, Reshaping Economic Geography in East Asia, and International Migration and Development in East Asia and the Pacific. His latest book, Cracking the China Conundrum: Why Conventional Economic Wisdom Is Wrong, was published by Oxford University Press (2017).

He has a PhD in economics from Princeton University and a BA from Yale University.

With some 25+ years of communication strategy experience gained working and living in China, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, France, and the United States, it’s only natural that Walter Jennings is the CEO of Asia Insight Circle, a business leadership association, consultancy, and events management company based in Hong Kong and doing business all over the world.

Walter also serves in a dual capacity as a Management Consultant at The Tantalus Group, a Hong Kong based global management consulting firm, providing CEO advisory, corporate communications strategy, and influencer relations consulting and strategy for the firm’s clients.

Walter recently served as Vice President, Global Corporate Communication at Huawei Technologies in their corporate headquarters in Shenzhen, China. Huawei is the world’s leading telecommunications technology company with 200,000 employees in 170 countries and 2017 revenue of US$93 billion.

Tara Joseph is the President of AmCham Hong Kong. In her 22 years as journalist, she has reported on hundreds of the world’s most important and high profile news stories including Russia’s financial crisis, Myanmar’s emergence from virtual isolation, China's rise on the world stage and the Beijing Olympics to name a few. Earlier in her career, Tara was the editor and main presenter of Reuters Financial Television based in London, and covered emerging markets and G7 economic issues. She has twice served as President of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong, one of the world’s largest press clubs.

Cheng Li is Director and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center, and a Director of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Dr. Li is also a Distinguished Fellow of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at University of Toronto, a Nonresident Fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale University, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He is the author/editor of numerous books, including China’s Leaders: The New Generation (2001), China’s Emerging Middle Class (2010), Chinese Politics in the Xi Jinping Era: Reassessing Collective Leadership (2016) and The Power of Ideas: The Rising Influence of Thinkers and Think Tanks in China (2017). Li grew up in Shanghai. He received an M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Princeton University.

Shibani Mahtani is the Hong Kong bureau chief for the Washington Post. From a base in Hong Kong, she covers both the territory as well as Southeast Asia more broadly, a wide patch that includes the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand. She has focused on the changing geopolitics in the region, Chinese influence and great power rivalries playing out in the region. Prior to joining the Post in May 2018, Ms Mahtani spent 7 years at the Wall Street Journal, where she was based in Singapore, Yangon and most recently Chicago. Ms. Mahtani is a graduate of the London School of Economics and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Kathy is vice chair of Goldman Sachs Japan, co-head of Macro Research in Asia and chief Japan equity strategist. She is a member of the Asia Pacific Management Committee and Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd. Executive Committee and also helps oversee Launch With GS, the firm’s first for-profit investing initiative with a gender lens. Kathyjoined Goldman Sachs in 1994 and was named managing director in 1998 and partner in 2000. Kathy has been ranked No. 1 in Japan Equity Strategy by Institutional Investor multiple times. She was chosen by The Wall Street Journal as one of the "10 Women to Watch in Asia" for her work on the"Womenomics" theme and was also named to Bloomberg Markets magazine’s “50 Most Influential” list in 2014. Prior to joining the firm, Kathy was chief Japan strategist for Barclays de Zoete Wedd Securities for four years and worked at the Export-Import Bank of Japan’s Washington, DC office for two years. She is a policy commentator for Japan’s Cabinet Office and has served on numerous Japanese government committees aimed at promoting gender diversity. Kathy is a board member of the Asian University for Women (AUW) Support Foundation, chair of the Board of Councilors(Japan) of the US-Japan Council, director of the Fast Retailing Foundation, member of the Council on Foreign Relations, member of The Nature Conservancy-Asia Pacific Council, and member of Keizai Doyukai. She also serves on the Advisory Council for the Japan Society Fund Against Breast Cancer. Kathy earned an AB, magna cum laude, in Social Studies from Harvard University and an MA from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. She has conducted research on Japanese foreign policy at Kobe University Graduate School on a Rotary Scholarship.

(Former Obama Adviser)

Dr. Evan S. Medeiros is the Penner Family Chair in Asia Studies in the School of Foreign Service and the Cling Family Distinguished Fellow in U.S.-China Studies. His research and teaching focuses on the international politics of East Asia, U.S.-China relations and China’s foreign and national security policies. He has published several books and articles and regularly provides advice to global corporations and commentary to the international media.

Dr. Medeiros’ expertise is a unique blend of research expertise and practical experience. He previously served for six years on the staff of the National Security Council as Director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia - and then as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia. In the latter role, Dr. Medeiros served as President Obama's top advisor on the Asia-Pacific and was responsible for coordinating U.S. policy toward the Asia-Pacific across the areas of diplomacy, defense policy, economic policy, and intelligence. He was actively involved in all aspects U.S.-China relations for six years, including several U.S.-China summits.

In recent years, Dr. Medeiros advised multinational companies on Asia in his role as Managing Director for Asia-Pacific at Eurasia Group, the global political risk consultancy. Prior to joining the White House, Dr. Medeiros also worked for seven years as a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. From 2007-2008, he also served as policy advisor to Secretary Hank Paulson working on the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue at the Treasury Department.

Stewart Paterson is a Research Fellow at the Hinrich Foundation and the author of “China, Trade and Power: Why the West’s Economic Engagement Has Failed”. Paterson has been following the Chinese economy since 1991. After a stint in London and Mumbai, he lived in Hong Kong from 1998 to 2007 working firstly for CLSA as Head of Global Emerging Market Strategy and then for Credit Suisse, as Managing Director and Head of Asia-pacific Strategy. He then moved to Singapore in 2007 to co-found the eponymous Riley Paterson investment Management. He now lives and works in the UK. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Aberdeen.

Chris Perera is a Senior Director of International External & Regulatory Affairs, where she advances AT&T and Warner Media’s International market entry regulatory strategy and public polices across Asia Pacific. Chris works closely with AT&T’s diverse business units, and the team of international external affairs and global public policy advocates around the world. AT&T is a diversified, global leader in telecommunications, media and entertainment, and technology.
Ms Perera is also a Board Member and the current Vice President of the Asia Pacific Carriers’ Coalition (APCC), an industry association of global and regional telecommunications carriers operating in the Asia Pacific region. Through her role with the APCC, Chris works with
Governments, National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) and users, to advocate open market policies and best practice regulatory frameworks to promote competition and efficient investment in telecommunications markets.
Prior to joining AT&T in 2014, Ms. Perera was a Senior Director, Spectrum Policy and Regulatory Affairs for the Asia Pacific Region, GSMA, and the Chair of the New Zealand Radio communications Sector and an adviser to the Minister of ICT and Minister of Broadcasting before that. Ms. Perera was also the Principal Wireless Advisor on the evaluation panel for the New Zealand Government's Rural Broadband Initiative.
Ms. Perera has a Masters (Thesis) Degree from the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Auckland, New Zealand, and holds a Management Accounting & Law Degree from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, United Kingdom.

(Trump Advisor)

Senior Fellow and Director for Chinese Strategy Michael Pillsbury is a distinguished defense policy adviser, former high-ranking government official, and author of numerous books and reports on China. During the Reagan administration, Pillsbury was Assistant Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning and responsible for implementation of the program of covert aid known as the Reagan Doctrine. In 1975-76, while an analyst at the RAND Corporation, Pillsbury published articles in Foreign Policy and International Security recommending that the United States establish intelligence and military ties with China. The proposal, publicly commended by Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger, and James Schlesinger, later became U.S. policy during the Carter and Reagan administrations.

Pillsbury served on the staff of four U.S. Senate Committees from 1978-1984 and 1986-1991. As a staff member, Pillsbury drafted the Senate Labor Committee version of the legislation that enacted the US Institute of Peace in 1984. He also assisted in drafting the legislation to create the National Endowment for Democracy and the annual requirement for a DOD report on Chinese military power.

In 1992, under President George H. W. Bush, Pillsbury was Special Assistant for Asian Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, reporting to Andrew W. Marshall, Director of Net Assessment. Pillsbury is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Pillsbury is the author of China Debates the Future Security Environment (NDU Press, 2000), The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower, and editor of Chinese Views of Future Warfare (NDU Press, 1998).

Pillsbury was educated at Stanford University (B.A. in history with honors in social thought) and Columbia University (M.A., Ph.D.).

(Moderator)

Ben Simpfendorfer is CEO of Silk Road Associates, a data-driven strategic advisory based in Hong Kong.

Ben advises Fortune 500 multinationals and leading Asian firms on their commercial strategies in Greater China, South East Asia, the Middle East & Africa, providing clients teams with geospatial-driven solutions based on the firm’s proprietary SRA Intelligence® analytics. He briefs CEOs and executive boards worldwide.

Ben has worked in Asia and the Middle East for over 20 years. He was previously chief China economist at RBS and senior China economist at JPMorgan in Hong Kong. He started his career in Beirut in the 1990s, later working as a Middle East & North Africa senior analyst for Dun & Bradstreet in London.

Ben is a Mandarin and Arabic speaker, and author of The New Silk Road (2009) and The Rise of the New East (2014). He is a leading specialist on China’s Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) and a member of the Foreign Experts Committee advising the Chinese government on BRI’s implementation. He is a Board Member of PBEC, one of Asia’s oldest business organizations, and Co-Chairman of the China Business Committee at AmCham Hong Kong. He is also a regular commentator on Bloomberg & CNBC.

John Siu is responsible for managing Cushman & Wakefield’s Hong Kong Office which provides a full range of real estate transaction, consultancy and management services to our clients. He is also the convener of the China Business Platform and one of the key leaders of the Guangdong | Hong Kong | Macau Greater Bay Business Platform of Cushman & Wakefield. John also currently serves as the Co-chairman of the China Business Committee of The American Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Real Estate & Infrastructure Committee of The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

With over 30 years of industry experience, John’s expertise include tenant representation & strategies in the office, industrial/logistics and data center sectors; landlord advisory for Grade-A office developments; and corporate occupier account management. His expertise has made him a resource for interviews by Hong Kong and international media.

Maaike Steinebach is Visa's General Manager for Hong Kong and Macau. She is responsible for the full business operations, strategy development and management of Visa’s businesses in the two territories. She is also the founding member of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong.

Maaike brings more than 20 years of experience working in institutional, commercial and private banking in Europe, Asia, and Greater China.

Before joining Visa, Maaike served for five years as Country Executive of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Hong Kong), and before that as Country Executive for ABN AMRO (Hong Kong) and Regional Head Asia for the corporate bank. Prior to Hong Kong, Maaike spent five years in Shanghai as Country Manager for Fortis Bank Greater China.

As founding member of Women in Tech HK and Women Chief Executive Group HK, Maaike is active in the advocacy for full and equal participation of women and girls in Hong Kong economy and society. She is also an active member in the fintech community in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area.

Maaike has a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Amsterdam.

Dan Strumpf covers tech in Asia out of The Wall Street Journal's Hong Kong bureau. Previously, he covered energy and financial markets for the Journal in both Hong Kong and New York, and has worked for the Associated Press and several local newspapers in the U.S.

Steve Vickers is the CEO of Steve Vickers & Associates (“SVA”) (www.stevevickersassociates.com) and has 40 years’ experience in Asia in both government and the private sectors.

Steve is an acknowledged expert on political and security issues in Asia Pacific and is a frequent commentator on political risk and crisis management/containment issues. His opinion on risk and security issues is regularly sought by the international media and he has lectured widely in Asia, North America and Europe.

For the past 22 years in the private sector, Steve has conducted numerous sensitive – business intelligence assignments, crisis containment issues and other high-risk issues facing international corporations. Separately he is an acknowledged expert in the area of Kidnap and Ransom and Product Contamination issues.

Steve previously spent 18 years with the former Royal Hong Kong Police and commanded its Criminal Intelligence Bureau.

He is also a member of the International Institute of Security.

Alex is one of the top 10 most influential person in China’s game industry with 25 years of very unique “east meets west” experiences in the field.

Alex is one of the first games developers in China where he started his career as an entrepreneur in Beijing and established the first indie game studio in China. Prior to Leyou, Alex was the President of Game Business for Qihoo360, CBO at Perfect World, Investment Director for Giant, Manager at EA, Game Director at RealNetworks China, and Manager at Sohu. He also served as a consultant professional at GLG for 20+ years.

Alex was instrumental in the execution of investment & acquisition deals such as: 17173.com, Runic Studio, Unknown Worlds, Cryptic Studios, SNK Japan, Digital Extremes, Splash Damage.

Leyou is the leading company focusing on free-to-play online multiplayer PC\Console games with 1200+ employees worldwide. Running and working on games like Warframe, Transformers, Civilization, Lord of the Rings etc.

Xu Sitao is Chief Economist and Partner of Deloitte China, spearheading Deloitte's economic and industry research. Prior to Deloitte, he was Chief Representative of China and EIU forecasting director at the Economist Group from 2004 to 2014.

Sitao worked for MMS International of Standard and Poor’s Group in Singapore as the Economist for Indonesia, Korea and Thailand in 1995. He joined Standard Chartered Bank as Regional Treasury Economist in 1996. From 2000 to 2002, he was Societe Generale’s Chief Economist for Asia. In 2003, he became the Head of Economics of ICBC (Asia).

He is often invited by leading MNCs to their board rooms, to present key issues on China.

Sitao holds a B.A. in Economics from Peking University, an M.A. in Economics from the University of Connecticut, and an M.S. in Finance from Boston College. He was a visiting scholar at Hoover Institution at Stanford University in 2012.