Carol Li Rafferty is Managing Director of Yale Center Beijing, a convening space and an intellectual hub for 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 that facilitate meaningful dialogues between China and the world.

Prior to this role, Carol was Senior Vice President at China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s sovereign wealth fund, where she worked on strategic and private equity investments. Carol has a passion for championing women’s empowerment in China and co-founded the Lean In China organization in 2013, which has grown into a network of over 100,000 women across China.

Carol received her J.D. degree from Stanford Law School, where she was Articles Editor of the Stanford Law Review. She graduated cum laude from Yale University, with dual B.A. degrees in Economics and International Studies. In 2016, the World Economic Forum (WEF) named Carol a Young Global Leader (YGL), and she is a member of the YGL Advisory Group. She is also a Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a recipient of Caixin Media’s Outstanding Women Award.

Colm Rafferty is the Vice President – Asia Pacific for Vermeer Corporation and is Chairman of Vermeer China Limited.

Vermeer is an equipment manufacturer from the Midwest of the United States, with products used for agricultural mechanization, environmental protection, infrastructure development, and non-blast surface mining. Vermeer’s CEO is the 2015 Co-Chair of the B20 Global SME & Entrepreneurship Committee, is a member of President Barack Obama’s Export Council (PEC), and is former Chair of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the largest industrial trade association in the United States.

Prior to joining Vermeer, Colm was Director of China Distribution Operations for Cummins (NYSE: CMI), with both operational and P&L responsibility for the company-owned distributors. During his time with Cummins, Colm held a variety of leadership roles including Head of Emerging Markets Strategic Planning, where he oversaw the company's strategy & business development efforts in China, India, and Russia. Before joining Cummins, Colm worked for Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA), where he was employee #120, and Director of Business Development.

Colm received an MBA from the Yale School of Management, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Studies from Brown University. He currently serves on the Yale University Asia Development Council, the Yale School of Management’s Greater China Advisory Board, the Executive Committee of the Beijing Chapter of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), and is Vice Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.

Travis Tanner is the President of the US-China Strong Foundation. Based in Beijing, Mr. Tanner works to advance the Foundation’s mission by providing executive leadership and leading its China operations. He has more than 15 years of experience working on US-China relations.
Mr. Tanner previously served as Senior Project Director at The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and Director of NBR’s Kenneth B. and Anne H.H. Pyle Center for Northeast Asian Studies. Previously, he was Deputy Director and Assistant Director of the Chinese Studies Program at the Center for the National Interest (formerly the Nixon Center) in Washington, DC. He also worked as a Research Assistant at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Mr. Tanner is the author, contributing author, or co-editor of numerous publications on the strategic, economic and political dimensions of the US-China relationship, including five volumes of the Strategic Asia series. Mr. Tanner has also been featured in major media outlets in the US and China.
Mr. Tanner received his Master’s degree in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and his Bachelor’s degree in Chinese language and literature from the University of Utah. Mr. Tanner is a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations and serves as a Senior Advisor to NBR. He currently lives in Beijing with his wife and four children.