The Honorable William Zarit advises U.S. multinationals working in the Chinese commercial market and helps Chinese companies navigate the U.S. investment environment. A Senior Counselor with The Cohen Group, he also serves as Chairman of the Board for the American Chamber of Commerce in China.

Until May 2014 Mr. Zarit was Minister for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, in charge of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s trade promotion and trade policy activities in its operations in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang. He retired with the diplomatic rank of Career Minister.

Prior to his posting to Beijing, Mr. Zarit was Deputy Assistant Secretary, International Operations, for the U.S. Commercial Service, overseeing Commercial Sections in U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide. The U.S. Commercial Service is the Federal Government’s front line trade agency, promoting both U.S. exports and foreign investment into the U.S., and protecting U.S. commercial interests overseas. Prior to that Mr. Zarit served as the U.S. Commercial Service’s Regional Director for East Asia/Pacific. He also served as Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the American Institute in Taiwan.

Before joining the U.S. Commercial Service Mr. Zarit was Economic and Commercial Program Officer for the New York-based National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Prior to that he served as Marketing Manager/China for Pacific Bell’s international operations, preceded by his work as Project Manager for the first IBM PC dealer in China, China Business Associates. Mr. Zarit also served as Mandarin Chinese Interpreter for the U.S. State Department Language Services.

He earned an M.B.A. with Honors from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. with Honors in Political Science from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Alan 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.