Everett Wakai currently serves as the Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the US Embassy, Beijing. He leads a binational team of American commercial diplomats and Chinese trade experts to promote US-China business development, trade and investment. Before moving to Beijing, Mr. Wakai was the Commercial Counselor at the US Consulate in Shanghai.

Mr. Wakai previously served as the Senior Commercial Officer at the US Embassy in Angola, where his work focused on improving the business climate, diversifying the economy and trade, and foreign exchange payments. As an ex-officio Board Member of AmCham Angola, he led efforts to stand up a corporate compliance program, form policy committees, and formulate AmCham Angola's strategy and positioning.

Previously, he was assigned to the US Commercial Service New Orleans Office where he assisted US companies develop and implement their export promotion strategies. Prior to joining the New Orleans office, he was the Standards Attaché for South America responsible for standards and trade cooperation, market access, and market development at the US Consulate General in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He also served as the Standards Attaché for Mexico, Canada, and Central America responsible for NAFTA rule of origin exports, standards, and regulatory cooperation in the healthcare and the energy sectors at the US Embassy in Mexico. He began his career with the US Commercial Service as the Energy and Cleantech Commercial Advisor at the US Embassy in Paris, France.

Mr. Wakai is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, holds a master’s degree from New York University and received his MBA from Krannert Business School at Purdue University.

Michael Hart is President of the American Chamber of Commerce in China based in Beijing. He has over twenty-five years of business experience in Asia, including nineteen years in mainland China.

As President, Michael oversees all advocacy, programs, partnerships, and insights provided by the Chamber to support the business growth of nearly 900 foreign corporations operating in China, including most of the U.S. Fortune 500. The chamber’s advocacy includes the impressive American Business in China White Paper and Business Climate Survey each published annually as well as numerous interactions with both the US and Chinese governments on behalf of our members.

Prior to joining AmCham China, Michael spent most of his career in commercial real estate in Taipei, Shanghai and Tianjin including almost 20 years for a NYSE listed property services firm. He started in the research division briefing real estate owners, occupiers and investors on transactions and macro trends, he then opened, built, and led a branch office for the company in one of China’s largest Tier 1.5 cities for over a decade. Following this, Michael opened a private consulting and investment firm that among other projects invested in quick service restaurants.

In addition to this work, Michael was a long-term AmCham member and served on the Tianjin chapter’s Executive Committee for nearly 15 years including several terms as the local Chairman.

Michael holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on finance and banking from the University of Missouri-Columbia in the U.S. He is a fluent speaker of mandarin Chinese. Michael was born and raised near Kansas City, Missouri.

Claire Ma joined AmCham China in September 2021 and is currently the Vice President. She leads the Member Services and Government Affairs & Policy teams and oversees the Chamber’s Cooperation Programs and Signature Events.

Before joining AmCham China, Claire worked in the Chinese Government and in
multinational companies in the education and information communication industries. She
led teams in strategic planning, marketing, sales and government relations. She holds a
Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Peking University and a Master’s degree in
Business Administration from Yale University.