Anke Schrader leads research on Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability at The Conference Board’s China Center, a nonpartisan think tank that conducts economic and business management research. She is responsible for developing and coordinating China Center research programs, knowledge management and outreach activities to members, institutions, co-operators, and the public.

Schrader is the author of numerous publications, including the widely recognized report Corporate Philanthropy in China: A Practitioner's Guide for Foreign Donors. In 2013, she was selected as a research partner to the Indiana University Initiative on Philanthropy in China, a three-year research grant project funded by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Ford Foundation, where she researches the impact of foreign grant making on civil society development in China. Schrader is also serving as vice chair of the American Chamber of Commerce in China’s Business Sustainability Committee. She blogs on and on CSR issues on CSRwire and Giving Thoughts.

Brett D. Gerson is the Commercial Policy Officer for the Foreign Commercial Service at the US Embassy in Beijing, China. In that role, he covers a wide variety issues related to commercial rule of law and regulatory challenges that US companies face in China. Prior to his role at the US Embassy in Beijing, Gerson served as a legal advisor on China-related international trade matters at the US Department of Commerce, and he was an associate attorney in a multinational law firm’s international trade group. Gerson received his J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law and his B.A. from the University of Arizona.

Ian drives AmCham China’s policy and advocacy strategies and manages the chamber’s US government affairs. Jointly hired with the Washington-based US Chamber of Commerce, Ian spearheads joint-chamber official responses to new PRC and US laws and regulations. Prior to joining AmCham China, Ian worked in local government affairs and research in Arizona on US-Mexico affairs.

A proud Arizonan, he holds degrees from Arizona State University and Peking University, and speaks Mandarin and Spanish fluently.

Jim has lived in China since 1998 and has had careers in government, the private sector and non-profits, now working for the International Potato Center, an agriculture research organization working to alleviate poverty and promote food security through crop breeding outreach programs. Jim is a board member of Notre Dame’s Alumni Association and in the past served as chairman of AmCham-China’s board of governors (2004), vice-chairman (2006-2007) and as a board member of Half-The-Sky Foundation, The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies and the Congregation of the Good Shepherd. He is married and has two Chinese adopted daughters.

Katherine Wilhelm is the Ford Foundation’s legal program officer for China. In this role, she supports organizations and projects that strive to strengthen China’s public interest legal sector. Before joining the foundation in 2012, Ms. Wilhelm was director of the Beijing office of Yale Law School’s China Law Center, where she developed projects promoting legal education and legal reform. She has practiced law in the Beijing office of a leading U.S. law firm, and also had a long first career as a journalist and editor in East Asia.

As former Vice Chair of the Board of Governors, former General Counsel and current Chair of the Policy Committee and of the Insurance Forum of the American Chamber of Commerce – People's Republic of China (AmCham), Les Ross is a longstanding leader of the American business and legal communities in China and in frequent contact with government officials and other stakeholders.
Mr. Ross concentrates his practice on mergers and acquisitions and regulatory matters and has experience in a broad range of industries. He has represented both foreign and local companies and has particular experience advising foreign companies on competition law and regulatory compliance in China.

Practice

Mr. Ross represents foreign companies in their strategic expansion in China through direct investments and mergers and acquisitions in industries ranging alphabetically from agriculture to water services. He also has extensive experience representing foreign banks and corporations, including Chinese entities, in their strategic expansion in the United States, particularly focusing on M&A and regulatory clearances and compliance. He has also represented clients in trade, dispute resolution and regulatory matters in China.