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Alan Beebe
President at AmCham ChinaAlan Beebe was appointed President of the American Chamber of Commerce in China in March 2016. He has more than twenty years of industry and management consulting experience in Asia, including the past fourteen years in mainland China.
Prior to joining AmCham China in Beijing, Alan held various senior executive positions with EY, IBM, and management consulting firms AT Kearney and PRTM. He also led a Beijing based start-up for five years, the China Greentech Initiative, which merged in 2014 with the Paulson Institute, founded by Hank Paulson.
Alan has advised a wide range of corporations and global investors on investing and operating in China, including global private equity firms, U.S. high technology companies and major Chinese enterprises such as China Telecom and China Mobile.
He holds a Master degree from Yale University in International Relations and a Bachelor degree in Business Administration and Computer Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the U.S. He is a Board of Advisor of the Yale Club of Beijing and in that capacity promotes academic and cultural exchanges between the U.S. and China. He is a fluent speaker of mandarin Chinese, and reads and writes Chinese.
Alan was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He is married with two children.
Jin Fang
Deputy Secretary-General at China Development Research FoundationMr. Fang Jin is a Board Member and Deputy Secretary General of China Development Research Foundation and also a research fellow at the Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council, People’s Republic of China. His main area of research is China’s economic relations with the outside world. He has written extensively on China’s foreign economic policy, globalization and world economy. Before joining DRC, Dr. Fang had worked in the corporate sector for many years. He holds a Doctoral degree from School of Economics, Peking University and a Master Degree and a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University in Australi. He also spend one semester at Harvard Kennedy School as a visiting fellow. He has published one book on the causes of U.S. financial crisis and another book on the rise of emerging market economies. After joining CDRF at the beginning of 2012, he focused more on researching medium to long term challenges facing China’s economic and social development. He coauthored the book A Trap or A Wall: The Real Challenges and Strategies Facing Chinese Economy, which won the 2013 Sun Yefang Economic Prize, the highest honor for excellence in economic research in China.
Paul Haenle
Director of CARNEGIE–TSINGHUA CENTER FOR GLOBAL POLICYPaul Haenle is the director of the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center based at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. In addition to running the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center, Haenle is also an adjunct professor at Tsinghua, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses to Chinese and international students on international relations and global governance.
Prior to joining Carnegie, he served from June 2007 to June 2009 as the director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia Affairs on the National Security Council staffs of former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. From June 2007 to January 2009, Haenle also played a key role as the White House representative to the U.S. negotiating team at the six-party-talks nuclear negotiations. From May 2004 to June 2007, he served as the executive assistant to the U.S. national security adviser.
Trained as a China foreign area officer in the U.S. Army, Haenle has been assigned twice to the U.S. embassy in Beijing, served as a U.S. Army company commander during a two-year tour to the Republic of Korea, and worked in the Pentagon as an adviser on China, Taiwan, and Mongolia Affairs on the staff of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Early assignments in the U.S. Army included postings in Germany, Desert Storm, Korea, and Kuwait. He retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel in October 2009.
Jeffrey J. Hardee
Executive Director, Government & Corporate Affairs, Asia Pacific and Singapore Country Manager of CaterpillarJeffrey Hardee has worked in Asia for over 25 years and currently serves as Executive Director, Government & Corporate Affairs, Asia Pacific and Singapore Country Manager for Caterpillar.
Prior to this, Hardee worked at Dell as Executive Director, Government Affairs, Asia Pacific. He led Dell’s policy work in the region and supported business units on business opportunities and strategy.
Hardee also served as Vice President & Regional Director, Asia Pacific, Business Software Alliance (BSA). He directed BSA’s work on intellectual property, e-commerce and trade policy issues and managed BSA’s education and enforcement activities in the region. He spoke to the press regularly about software issues.
Prior to this, Hardee worked for the Motion Picture Association (MPA) as Vice President, Asia-Pacific. He handled market access issues for theatrical, video and television distribution and led efforts on legislation to protect copyrights and promote e-commerce.
Hardee began his career at the U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC) as a Presidential Management Intern (PMI) and went on to head the Malaysia/Singapore/ Brunei desk and subsequently the Taiwan desk. His last position with USDOC was with the Foreign Commercial Service at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Hardee has a bachelor degree in economics and political science from Duke University and a master of public affairs degree from the University of Texas in Austin. He currently serves on the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and the Board of the US-ASEAN Business Council. He is also a member of the B20 Energy, Climate & Resource Efficiency Taskforce. He was an Alternate Member for the United States on the Business Advisory Council to APEC (ABAC) 2013-2015.
Susan Munro
Partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLPSusan Munro is a partner with Steptoe & Johnson LLP and head of the firm’s Beijing office. She has advised financial institutions, multinational companies and investment funds on China-related business and investment matters for more than 18 years. She regularly assists clients with China market entry and exit strategies, mergers and acquisitions and strategic investments and has extensive experience of the Chinese chemicals, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, energy, semiconductor, food, apparel and software industries, as well as the financial services sector.
For the past 15 years Ms. Munro has conducted numerous China-related Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and SEC investigations in China and throughout South East Asia. She is one of the few experienced fully bilingual investigators based in China and regularly assists clients with development and implementation of anti-corruption compliance policies and programs.
Ms. Munro has been active in Hong Kong and China-related arbitrations for several years and has represented clients in disputes before various international arbitration commissions. She regularly advises clients involved in cross-border litigation involving Hong Kong, China, the UK, the US and other jurisdictions.
Ms. Munro also has deep experience of the Chinese labor and employment environment and regularly advises clients on structuring labor relationships, terminations, mass layoffs and ethics matters. She also has extensive experience of advising on protection of intellectual property in China and enforcement of IPR.
Ms. Munro was educated in England and Hong Kong. After graduating in Chinese, she pursued post-graduate studies at Fudan University in Shanghai as a British Council Scholar and is fluent in Putonghua (Mandarin). She trained at the Inns of Court School of Law, London, and was called to the Bar of England & Wales and to the Bar of the Hong Kong SAR, where she practiced as a barrister in the Hong Kong courts. Before joining Steptoe, Ms. Munro worked for a large US law firm in Shanghai for ten years. She is admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and is licensed by the PRC Ministry of Justice as a Registered Foreign Lawyer and Chief Representative of the firm’s Beijing office.
Elizabeth Pei
Director of Corporate Affairs at Schneider Electric ChinaElizabeth Pei is currently the Director of Corporate Affairs in Schneider Electric China.
Before that, she worked in Dell inc. for 12 years, and held various roles throughout the company. She started out as Project Manager in U.S. in 2001, leading U.S. domestic and European projects; and moved to Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ) in 2007 as a key figure in rolling out company's globalization initiative. From 2008 to 2012, she worked in Sales Operation, Marketing and Business Development roles, and was appointed as Director of Strategy in 2012, leading the company business strategy development.
Elizabeth also serves as the vice-chair in American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham)Chinese Government Affairs Committee, chair in the Government Affairs Forum of European Union Chamber of Commerce (EUCCC), co-chair in the Government Affairs Committee in the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFC). She also serves in the Board of Trustees in Dulwich college Beijing.
Elizabeth received a Bachelor degree in Economics from Beijing University, a Master degree in Management Science from Tsinghua University, and holds a Master degree in Information System Management from Carnegie Mellon University, USA.
Patrick Powers
Director of Government Affairs at Rockwell AutomationPatrick Powers has 30 years of experience in international commerce, government relations and trade policy, achieved in a career that has spanned Asia but focused primarily on China. He has lived and worked in China for more than 20 years, in addition to assignments in Singapore, Vietnam, and Taiwan.
He was appointed the Director of Government Affairs for Rockwell Automation China in early 2014. Mr. Powers began his career with Bechtel, Inc., and held successive management positions at Island Creek of China Coal Ltd (Occidental Petroleum), SSM Coal BV, SHV Holdings, Tait Asia Ltd. (Vietnam), Mundoro Mining, Cargill, and Applus+.
Mr. Powers held the position of Vice President for China Operations at the US-China Business Council, the primary organization dealing with Sino-American commercial matters from 1999 to 2006. In that role, he was responsible for business advocacy and advisory services on behalf of 250 American MNC’s operating in the PRC. Mr. Powers has extensive experience in government relations and communications in China and Asia as well as a background in business development and operations in natural resources, large scale retailing, consumer goods warehousing and distribution.
He has spoken frequently on China-related topics at international conferences and appeared on numerous occasions in media, including CCTV, CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg, as well as contributing articles to The China Business Review. He has a BA from San Diego State University and has pursued advanced language and professional development courses At UC Berkeley, National Taiwan Normal University, and Singapore Institute of Management. Mr. Powers is a fluent Mandarin speaker.
Lester Ross
Managing Partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLPLester Ross is Managing Partner of the Beijing Office of the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (WilmerHale). He has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and Ph.D. from The University of Michigan, and has been resident in Beijing since 1997. He has a broad practice including mergers and acquisitions, competition, foreign direct investment, financial services, intellectual property and environmental and energy law.
He has particular experience advising multinational corporations with respect to the establishment and growth of their businesses in China and the outsourcing of manufacturing and research functions, and Chinese institutions with respect to their overseas expansion. He has published widely in these fields. He is the former General Counsel of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.
Albert Xie
President of Public Policy and Government Relations at General MotorsAlbert Xie was appointed vice president, Public Policy and Government Relations, for GM China, effective February 7, 2014.
Based in Beijing, he is responsible for building and maintaining GM’s strong relationship with key government agencies, interpreting China’s political environment to support management decisions, promoting GM’s corporate image, and fostering strong relationships with GM’s partners to enhance its government relations strategies.
Xie joined GM after a 17-year career with General Electric in China. He most recently served as general manager, China Government Affairs, for GE Aviation. He also held several leadership roles in sales at GE.
Xie has a Bachelor of Science degree from the Beijing Aeronautical Institute and a master’s degree in business administration from the China Program of City University in Seattle, Washington.
Gloria Xu
Government Affairs General Manager at Dow Chemical CompanyGloria Xu is Government Affairs General Manager, Greater China, the Dow Chemical Company and responsible for the company’s policy advocacy and government engagement in the Greater China region.
Prior to joining Dow, she led the China GA functions of DuPont and Standard Chartered Bank respectively for over 10 years with rich experiences in policy development and regulatory issues.
Gloria was China Public Relations Manager of Alibaba.com Group and helped build up brand awareness of the company at its start-up stage at the beginning of this century.
From 1993 to 2000, Gloria was a political correspondent with China Daily, covering legislative and foreign affairs, military, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan news.
Gloria currently serves on the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce China and chairs the China Government Affairs Committee
Gloria graduated from Nanjing University with a BA in English Language and Literature.
Sitao Xu
Chief Economist, Partner at Deloitte ChinaXu 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).
Sitao has written for YaleGlobal Online, the Asian Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Caijing, Caixin and 21st Century Business Herald. He appears regularly on CNBC, Bloomberg, CCTV, and other TV shows as a commentator on China. He is on the Speaker Retainer Program for the Virginia-based CFA Institute, and 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, a M.A. in Economics from the University of Connecticut, and a M.S. in Finance from Boston College. He was a visiting scholar at Hoover Institution at Stanford University in 2012. He is also a guest professor at the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University.
Haiying Yuan
President at Yuan AssociatesMr. Yuan Haiying founded Yuan Associates in February 2004, and since then he and the firm have become major players in China’s growing government affairs industry.
Mr. Yuan has thirty years experience in the Chinese Government, including senior diplomatic postings in Washington D.C., as China’s Agriculture Attaché, and in Rome, as the Alternate Representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO). He has been involved in negotiations on numerous bilateral and multilateral agreements in the areas of trade, investment, agriculture, forestry, fishery and environmental protection. For his efforts, Mr. Yuan received an Outstanding Contribution Certificate from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Outstanding Contribution Awards from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In China, Mr. Yuan was the Director of the Ministry of Forestry’s Department of International Cooperation, where he coordinated the Ministry’s relations and joint projects with foreign governments and international organizations.
After retiring from public service, Mr. Yuan worked as Senior Vice President at Edelman Public Relations for three years and as Vice President at APCO Worldwide for three years. Mr. Yuan chaired the Government Affairs Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce and the China Quality Brands Protection Committee (QBPC) of the Chinese Government Cooperation Committee. Additionally, he was a Council Member of the China International Public Relations Association (CIPRA) and the Beijing Foreign Investment Association.
Mr. Yuan graduated from Peking University with a degree in English and International Politics. He speaks Mandarin and fluent English.
William Zarit
Chairman at AmCham ChinaThe Honorable William Zarit advises major Chinese companies on how to navigate the U.S. investment market, and helps U.S. multinationals working in the Chinese commercial environment. He serves as Senior Counselor at The Cohen Group, a global business advisory firm founded by former U.S. Senator and Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen.
Until May 2014, Mr. Zarit was Minister for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, overseeing 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 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. He previously served as U.S. Commercial Service’s Regional Director for East Asia/Pacific, 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 the California-based telecommunications firm Pacific Telesis International, preceded by his work as Project Manager for the high-tech marketing firm China Business Associates. Both positions were based in Beijing. 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.
Jane Zhang
President at DaoHe ZhiYuan (Beijing) Consulting Co. Ltd.Jane Zhang is the President of DaoHe Consluting, a public affairs consulting firm specializing in government affairs and policy, business strategy, issues and crisis management. With her extensive experience in international affairs and public policy, Jane provides strategic counseling to world-leading multi-national corporations in agriculture, healthcare, FMCG, ICT and other industries. Previously, Jane led APCO Beijing as its Managing Director and held leading positions in Government Affairs, Issues and Crisis for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller. Piror to that, Jane served in various leading roles at Pfizer China in public affairs and policy, business strategy and operational management. Earlier in her career, Ms. Zhang worked in the Spokesman’s Office of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as the press official of the Foreign Ministry Commissioner’s Office in Hong Kong.