With over two decades of experience in the U.S. foreign service, Forest Yang joined U.S. Embassy Beijing’s Environment, Science and Technology, and Health Section in August 2021. Forest was previously in Beijing’s Economic Section as acting internal unit chief and labor officer.

Specializing in the Indo-Pacific region, prior to her current assignment, Forest was acting director in the Bureau of South and Central Asia’s regional affairs office; political unit chief on the India desk; deputy political counselor in U.S. Embassy Canberra; and a diplomatic exchange fellow in the Pacific Division of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Early in her career, Forest served at the American Institute in Taiwan and U.S. Consulate General Mumbai.

Forest has also worked in the Legislative Affairs Bureau, INR Watch, and U.S. Embassy London.

Forest grew up in Los Angeles, California, and earned history degrees from Columbia University and Oxford 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.

Wei Zhang has served as Assistant Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in China since 2014. She has over 17 years of experience with the UN working on strategic communication, innovation, partnership engagement, and program design. Prior to taking up her current position, she worked as the Chief Communications Officer at UNDP China overseeing work in outreach and advocacy, and aligning businesses for sustainable development.
Wei holds a Masters degree in Journalism and Latin American Studies from Stanford University and received her Bachelors degree from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Prior to joining the UN, Wei worked in the media sector.

Sijia Liu joined United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) China in 2017 as Programme Associate, supporting Global Environment Outlook (GEO) outreach activities, youth and GEO environmental education programme in China. She brings with her over 7 years of experience in the development sector including 2 years with UNICEF as UNV Project Officer for poverty reduction project and 2 years as consultant with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) for gender equality project. Sijia holds Masters in International Relations at University of Warwick and Law Degree at Renmin University of China. Liu Sijia is also a USG Professional Fellowship Program alumni.

Gu Qing is a program officer in the foundation’s Beijing office, developing programming in the fields of philanthropy and impact investing. In addition to grant making, she is responsible for building relationships with Chinese foundations and philanthropy thought leaders for peer learning and collaboration.
Prior to joining Ford in 2018, Qing served as assistant country director for Poverty, Equity, and Governance at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China, where for nine years she worked with Chinese government agencies, think tanks, the philanthropy sector, and the private sector on programs aimed at reducing poverty, enhancing equity, achieving good governance and rule of law, and promoting sustainable development. Using the Sustainable Development Goals framework, Qing created UNDP’s philanthropy portfolio and oversaw the publication of reports on the development of philanthropy in China. She also served as a senior expert member to the consultation committee of the SDGs Innovation Pilot Zone, appointed by the government of China. Prior to that, she supervised international judicial cooperation in the government of China.
She was a visiting fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University.

FENG Yan joined Air Products in 2013 and leads all government and policy related topics to support company business development, as well as sustainability and social corporate responsibility for Air Products in China.

Yan acquired extensive expertise and insight about energy development and government policy through a series of positions in several global energy companies including BP, GE Energy. She has spent long time with committed effort in promoting energy efficiency and sustainability. Before joining the private sector, Yan spent fourteen years at the Chinese central government where she developed extensive knowledge and insight on government decision making processes, including as deputy director of State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) and Secretary Bureau of State Council working in industry & trade policy development and energy efficiency program.

Yan received both her BSc and Msc in computer science from Nanjing University in China and holds MBA from School of Management of Cranfield University of the UK.

Shuyi Li is a Manager of RMI, an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit founded in 1982 with the mission of transforming the global energy system to secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future. Shuyi leads RMI’s work to support decarbonizing China’s heavy industry, with recognized insights on solutions including green hydrogen, CCUS, electrification, circular economy etc... Prior to RMI, Shuyi has years of experience advising for Beijing DRC on energy efficiency and low-carbon development. She is an alumna of EDF Climate Corps and a mentor for its China program. She is also a mentor for the “Women in Energy Empowerment” program launched by Global Women’s Network for the Energy transition in partnership with GIZ and German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Shuyi holds a master’s degree from Tsinghua University and Mines ParisTech, and a bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University.

Yijin Wang is a former business journalist covering global tech companies and venture capital firms for 36Kr. She has more than four years’ reporting experience in new energy, consumer products, and U.S.-China relations. She has moderated various forums including 36Kr’s annual flagship summit WISE and Forbes China’s “TOP 60 Outstanding Chinese in North America” award ceremony. She holds a master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Southern California.