Dwight Nordstrom has over 30 years of experience in doing business in China. Since 1990, he has been the Chairman (initially President) of PRI, a USA manufacturing-holding company with 25+ equity investments in China. PRI looks at average of 10-15 investments/year in order to select 1-2. PRI also has a consulting division (Beijing & Shanghai primarily locations) with support functions for start-up and/or expansion of manufacturing and application engineering in China. Mr. Nordstrom has been General Manager “GM” of 8 factories/businesses in China with employment ranging from 30 to over 750. He has been interim GM for 2+ year at PRI’s 100%-owned media division ZDL – largest Judeo-Christian ethics-content publisher in China. He was also, in the late 1980’s, the China Country Manager for one of GE’s divisions -- this was a GE HQ-corporate position. Mr. Nordstrom is in his 16th year now as Chairman of the Manufacturing & Sourcing Forum for the American Chamber of Commerce (China). Mr. Nordstrom has written, on average, 1 published article per year since 1990. He has served on 15+ board of directors as well as been executive “coach” for many China Country Managers. He has a MBA from University of Houston, undergraduate from TCU and did 2.5 years of graduate studies at Fletcher (Tufts/Harvard) & Yale.

Colm Rafferty is the Vice President – Asia Pacific for Vermeer Corporation and is Chairman of Vermeer China Limited. Vermeer is an equipment manufacturer from the Midwest of the United States, with products used for agricultural mechanization, environmental protection, infrastructure development, and non-blast surface mining. The Asia Pacific business includes integrated supply chain operations and dealer networks and company-owned distribution in China, Singapore, Australia, Northeast Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Vermeer advocates for the interests of U.S. businesses around the world. In the U.S., Vermeer is an active participant in President Obama’s Export Council (PEC). Vermeer’s Chair of the Board is the recent former Chairwoman of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the largest industrial trade association and lobbying group in the U.S. In China, this past year, Colm served as Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of AmCham China.

Colm received an MBA from the Yale School of Management, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Studies from Brown University. He currently serves on the Yale University Asia Development Council, the Yale School of Management’s Greater China Advisory Board, and recently served on the Executive Committee of the Beijing Chapter of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO).

Jewel Nordstrom has been living and working in China for most of the last 31 years.  She is the Vice President of PRI and the Executive Director of Life Connections, the nationwide training division of ZDL Books.  Life Connections has trained more than 25,000 people in marriage and also focuses on Christian Leadership and Parenting.  The Nordstroms founded, own and run ZDL Books, the largest Christian book publishing and media company in China with over 250 books legally published and over 5 million books distributed. 

For much of Jewel’s time in China she taught Ph.D. students at the “Harvard of China”, Beijing University, where she was honored with the “Most Excellent Teacher” award.  She was also the Regional Director for the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) with television broadcasts reaching up to a 66 million viewing audience and weekly, national radio broadcasts reaching tens of millions.  She ran Operation Blessing implementing extensive aid to the poorest of the poor throughout China through medical, education, orphan and elderly care, disaster and water relief projects.  Later she spear-headed Geneva Global’s launch into China, locating, analyzing and evaluating hundreds of the most strategic projects in China and helping to implement grant funding.

Nick Sykes has 8 years of operations and marketing management experience within the industrial engineering and chemical processing manufacturing sectors. Beginning in 2019, he is General Manager of BAP (Beckett Asia Pacific). Beginning 2017, he was Project Manager for PRI and Assistant General Manager of Beckett Asia Pacific (Beijing) with 110 employees.

From 2015 to 2017 he was Crane Co. (Los Angeles) Product Manager, overseeing strategic product marketing for a $30M industrial instrumentation product line (pressure, temperature, level, and flow switches and transmitters) with engineering and manufacturing in Los Angeles, Germany, and China. In this role, he led strategic planning development, market research, NPI (new product introduction), pricing, distribution, and promotion activity. In addition, he directly supervised all Application Engineers for Industrial and Oil & Gas vertical markets. From 2013 to 2015, Nick was Value Stream Manager for Crane Co. overseeing all operations for a $33M Oil & Gas division. This included 33 direct reports (production, manufacturing engineers, buyers, and planners).

Nick completed his MBA in 2015 at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles with a double emphasis in Marketing and Management/Organizational Behavior. In 2010, he completed his Bachelors degree at Biola University majoring in International Business. Nick is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

David McDermott (买大卫）is a highly motivated Global Supply Chain and Operations leader with 20 years progressive experience in North America, Europe, and Asia. Expert in executing end-to-end global operational strategies that cut costs, drive efficiencies, ensure compliance, generate revenue, and deliver high-levels of service quality.

Industry Focus

Specializes in company-wide improvements and transformations for sanitary, consumer, manufacturing, and technology.

Selected Recent Experience

Coaching and mentoring teams and leaders.
Contract Management
International 3PL Logistics Optimization
ISO9001:2008 Internal Auditor Certification.