Horst is the Vice President People & Culture of IBM in Greater China Group. In this role Horst helps accelerate IBM’s transformation in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan through leadership and differentiated talent models, attracting and developing the best talent and building a culture of engagement, agility and innovation.

Horst was named to this position in October 2013, after leading the IBM Human Resources organization in Central and Eastern Europe where he was responsible for all aspects of HR in more than 17 countries.

During his 15+ years in IBM, Horst’s career has spanned different international HR management roles in six different countries (England, France, Spain, USA, Czech Republic and China), gaining experience at various levels of the organization and supporting the business in both mature and emerging markets. Horst also served as Executive Assistant to Randy MacDonald, Senior Vice President, Human Resources for IBM -- a prime vantage point from which to observe and understand IBM transformation’s during the world economic crisis.

Horst holds a bachelor degree in Business Administration from the Verwaltungs- und Wirtschaftsakademie in Nuremberg, Germany.

In January 2015 Horst was appointed as the Co-Chair of the Human Resources Forum for the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in China.

Since November 2013, Horst lives in Beijing with his wife Elena and their two children.

Jessie Hu is currently the HR Director of IBM Greater China Group Area HR Partners and Transformation. Jessie started the role in July 2015, prior which she was HR Director of IBM GCG North Region. During 2012 to 2014, Jessie was under international assignment from China to IBM HR CHQ, as BU HR leader for IBM Inside Sales organization and carried the responsibility for Inside Sales global HR strategy design & implementation worldwide. Before the US assignment, she was IBM China HR executive and was responsible for HR overall operation and HR strategy execution in China, with particular focus in 2008 to 2011 on the HR initiatives supporting IBM China Geo Expansion. Prior to that role, Jessie was IBM Great China Group Total Compensation & Benefit and Sales Incentive Plan leader for 5 years. Jessie’s experience in IBM stretches back 20 years ago, starting with IT engineer and then client sales representative, Travel & Transportation Industry sales leader and Distribution Sector sales operation & marketing leader.

Elisa Mallis is an experienced Executive Coach, Speaker and Human Capital Consultant with a passion for developing people and their global mindset. She is known for her ability to successfully blend a focus on values, purpose and meaning with practical actions and results. Elisa is the China Country Director for MDS and has spent the last 5 years leading a team of highly qualified Senior Consultants and Executive Coaches to deliver world class leadership development and executive coaching solutions for numerous multi-national and government organization in Asia. Elisa and her team are also the Executive Coaching partner for members of the World Economic Forum’s Global Leadership Fellows Program in Asia.

Prior to MDS, Elisa spent over 10 years at Accenture, working as a Management Consultant in the areas of human capital strategy, talent management, coaching and leadership effectiveness. A few of Elisa’s current and past clients include Microsoft, Swiss Reinsurance, Total, Wanda, SAP, Vodafone, Toshiba, the US Embassy, Scholastic Publishing and the UK Department of Work and Pensions.

As an executive within Accenture, Elisa developed the Human Capital Strategy for nine countries in the Asia Pacific region, including China, and led the development of the Culture Change portion of Accenture’s Global Human Capital Strategy from 2008 to 2010. Prior to working in Asia, Elisa provided consulting and coaching to numerous Accenture Fortune 500 clients across the United States and Europe. She led teams of up to 35 people on multi-million dollar transformation projects and also led the development of several large coaching initiatives within Accenture. Before joining Accenture, Elisa worked as a therapist for several years, supporting and developing programs for community mental health centers in the New York City Bronx.

Elisa has earned a Masters in Organizational Psychology and a Master of Education in Counseling Psychology both from Columbia University in New York City. She holds and ACC credential from the International Coach Federation and is also an accredited practitioner for the Global Mindset Inventory™ (GMI), the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and the Leadership Effectiveness Analysis™ (LEA) 360 and the IDI (Individual Directions Inventory).

Elisa is currently a Vice Chair for the American Chamber’s HR Forum in Beijing. She was the Chair of the European Chamber of Commerce in China’s HR Forum from 2011 to 2013, leading two Human Capital Conferences with over 150 participants. From 2005 to 2009 Elisa served as the Selection Committee Chair for the International Spirit at Work Awards. Elisa has also been a frequent speaker and workshop leader at a number of Human Capital, Leadership and Coaching Conferences in the US, Europe and China. Elisa has also authored research articles, articles and book chapters on topics related to global leadership and has been quoted in related media articles (CNN, China Daily, Forbes). For the last eight years Elisa has been based in Beijing with her husband and their two boys.

Michelle is the Senior HR Director of Pfizer China. Prior joining Pfizer in year 2010, she was working for Shell China Limited and used to take up finance, sales and HR positions with increasing management responsibilities. Michelle has been the HR lead for many country level business transformation programs, and also represented China to participate APAC/global level’s change projects. As a well rounded HR, Michelle demonstrates deep expertise in M&A, OD, HR operations and business partner areas. She graduated from South China University of Technology and obtained both B.S and B.A degree of Chemical Engineering and International Trade. She also studied in Peking University for the EMBA program for 18 months

Jessie Zhang joined Accenture as Great China VP of Human Resource and GS lead in 2011. Before this, she was the administration VP, responsible for Human Resource and corporate culture construction in SNDA. Jessie used to work at Sony in US as human specialist of international human department and was transferred to Sony representative office in China in 1994, assigned as Sony (China) Human Resource deputy and VP.

Jessie have achieved bachelor degree as English major in 1985 and assigned to work at this university after graduation for 4 years;1989,she went for South Carolina State University to study and achieved MBA degree.