Speaker Bios | Global China Connection

Stephen S. Roach is a senior executive with Morgan Stanley, the New York-based investment bank. After holding the position Chief Economist of Morgan Stanley for 16 years, Roach was promoted and named Chairman of Morgan Stanley's Asia operations in April 2007. Roach holds a Ph.D. in economics from New York University and a Bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

After earning his Ph.D., Roach was a research fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. From 1972 until 1979, Roach served on the research staff of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C., where he supervised the preparation of the official Federal Reserve projections of the U.S. economy. From 1979 until joining Morgan Stanley, Roach was Vice President for Economic Analysis for the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company in New York.

Roach has been with Morgan Stanley since 1982, and has been the investment bank's chief economist since 1991 and has served as head of the firm's global team of economists in New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Paris. He is the author of a new book, The Next Asia, detailing the difficulties that are impeding a shift in economic leadership from West to East.

Orville Schell

Orville Schell was born in New York City and graduated from Harvard University Magna Cum Laude in Far Eastern History studying under Professors Benjamin Schwartz and John King Fairbank. Professor Schell then studied Chinese language at Stanford University, was an exchange student at National Taiwan University and finally received his MA and Ph.d (abd) from the University of California, Berkeley.

He has worked for the Ford Foundation in Indonesia and covered the war in Indochina for magazines such as the Atlantic Monthly and the New Republic. Since then, he has written widely for many other magazine and newspapers,including The New Yorker, Time Magazine, Harpers, The Nation, The New York Review of Books, Wired, Foreign Affairs, Newsweek, the China Quarterly, Harpers and the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. He has written fourteen books, nine on China, and is at work on an interpretation of the last 100 years of Chinese history.

Professor Schell was a Fellow at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and the recipient of many prizes and fellowships, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Overseas Press Club Award, and the Harvard-Stanford Shorenestien Prize in Asian Journalism.

Schell, the former Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley for eleven years, was recently appointed by the Asia Society as the Arthur Ross Director to set up its new Center on US China Relations in New York City. The Center is now working on a number of new projects to strengthen Sino-US relations, including the Initiative on US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate, a joint partnership with the The Pew Center on Global Climate Change, as well as The Brookings Institution, The National Committee on US-China Relations, Environmental Defense and the Council on Foreign Relations. The Initiative's Co-chairs have been John Thornton and Steve Chu, now Secretary of Energy.

Professor Schell is a Fellow at the Weatherhead East Asian Insititute at Columbia University, a Senior Fellow at the Annenberg School of Communications at USC and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is married to Liu Baifang and has three children.

Wang Huiyao

Dr. Wang is the Founding Director General of Center for China & Globalization (CCG) and Vice Chairman of China Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA)， the largest Chinese overseas returned scholars’ organization in China with over 50，000 members. He is also the Founder of WRSA Chamber of Commerce and WRSA 2005 Committee. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of China International Economic Cooperation Society under Ministry of Commerce and Vice Chairman of China Talents Research Society. Dr. Wang was also appointed as an expert’s group leader for global talents strategy study by Chinese Government Talents Coordination Office as well as a team leader for economic group of Overseas Experts Advisory Committee for China State Council Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. Furthermore, he is a Deputy Director of Central Economic Committee of China Jiu San Society and is an advisor to China People’s Political Consultative Conference Beijing Committee.

Dr. Wang is well known for his initiatives and leadership for social organizations and think tanks in China. He has been an advisor to the Chinese government, established enterprises and social organizations in China. Dr. Wang used to work in MOFTEC (now Ministry of Commerce) in China. In North America, he worked as Director--Asia for SNC-Lavalin and later became Vice President of Agra Int’l Group (now AMEC Group)， both are among the largest engineering and project management firms in the world. He was also appointed as Chief Trade Counselor at Commission of Canada in Hong Kong for Quebec Government Affairs. He also served as a senior China adviser to GE， Siemens， ABB， Alstom， Westinghouse and Mitsubishi and so on.

Dr. Wang obtained his BA degree in China and later continued his studies at Ivey Business School of University of Western Ontario and Manchester Business School， obtained his PhD degree in international management and took further training at Harvard Business School. He is a visiting professor of Ivey Business School of University of Western Ontario and Guanghua Management School of Peking University. Dr. Wang has published over 20 books and numerous articles and papers on the international business and Chinese global talent issues， including his books such as New Chinese Businessmen， Returning Times， Contemporary Chinese Returnees， Talent Wars and Report on Development of China’s Overseas Educated Talents. Dr. Wang is a frequent speakers at different Chinese and international forums and often interviewed by well known media such as CCTV， China Daily， People’s Daily， BBC， CNN， NHK， Economist， Financial Times， Newsweek， USA Today， CBC， Canadian Business， Global and Mail， South China Morning Post， Tsingtao， Minpao papers and others.

Ole Schell

Ole Schell, an NYU film school graduate, directs films iin New York City. He just completed the award winning documentary "Picture Me" about the world of hi-fashion modeling due out theatrically worldwide this spring. He is also the director of “Win In China,” a documentary on China’s entrepreneurial revolution. He writes features for CNN.com and has produced radio on his experiences in China aired both on the BBC and National Public Radio. He has reported on the American election and politics for Channel 4 in Britain and MySpace Politics. He has been a featured speaker at the Council of Foreign relations, the United Nations and the Fairbanks Center for Chinese Studies and East Asian Studies at Harvard University. He has directed ads for Virgin Mobile, Tumi, Miss Sixty, American Eagle, and others. He is the recipient of the "Leonardo’s Horse Award" for best picture at the 2009 Milan International Film festival for Picture Me.

Challenges and Opportunities in U.S.-China Relations

Megan Penick, Penick & Associates

Ms. Penick is an experienced corporate and securities attorney who specializes in advising companies – whether public, private or not-for-profit – in establishing, building and maintaining strong and effective corporate governance policies and strategies. Her expertise is particularly geared at improving the role of the board of directors in its oversight of management, assisting the company in compliance with applicable rules and regulations and meeting the expectations of company stakeholders. Megan’s services also include representing both private and public companies concerning general corporate and business law issues, as well as Securities and Exchange Commission filings and compliance. She has been admitted to the bar in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C.

Xu Xin, Cornell University

Xu Xin is Director of the China and Asia-Pacific Studies Program (CAPS) and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University. He received a BA and MA in International Relations from Peking University and a PhD in Government from Cornell University.

He returned to Cornell and joined the CAPS program as CAPS Associate Director in 2007. He was formerly Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of International Politics at Peking University in China, and Associate Professor of Asia Pacific Studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan. He was also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, an International Fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation in the United States, a Postdoctoral Fellow on National Security in the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University, and a Visiting Research Fellow, Professional Specialist, and Acting Director of the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program at Princeton University.

His research and teaching focus on Chinese foreign policy and East Asian international relations. His areas of interest include the identity politics of the Taiwan issue, China’s grand strategy, East Asian security politics, and Olympics and international relations. He has published articles and book chapters both in English and Chinese about various issues in these areas. He has co-edited History of the People’s Republic of China’s Foreign Relations, 1949-1989 (Peking University Press, 1994), and co-translated Hans J. Morgenthau’s Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, 7th edition (Peking University Press, 2006), and coauthored The Beijing Olympiad: The Political Economy of a Sporting Mega-Event (Routledge, 2007). He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled The Power of Identity: China and East Asian Security Politics in the Post-Cold War Era.

David Denoon, NYU

David Denoon is Professor of Politics and Economics at New York University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London), the Asia Society, the U.S.-Indonesia Society, and is Co-Chairman of the Columbia University Faculty Seminar on Southeast Asia. He is also Chairman of the Editorial Advisory Board of Great Decisions.

Professor Denoon is the author and editor of seven books, including Real Reciprocity - Balancing U.S. Economic and Security Policy in the Pacific Basin. He has two new books published in 2007, a monograph titled The Economic and Strategic Rise of China and India (Palgrave-Macmillan) and an edited volume, China: Contemporary Political, Economic, and International Affairs (NYU Press).

He received a B.A. from Harvard, an M.P.A. from Princeton, and a Ph.D. from M.I.T.; and has served in the Federal Government in three positions: Program Economist for USAID in Jakarta, Vice President of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense.

Susan Shirk, UCSD

Dr. Shirk received her Ph.D. from MIT in 1974 and her M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968. She’s now the director of the University of California system-wide Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation and Ho Miu Lam professor of China and Pacific Relations at IR/PS. Shirk first traveled to China in 1971 and has been doing research there ever since.

During 1997-2000, Shirk served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, with responsibility for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia.

She founded in 1993 and continues to lead the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD), an unofficial “track-two” forum for discussions of security issues among defense and foreign ministry officials and academics from the United States, Japan, China, Russia, and the Koreas.

Shirk’s publications include her books, How China Opened Its Door: The Political Success of the PRC’s Foreign Trade and Investment Reforms; The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China; and Competitive Comrades: Career Incentives and Student Strategies in China. Her latest book, China: Fragile Superpower, was published by Oxford University Press in Spring 2007.

Shirk served as a member of the U.S. Defense Policy Board, the Board of Governors for the East-West Center (Hawaii), the Board of Trustees of the U.S.-Japan Foundation, and the Board of Directors of the National Committee on United States-China Relations. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and an emeritus member of the Aspen Strategy Group. As Senior Adviser to The Albright Group, Shirk advises private sector clients on China and East Asia.

Corporate Law in Today's China

Xiaoyan Zhang, CBLA

Ms. Zhang is an intellectual property litigation associate in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis. Ms. Zhang focuses on intellectual property, specifically, patent and trademark litigation and arbitration in U.S. courts and tribunals. Her litigation practice spans a range oftechnologies and industries, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, software and computer technology. She also provides pre-litigation counseling on IP issues, as well as advising international clients in connection with their overall IP protection and brand-building strategies and on IP issues in the context of complex transactional matters.

Prior to joining Kirkland, Ms. Zhang prosecuted patent applications for international clients while working at law firms in Washington, D.C. Ms. Zhang also has experience in the computer security industry where she was a consultant and architect for Computer Associates and ZEFER Corporation. Her clients included HongKong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Her representations include: Boston Scientific Corp. in multiple patent infringement litigations and arbitrations involving the engineering design and drug-elution of cardiovascular stents; counseling Baidu.com on IP issues; a multinational pharmaceutical company in a patent infringement and antitrust case involving a billion-dollar drug product; representing WesternGeco LLC in a patent infringement case involving seismic cable positioning technology.

Nan-I Chen, Barclays Capital

Nan-I Chen is a derivatives, structured products and asset management lawyer at Barclays Capital. His practice includes structuring investment advisory products such as hedge funds and other collective investment vehicles. His practice also covers structured notes, CDs and derivatives transactions across asset classes including equity, credit, interest rates, currencies, commodities, inflation and index-linked products. Prior to joining Barclays Capital in 2009, Nan-I Chen was an associate at Shearman & Sterling LLP from 2003 to 2009. Mr. Chen's practice at Shearman & Sterling was focused on the structuring, negotiation and execution of financing, derivative and synthetic products and the resolution of related credit, regulatory, legal and risk management issues. Nan-I Chen received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2003 and his L.L.B from National Taiwan University in 1995.

John Du, Junhe

Mr. John Du is a partner of Jun He Law Offices. Mr. Du joined Jun He in 2001 and practices in our New York office.

Mr. Du focuses on US-China cross-border transactions, direct foreign investment in China, and cross border dispute resolution involving US and Chinese commercial entities.

Mr. Du has represented both Chinese companies doing business in the US as well as US companies doing business in China. He has successfully represented numerous multinational companies in their China investment and re-organization of their China operations. Mr. Du has also participated in complex project financing in China involving international financial institutions and has provided legal advice for Chinese loan facilities applying New York law.

Mr. Du has extensive experience in representing high-tech companies in the area of venture capital financing. He has also successfully represented Chinese trading companies in multi-million dollar trade litigations in both Federal and state courts in New York.

Prior to joining Jun He Law Offices in December 2001, Mr. Du practiced in midtown Manhattan and counseled corporate and individual clients in the areas of corporate structuring, business financing, and protection of intellectual property.

Is China's Growth Sustainable?

J.P. Benya, Columbia University

Mr. Benya is an adjunct assistant professor in the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management Program at Columbia Business School. He received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University, and his MBA from CBS, which he joined as a professor in 2005.

With fifteen years of marketing and other operational experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Mr. Benya has developed and implemented strategies and tactical programs for both primary care products and specialty products in the US and globally. Having led the successful marketing of brands such as Intron A and Ambien, Mr. Benya understands the complex inter-related dynamics of functions such as marketing, clinical, market research, sales, and managed care across different therapeutic areas. He leverages this understanding to provide students in his course with a comprehensive overview of the healthcare industry and the role of marketing within it. He worked for Schering-Plough from 1991 to 1999 and then for Sanofi-Aventis from 1999 until 2005. He currently is the Principal of pharmaMARK LLC, a pharmaceutical marketing management services company.

Dr. John Cai, Fudan University

Dr. Cai is Adjunct Professor of Economics at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and Senior Health Policy Analyst at Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services in the U.S. He has also many joint affiliations including Adjunct Professor at Heller School of Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University in the U.S.; Adjunct Professor at Department of Social Management and Policy, Fudan University in China; Senior Research Associate at China Research Center for Public Policy in Beijing; Committee Member of Academic Senate, Gerontological Economic Research Organization in Switzerland; Expert Member of the Advisory Committee for Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Health; Invited Editor of China Health Care journal; and Associate Editor in Chief of China Hospital CEO journal.

Dr. Cai received his Ph.D. in Public Policy (Health Policy major) from the HellerSchool for Advanced Studies in Social Policy and Management, Brandeis Universityin 1997 and MA in Economics at Fudan University in 1984. He has been involved in teaching, research and consulting work at university, consulting company and government in the field of health economics and health policy over twenty years. He has published extensively in the areas of health economics and health policy, social security, labor and employment, and public finance. Dr. Cai has participated in the design, implement and evaluation of the first comprehensive health care reform plan (Massachusetts) in the U.S. and has also actively involved in the design of recent national health care reform plan in China. He was cofounders and the director of the Institute of Economic Development at East China University of Science and Technology (Shanghai) (1987-1990) and the first Chair at Department of Public Economics at Fudan University (2006-2009). Dr. Cai received 1990 Sun Yie-fang National Economics Prizes-Best Paper Award, 2002 Most Outstanding Abstract Award by Academy for Health Services research and Health Policy Annual Research Meeting in Washington D.C., and 2009 Outstanding Paper Award from Shanghai Social Science Annual Meeting.

Richard Lai, Wharton

Richard is a faculty member in the Department of Operations and Information Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Richard was previously CEO of dollarDEX Investments, co-head of Bain & Company's Asia Financial Services Practice, McKinsey consultant (mostly in financial services, retail/consumer goods, transportation/freight, and telecom), MIT research scientist (see frequently cited authors in human-computer interaction, and US patents 5,900,870, 5,794,001, 5,790,116, and 5,727,175), banker, and soldier.

He is also a Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a member of the Global Advisory Committee for the international asset management arm of one of the top 5 banks in the U.S., and a government appointee to the board and various committees of Singapore's agency for intellectual property rights.

Coco Kee, Kee Global Advisers

With her passion and experience creating value and helping executives grow their cross border businesses, Ms. Kee leverages her broad network and partnerships with a select group of service providers to provide business and financial advisory services to both private and public Chinese companies.

Prior to founding Kee Global Advisors, Ms. Kee spent more than 15 years advising both Fortune 500 and small-medium size companies on doing business in China. She has in-depth experience and knowledge of the financial, industrial, media & entertainment, consumer and automotive industries in China. Ms. Kee has held executive and managerial positions with companies located in the U.S. and China including MG Financial LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rosenthal Collins Group LLC; Automotive Resources Asia, a wholly owned subsidiary of J.D. Power; and Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) China.

A native of China, Ms. Kee received B.A. and M.A. degrees in English Literature and American Drama from Peking University, China and her MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. Ms. Kee holds Series 62 and 63 brokerage licenses.

Ms. Kee translated from English to Chinese and published a history and philosophy classic, The Idea of Nature by R.G. Collingwood. This translated work received an award from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

William Baumol, NYU

William J. Baumol is the Harold Price Professor of Entrepreneurship and Academic Director of the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Stern School of Business at New York University; and senior economist and professor emeritus at Princeton University.

Professor Baumol's primary areas of research include economic growth, entrepreneurship and innovation, industrial organization, antitrust economics and regulation, and economics of the arts. He is author of more than 40 books and more than 500 articles in professional journals and newspapers. His most recent books include The Microtheory of Innovative Entrepreneurship, 2010; The Invention of Enterprise: Entrepreneurship from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern Times, 2010; Economics: Principles and Policy, 11th edition (with Alan S. Blinder), 2008; Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and the Growth Mechanism of the Free-Enterprise Economies (with Eytan Sheshinski and Robert J. Strom), 2007; Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity (with Robert E. Litan and Carl J. Schramm), 2007; Downsizing in America: Reality, Causes, and Consequences (with Alan S. Blinder and Edward N. Wolff), 2003; The Free-Market Innovation Machine: Analyzing the Growth Miracle of Capitalism, 2002; and Global Trade and Conflicting National Interests (with Ralph E. Gomory), 2000.

Professor Baumol is the former president of the American Economic Association, the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, the Eastern Economic Association and the Atlantic Economic Society. His honors and awards include twelve honorary degrees and membership in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Accademia Nazionale Dei Lincei (Italy), and the British Academy. In May of 2009, two Chinese universities, Wuhan University and Zhejiang Gongshang University, named Centers for Entrepreneurial Research in Professor Baumol's honor.

Professor Baumol was born on February 26, 1922 in New York City. He received his Bachelor of Social Science from the College of the City of New York in 1942 and his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of London in 1949. He has been teaching at NYU for more than 36 years and taught at Princeton University for 43 years, where he is now Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Economist.

Don Sexton, Columbia

Mr. Sexton is a marketing professor at Columbia Business School, where he has taught since 1966. He is also the Director of the Center for International Business Education and Research. Professor Sexton’s research concerns successful global product and brand strategies and is based on both empirical work and his considerable experience with companies throughout the world. A recipient of the School’s Distinguished Teaching Award, Sexton has taught a wide variety of courses in the fields of marketing, international business and management science.

Going it Alone in China

Dr. Hung-bin Ding, Loyola University

Dr. Hung-bin Ding is the Associate Professor of Management and International Business in the Sellinger School of Business and Management of Loyola University Maryland. He received his Ph.D. in Management from the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Ding's research interests are in the areas of family business, organization identity, and corporate environmental responsibility. His most recent research has focused on family business IPO, family stakeholder and green innovation adoption, and the relationship between family business and public policy.

Dr. Ding has taught strategic management and entrepreneurship courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels in the U.S. and Taiwan. He has also worked with the government of Taiwan for entrepreneurship policy initiatives. His research has appeared in International Journal of Technology Management, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, Issues and Studies, Journal of Enterprising Culture, and Journal of Management and Organization. He has guest edited a special issue of Multinational Business Review on family business in global economy. He also serves on the review board of the Journal of Enterprising Culture and the Family Enterprise Research Conference.

Sheena Shen, Great Wall Research LLC

Sheena Shen, CPA, CFA, is a managing partner at Great Wall Research LLC. Ms. Shen grew up in China and came to the U.S. on a volleyball scholarship in 1991. Prior to starting Great Wall Research LLC, she had spent 10 years working for Deloitte & Touche LLP as a senior auditor, for UBS and JPMorgan Chase in equity research covering the consumer goods and technology industries. Her education includes a bachelor degree in accounting from Brigham Young University Hawaii and an MBA from the University of Connecticut. She is a chartered financial analyst and certified public accountant.

Andrew Scott, Maxim Group

Mr. Scott's 15 years experience in the finance industry brings a diverse background to his role as Managing Director at Maxim Group. He has over 7 years experience as a ranked Analyst, covering Special Situations, before converting to Investment Banking. He currently specializes in structured finance at Maxim, focusing on the healthcare, financial services and technology industries. Mr. Scott began his career at Bear Stearns, where he worked in their Investment Banking department, specifically, their Corporate Finance division. Mr. Scott attended the University of Maryland and Pace University, where he obtained his BA in Finance, with a Minor in Mathematics.

Rebecca Fannin, Forbes

Rebecca A. Fannin is a journalist and the author of Silicon Dragon (McGraw-Hill 2008), favorably reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times and translated into several languages. She is an authority on entrepreneurship, innovation and venture capital in emerging markets.

Currently, Rebecca writes for Forbes. During the height of the dotcom boom, she was international news editor at Red Herring and, in 2003, she joined the Asian Venture Capital Journal as international editor. Earlier in her career, Ms Fannin was deputy editor at Ad Age International and the Pulitzer-owned International Business.

Ms. Fannin’s work has appeared in Inc., Worth, Fast Company, Chief Executive, Wired, and The Deal and Huffington Post as well as Merrill Lynch and NASDAQ publications. Additionally, she is the author of a white paper on China outsourcing, “A New Dawn,” for KPMG’s Thought Leadership series.

A public speaker and guest commentator, Rebecca is a member of the Overseas Press Club, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club and the World Affairs Council. Ms. Fannin is the organizer of Social Dragon Socials and Forums, and the publisher of Silicon Dragon News.

Rebecca is a graduate of the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and a recipient of an Asian studies fellowship from the Freedom Forum. She resides in New York City and San Francisco, and travels frequently to China. More info can be found at www.rebeccafannin.com.

Alex Grove, AKAD Education Group

Alex Grove is one of the founding partners of AKAD Education Group, a firm he founded in late 2008. AKAD is an education and career consulting firm serving clients across the Asia Pacific region. AKAD currently has offices in Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai, with Taipei and Beijing offices in the works. To date, the firm has financed its startup and rapid international expansion entirely with its own earnings. Prior to founding AKAD, Alex worked at Morgan Stanley Principal Investments and Special Situations Groups in Hong Kong, primarily conducting late-stage pre-IPO financing of Chinese corporations. Alex has also worked as a management consultant at Monitor Action Company’s Beijing and Hong Kong offices. Alex received a dual MBA/MA from the Wharton-Lauder (Mandarin track) joint degree program in 2007. He received dual BA/MA degrees in contemporary Chinese political economics from Harvard in 2001. Alex is fluent in written and spoken Mandarin Chinese.

2010 and Beyond in China's Education System

Janet Carmosky, China Business Network

Ms. Carmosky is a career China business specialist who brings China executional competency and strategic counsel to foreign invested businesses, and similarly advises Chinese government organizations on effective international communications and growth strategies.

After earning a degree in Chinese studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985, Janet moved to Xi'an, married a Chinese man and spent the next 18 years - as Janet Zhang - living and doing business in China. During this time, spent mainly in Xi'an, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, with sabbaticals in Washington D.C. and Silicon Valley, she developed her extensive knowledge of China’s commercial landscape and the patterns of the US-China economic relationship.

Fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese, she spent the 1980's in trading, sourcing and buying agency projects before joining the strategy consulting arm of Coopers & Lybrand in Shanghai. Moving for the next 15 years between operations - mainly in China's retail sector - and consulting, Janet held senior management positions in private equity (VP of Richina Capital), systems integration (COO, Web Connection/Chinadotcom Shanghai) and public relations (Director, Burson-Marsteller Shanghai) before moving back to the United States in 2003 to help integrate PR Newswire's China operations into their USA base.

She has written for Economist publications, authored an award-winning case for IMD and the Chinese language Harvard Business Review, and written essays for travel publisher Odyssey Guides. She speaks often - particularly to organizations new to the US-China business - on how to understand and align with, rather than struggle against, the cultural and economic forces that typically frustrate executives on both sides of the divide.

Dr. Agnes Hsu, China Institute

Dr. Hsu was recently appointed the Director of Education and Dean of Confucius Institute within the China Institute, located in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. China Institute was founded in 1926 and has enjoyed a worldwide reputation as a premier American cultural and educational institution focused exclusively on China. Prior to joining China Institute, Dr. Hsu was a research scholar at Stanford University and served on the faculty at Brown University, where she taught Chinese art and archaeology. Dr. Hsu has received numerous awards for her innovative research, including a fellowship at Cambridge University's Needham Institute for the Study of Chinese Science.

Dr. Hsu was born in Taiwan and moved to the US as a child. She is a native speaker of Mandarin and English, and reads Japanese, French, Latin, and Classical Chinese. She also learned basic Uyghur, the native language of Xinjiang, while conducting research there. She is trained in Classical Chinese music (the Chinese zither guzheng) and Western opera and has given professional concerts at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

Dr. Hsu earned her BA in English Literature and East Asian Studies from Bryn Mawr College, where she also minored in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology. She went on to earn an M.A. in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and a Ph.D. in Chinese Art and Archaeology in the department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, both from the University of Pennsylvania.

In addition to her other accomplishments, Dr. Hsu has conducted archaeological fieldwork in one of the remotest parts of China, Xinjiang. Based on her training and experience in this region of China, she serves as an international expert and consultant to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

Chris Livaccari, Asia Society

Mr. Livaccari is our Chinese Language Initiatives team manager and the instructional coordinator for the Confucius Classrooms Initiative. He joined Asia Society in 2009 after leading the development of a new New York City public school called The High School for Language and Diplomacy, which is a member of the Asia Society International Studies Schools Network. He spent three years as a Chinese and Japanese language teacher in New York Public Schools, and was a founding member of the faculty at The College of Staten Island High School for International Studies. Mr. Livaccari's language classes have been featured on ABC News, NBC’s Today Show, PBS, and have been frequently profiled in other media.

Livaccari is co-author of the Chinese for Tomorrow textbook series, a member of the Board of Directors of the Chinese Language Teachers Association of Greater New York (CLTA-GNY), and served as Chair of the 2008 CLTA-GNY Annual Conference, which was held on the theme of “Chinese as a World Language.” A former U.S. Foreign Service Officer, Mr. Livaccari held postings as Deputy Director of the Tokyo American Center at the U.S. Embassy in Japan and as Vice Consul at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai. He studied Chinese and Japanese literature at Columbia University and holds advanced degrees from the University of Chicago and New York University. He has lived in New York, Washington, Chicago, Tokyo, Yokohama, Shanghai, and in China’s Shandong province. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and Japanese fluently, and is proficient in Korean.

Dr. Lawrence Weiss, St. Ann’s School

Larry Weiss has been Head of School at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn since 2004. The school enrolls 1,090 students from preschool through Grade 12. More than 130 students study Chinese language at one of seven levels, and the school maintains an active exchange program with Fudan Fuzhong in Shanghai. Dr. Weiss teaches Chinese 1, a seminar in Contemporary China, and a course in American National Government at Saint Ann's.

A 1971 graduate of Columbia College, Dr. Weiss earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1981 concentrating in International Relations and Chinese Politics. In 1973, he began a career in secondary and college level teaching at Brooklyn Friends School. From 1980-1990 he was President of Friends World College in Huntington, New York. From 1990-1997 served as Director of the Chinese Studies Program at Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC and as a Senior Scholar in Residence at the School of International Service at The American University. From 1997-2004, he was Head of Upper Division at Horace Mann School in Riverdale, New York. Dr. Weiss will return to Brooklyn Friends School as Head of School in July, 2010. He is a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations.

Helen Chen - best-selling author and consultant

Helen Yi Chen (陈屹) is a Global Marketing Strategic Planner and Consultant and an acclaimed columnist/Author/public speaker. She was recognized as one of the 60 most influential Chinese women by 163.com in the series Made in China in 2009. She also is the co-founder and Chairman of The International Chinese Executive Women Association (The ICEWA). Her most renowned columns include “Chen Yi’s Point of View” - Beijing Youth Daily (1999 - 2005) and “Chen Yi’s one on one with the Ambassador’s Wife” - Beijing Youth Weekly (2006 - 2009). She is currently working on the 2010 World Expo series. She has published five bestsellers in China and her works have appeared in more than 100 newspapers and magazines.

CCER (China Center of Economic Research), Peking University (2002-2004) invited her to conduct interviews with hundreds of China established entrepreneurs, EMBAs, economists and faculty members. This culminated into a book titled “Fate brought us together – beyond EMBA”. Interactions with top executives along with a deeper understanding of the western world have provided her with great connections and support in becoming an independent business consultant and a global marketing strategic planner.

During the last decade, Helen has been frequently invited as a guest speaker/panelist to more than 10 CCTV programs including “Dialogue,” “China Economic Report,” “Eastern time,” “Half the sky.” She has been invited as a guest speaker/lecturer for universities such as Peking University, Renmin University, West Point (United States Military Academy), Harvard University and many other places throughout China.

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