Speaker Biographies
Keynote Speakers: Ernst & Young Managing Partner Edward Ho; Microsoft Asia Pacific Research and Development Group Director of Operations David Lin; Caterpillar China President Zhu Jiming; Air China Vice President and General Manager for North America Chi Zhihang
Entrepeneurship and China's Economic Future
Moderator: A.J. Warner (Chief Consultant, Touchdown!)
Panelists: Fanny Chan (Vice President, ChinaSoft); Benjamin Lim (Beijing Bureau Chief, Reuters); Qiang Bai (Founder and CEO, 3D China); Tom Melcher (Chairman, Zinch China); Sabina Brady (Executive Director, US-China Energy Cooperation Program)
A Look at China's Venture Capital and Private Equity Industries
Moderator: Terry Li (CITIC)
Panelists: Tony Luh (Managing Director, DFJ Dragon Fund); Gady Epstein (Beijing Bureau Chief, Forbes); Dr. Lei Yang (Partner, Northern Light Venture Capital); Cui Jianguo (CEO, Goldstone Investment)
Sustainable Boom or Bubble Ready for Collapse? China's Real Estate Market
Panelists: Chris Brooke (President and CEO, CBRE Asia); Eva Lee (analyst, Macquarie Securities); Dr. Zheng Siqi (professor, Tsinghua University)
China's Legal Evolution
Moderator: Bruce Quan (Associate Professor, Peking University)
Panelists: Jing He (Associate, Baker & McKenzie); Antony Dapiran (Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer), Peter Thorp (Managing Partner, Allen Overy)
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Keynote Speakers
Mr. Ho has has extensive experience in providing general business advisory services and due diligence review services to multinational and listed clients in Hong Kong, Mainland China and overseas on matters related to merger and acquisition, internal control improvement and financial management. For over 20 years, Ho has provided accounting and auditing services to a wide variety of clients, in particular financial institutions, securities and commodities dealing companies, manufacturing, retail and distribution and multi-media. He has also assisted many China and Hong Kong companies to raise capital overseas, such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Ping An Insurance, Zijin Mining and Media Asia. Currently, Mr. Ho is a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants, and the Association of Certified General Accountants in Canada.
As the Director of Operations for Microsoft Asia-Pacific R&D Group, David is based in Beijing and responsible for streamlining the operations, driving rhythm of business, strategic framework and cross-functional collaboration. David has 20 years of experience and a successful track record in a wide range of customer-facing roles in the IT and high technology sector.
Before joining Microsoft, he was the vice-president of strategy and business development at Symbio Group, an IT outsourcing services provider. Prior to that role, he spent six years at Symantec/VERITAS with responsibilities ranging from solutions architect in the US to Systems Engineering Manager for China . After the company merger he took on the product strategy role for the Greater China region and successfully drove product introductions and business development efforts. David was also with Sun Microsystems for six years in customer-facing roles under the sales organization that included covering the media and entertainment sector in Southern California.
David is a graduate of MIT with a degree in aerospace engineering and is passionate about customer satisfaction, innovation and achieving results.
Zhu Jiming is vice president of Caterpillar Inc. responsible for the China Division. Zhu is also president of Caterpillar China. Since joining Caterpillar in 1997, he has held numerous positions including general attorney responsible for Asia Pacific legal affairs, general manager of China Business Ventures, and general manager of engines operations in China. In 2008, the Caterpillar Board of Directors named Zhu vice president. Zhu, a native of China, graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 2001 with a MBA.
Zhihang Chi
Zhihang Chi is the Air China Vice President and General Manager of North America. Previously, Dr. Chi led the Air China Los Angeles office and western US regional office with tremendous success.
Before joining Air China in 2004, Dr. Chi was an executive at Northwest Airlines where he worked in a number of areas including marketing, information technology and alliances, where he developed and managed alliances with Chinese air carriers and vendors.
Dr. Chi studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned a master's degree and a doctorate in Operations Research. He earned an undergraduate degree and a master's degree at Peking University in Beijing and was a Ford Foundation Economics Training Program scholar at the People's University of China.
Fluent in English and Chinese, Dr. Chi is a US citizen and lives in Los Angeles.
Entrepeneurship and China's Economic Future
Mr. Warner created Touchdown! to work directly with China's brightest and most ambitious college students. Touchdown! provides clients with outstanding career coaching and application consulting services. Touchdown! strives to create the most value for our clients by abiding by the highest ethical standards, while remaining independent and unbiased at all times. The goal is not just to help clients get admitted to top universities, but help them to become future business leaders.
Prior to moving to China, Warner worked for Deloitte Consulting, one of the top management-consulting firms. Prior to earning his MBA at The University of Texas, he worked for Hitachi's global trading company in Chicago and before that for Panasonic at its headquarters in Osaka, Japan.
During his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois, Warner completed a yearlong study abroad program in Japan. He decided to stay longer and create an English translation and training company in Osaka, Japan. The primary clients were medical teaching hospitals. After a year and half, he sold the business and returned to complete my undergraduate education.
Warner has always believed in hard work. Back in junior high school, he woke up every morning at 5am for 2 years when I was newspaper delivery boy. Twice, he earned awards for achieving the most new customers.
Today, Mr. Warner is proud to live and work in Beijing, China.
Mrs. Fanny Chan joined Chinasoft International as Senior Vice President and CEO of IT Outsourcing in 2007, in charge of IT Outsourcing business in Chinasoft International. As of 2010, Fanny is currently as SVP for the company, in charge of company operation as well as the business development for outsourcing business. Mrs Fanny Chan has more than 25 years of working experience in many global well-known IT companies as senior management positions, her working experience covered Canada, China and Greater China regions. Her experience covers from CPU, IT hardware, software and services in sales and marketing area, as well as development, testing, localization and outsourcing business.
Prior to the joining of Chinasoft International, Mrs Fanny Chan joined AMD in 2004 as the Director of Regional Marketing for Greater China and in charge product marketing strategies, alliance and marketing for AMD Greater China Region. Mrs Chan also worked in Compaq Computer as Software Program Director and the General Manager of Marketing Department in Greater China Region. After the merger between HP and Compaq, she worked as the Director of Professional Service Group & Business Alliance department in HP, in charge of marketing, strategy, business development and alliance for Professional Service Group in China and HK region.
Prior to Compaq/HP, Mrs Fanny Chan has over 14 years working experience in IBM. Her experience in IBM has covered operation, marketing as well as in charged of many development and localization projects for outsourcing to China. With her development background in IBM Canada, she was able to help many software companies to established better project management and development process.
Mrs Fanny Chan holds Double-bachelors degrees of Computer Science and Biochemistry from the University of Toronto in Canada.
Qiang Bai is the founder and CEO of 3D China Ltd, and a Partner at Ample Luck Int'l Capital Group, Ltd. Previously, Mr. Qiang held the position of VP at iFLYTEK, the world's 2nd largest speech technology company, where he helped lead the company to huge commercial success in 2008. Before that, Mr. Qiang served as the former CTO for uniView Technologies Corporation where he masterminded the company to become a major player in Radio Frequency Identificaton technology and get listed at NASDAQ OTCBB. Some of his other notable positions include:
- Former President, Chinese Association of Science and Technology, Texas chapter
- Former Vice President, T & SS, JP Morgan Chase
- Former Chief Technical Architect, Network Solutions (previously listed at NASDAQ)
- Founder of the 1st Chinese Internet portal
- Ph.D. , Mathematical Statistics, Purdue University. BS, Math, University of Science and Technology of China
Tom is an Internet executive with blue-chip business experience and a deep background in China dating back to 1982. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and Yale University, has worked at McKinsey and IBM, and was a principal executive at five high-profile and successful Silicon Valley internet start-ups over 12 years. He moved back to China in 2004, and then co-founded a B2C internet media company. He sold that company after 2 years, worked for the acquirer for a year, and is now incubating a number of new ventures related to education and the Internet. A Look at China's Venture Capital and Private Equity Industries
Born in Japan, grew up in Thailand, and possessing profound knowledge in the Chinese language and culture, Tony spent his professional career in the U.S. and Asia. Tony has over 21 years of experience in capital markets, sales, strategic alliances and new business development. Tony is a Founding Managing Director of DFJ DragonFund. Tony started his career early in the public equities market in Taiwan.
As corporate fund manager for Kosheng Enterprises in the mid to late 80s, he helped return the fund more than sevenfold while accumulating knowledge and expertise in sectors ranging from information technology to high volume manufacturing in Asia. Then in the early 90s, Tony, an avid baseball fan, became the first ever Major League Baseball TV simulcast Mandarin announcer for the Oakland A's. That was his part-time fun as he helped grow ad revenues for KCNS, an ethnic TV station in San Francisco, a whopping 800% in four years.
Subsequent to that, Tony joined an early-stage first-generation Chinese Internet company - Infowave Communications as a senior executive in charge of business development and strategic alliance. In that capacity, he struck strategic alliance and marketing deals with, among others, Yahoo!, Microsoft, TeleBank (now E*Trade), and E-Loan. Later, Tony co-founded DragonVenture with Bobby Chao in 1999. As Managing Director for DragonVenture, he helped oversee the early investments in OSA Technologies (AVCT) and Mobile365 (SY).
Tony attended three different high schools in three different countries. Tony also attended three different universities in three different states (Washington, Texas, California) in the U.S.
Gady Epstein is Beijing bureau chief for Forbes. Since 2007, he has written for Forbes about China's investment bubble, manipulation of the art market, U.S.-China relations, Internet freedom, piracy, the travails of despised private entrepreneurs from coal mine bosses to real estate developers, and awful books on doing business in China. Previously, he was Beijing bureau chief and international projects reporter for The Baltimore Sun, where he won a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism for a series on globalization.
He has been an invited speaker on China at conferences at Harvard and Stanford, and in Beijing and Shanghai. His high moments in television include being the Moment of Zen on The Daily Show and making a two-second appearance on The Wire. In 2006-2007, he completed a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan. A native of Palo Alto, Calif., he graduated in 1994 from Harvard.
Lei joined Northern Light Venture Capital in February 2010. He has over 10 years of experience in technology development, corporate strategy/operations and investments. Prior to NLVC, he was a Principal at VantagePoint Venture Partners, where he focused on cleantech investments (e.g., energy Storage, lighting, solar, electric vehicle) in the Greater China Area. Prior to VPVP, he was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company serving Fortune 500 companies across the high-tech value chain: semiconductor equipment, logic, memory and microprocessor devices, networking/storage equipment, and software and IT services. He helped multiple clients in challenging corporate transformation, cross-border M&A and post-merger integration situations.
Lei holds a BS degree in Chemistry from Peking University, a MS degree in Computer Sciences and a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Prior to Gold Stone, Mr. Cui served as on senior investment management positions in organizations including The Cathay Capital Group, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Stock Exchange Executive Council(SEEC), and has served on board of directors of many investee companies. Mr. Cui holds a Masters degree from University of London.
Sustainable Boom or Bubble Ready for Collapse? China's Real Estate Market
Mr. Brooke is based in Beijing and is the President & CEO of CB Richard Ellis in Asia (excluding Japan and India), taking overall initiatives, oversight of geographical and functional expansion as within CB Richard Ellis, which is responsible for the formulation and implementation of business strategy within the Asia Pacific Region.
Mr. Brooke is a Chartered Surveyor with over twenty years of experience in various fields of the property industry. Since 1992 he has been providing consultancy advice in relation to real estate markets and development projects in Hong Kong, China and the Asia Pacific region and has participated within assignments associated with market research, feasibility studies, land premium negotiations, development projects and joint venture agreements. He has been responsible for the provision of advice regarding property development, investment, and financial viability issues to a wide range of corporations, landowners and developers. This has also included strategic advice to occupiers as well as consultancy services to retailers and investors.
In recent years, he has held a number of senior management positions at CB Richard Ellis.
Eva Lee has been covering the HK/China property space since 1997. Eva joined Macquarie/ING Barings in June 2001 and has developed into one of the most respected property analysts in Asia. Eva continues to be one of Macquarie's most highly rated analysts globally and in 2007 was appointed as Head of HK/China Property Research. Eva and her team regularly travel throughout China visiting primary and secondary cities utilising their contacts in the listed and unlisted property space. Eva is a member of Chartered Financial Analysts, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Hong Kong Certified Public Accountants.
Zheng Siqi is an Associate Professor at Tsinghua University's Institute of Real Estate Studies. Prior to this position, she has held the position of Visiting Scholar at the University of California at Los Angeles and the National University of Singapore, as well as the position of Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.
Dr. Zheng’s field of specialization is urban economics and housing market. Her research interests include urban spatial structure, urban growth and sustainable development; housing supply, housing choices, low-income housing policies.She is also interested in real estate economics and finance, including real estate price index, price dynamics and public housing finance.
Dr. Zheng received her Ph.D., in Urban Economics and Real Estate Economics from Tsinghua University in December 2004, and received her B.S. in Civil Engineering also from Tsinghua University in 2000.
China's Legal Evolution
Mr. Quan is a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. He has been in practice since 1976 in the San Francisco Bay Area. His specialty is international commercial practice. Previously, Mr. Quan served as the the City Attorney of the City of Alameda, California, Associate General Counsel for the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Jose, California and Senior Trial Counsel for the Office of the Special Counsel, United States of America.
He currently divides his time between San Francisco and Beijing and Shanghai, China. He has been a visiting lecturer at Beijing University Law School and the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade as well as given lectures to the courts in China. A past adviser to CIETAC, the arbitration commission of China, Mr. Quan is an expert in comparative Chinese and American Law.
Mr. Quan's community activities include service as the General Counsel for the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), General Counsel for the San Francisco-Shanghai Sister City Committee, Executive Director of the UC Berkeley - Beijing University Law School Faculty Exchange program and lecturer at the College of Marin.
Jing He mainly handles intellectual property matters in China. His practice covers patents, IP litigation and licensing, anti-counterfeiting enforcement and anti-piracy. Mr. He's projects have included advising a number of multi-national companies in industries such as luxury fashion and consumer electronics on complex intellectual property infringement matters. Two of the cases he consulted on were listed as Top 10 Cases by the Supreme People’s Court in 2006. He has represented clients (including various Japanese enterprises) in handing cross-border patent litigations, and advised clients on litigious strategies (including government relationship and media relationship) and their specific implementation, in regard to the detailed situations faced by the clients.
His other projects have included assisting clients in patent transfer, successfully handling malicious registration and other issues through negotiation, advising various clients in conducting cross-border licensing issues in the areas of consumer electronics and telecommunications, advising clients on product liability and unfair competition matters in civil lawsuits in different localities within China, and advising major international industry associations on Chinese laws and policies.
Mr. He graduated from Peking University with a B.Sc and an LL.B, as well as the University of Notre Dame with a J.D. He was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2000 and passed the USPTO Patent Exam in June 2001.
Antony Dapiran is a partner at international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. Antony has lived and worked in Greater China for over 13 years. Currently the managing partner of the firm’s Beijing office, he has also worked in its Hong Kong, Shanghai and London offices. He is admitted as a legal practitioner in Hong Kong, England & Wales, New South Wales and the High Court of Australia.
Antony specialises in corporate law, focusing his practice on securities offerings, private equity and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. He has advised on many of the largest and most complex initial public offerings (IPOs) in the China market, on transactions raising in aggregate more than US$56bn, including the IPOs of Agricultural Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s two largest ever IPOs. Antony’s experience working with Chinese state-owned enterprises also enables him to provide valuable advice to offshore corporates looking to sell to Chinese purchasers. He also advises foreign investors – in particular private equity funds – on their investments in China. Antony has an active pro bono practice, and has advised children’s charity Half the Sky Foundation on a ground-breaking partnership with China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, and their strategic alliance with the China Care Foundation. Antony is listed in the Chambers Asia, IFLR1000 and Asia Pacific Legal 500 directories of leading business lawyers, as well as the Guide to the World’s Leading Capital Markets Lawyers.
He is the chair of the European Chamber of Commerce in China’s legal working group. Antony was named one of the “Advance Asia 50” Australian leaders in Asia, and has been recognised by The American Lawyer as one of the “New China Hands”. A frequent commentator on Chinese business and legal matters, he has been quoted in media including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business Week and South China Morning Post.
Antony was educated at The University of Melbourne and Peking University, and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
Peter Thorp is the Managing Partner in our Beijing office of the international law firm Allen & Overy LLP. He has substantial experience in dispute resolution law, advising corporates and financial institutions both in the PRC and in Europe. Peter has been appointed to the Panel of Arbitrators of CIETAC, China's largest international arbitration commission and is currently acting as Chairman and arbitrator on a number of CIETAC arbitrations. He has also acted as Sole Arbitrator for a number of China-related ICC arbitrations. He acts as counsel for foreign investors in China-related arbitrations both in China and overseas, as well as for major PRC corporate and banking clients in their arbitrations in Hong Kong and London.
Peter speaks (and writes) English, Mandarin and French and is qualified in England, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
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