GCC's Senior Advisors is composed of a wide range of distinguished individuals. They represent a diverse variety of institutions, and view China with different individual perspectives, but all share a desire to see China more fully integrated with the global community. Most fundamentally, our advisers all believe in the capacity of young people to build bridges between China and the rest of the world.

GCC's Trustees are graduated officers who have made GCC a major part of their college careers and choose to continue to lead the organization after graduation. The Board of Trustees is the highest governing body of the organization, responsible for all major strategic decisions and officer appointments. 

SENIOR ADVISORS

• John Watkins -- Former Chairman of American Chamber of Commerce China; CEO AVIC/GE Joint Venture
• John Holden -- Senior Consultant, Hill & Knowlton; Former President National Committee US-China Relations
• Jim McGregor -- Senior Counselor, APCO Worldwide; Author of "One Billion Customers"
• Elizabeth Knup -- President of Pearson China

TRUSTEES

Gavin Newton-Tanzer - Founder and Chairman

Gavin began working in China for Lovells LLP (now Hogan Lovells), where he helped launch and develop the Sino-Global Legal Alliance (SGLA, www.SGLALaw.com), China’s leading alliance of local and global law firms. Building on this experience, he founded and developed Global China Connection (GCC, www.GCCGlobal.org), the world’s premier Sino-US student organization with university chapters worldwide, and is currently Chairman of GCC’s Board of Trustees.

Gavin then worked as one of the few foreigners in the state-owned Chinese investment bank CITIC Securities, facilitating and sourcing transactions from US-bound Chinese firms and China-bound US firms.

Shortly thereafter, Gavin founded China Pathway, an educational services company focused on providing high-quality study abroad and training programs. Gavin then served as Vice President for Business Development of SWU Group, formed after the acquisition of China Pathway (www.China-Pathway.com) by ShareWithU (www.ShareWithU.com).

Gavin has studied at institutions around the world; with his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University in New York, International Politics Concentration from Tsinghua University in Beijing, French Concentration from the Centre International d’Antibes in Antibes, France, and Mandarin Chinese Concentration from Beijing Language and Culture University in Beijing. In addition, he has been a visiting fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, a joint U.S.-China research center based at Tsinghua University.

Gavin is fluent in Chinese, French, Spanish, and intermediate Japanese. An avid jazz piano player, he enjoys turning to music and studying foreign languages in his free time.

Daniel Tedesco (谭德馨) - GCC President and Trustee

Daniel is a Fulbright Fellow for the 2011-2012 academic year.   As an undergraduate at Drexel University, he organized dozens of major events with topics ranging from venture capital to international relations to dance.  In addition, he managed a $500,000 annual fund to coordinate extracurricular activities for over 25,000 students for three years. During the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Daniel served as a Student Ambassador for the USA National Pavilion.  Daniel co-founded Drexel University's GCC chapter (2009), the GCC Shanghai Committee (2010), and lead GCC Management's 2010 restructuring to better serve its mission and members.  He enjoys meeting people, studying cognitive psychology, running, and reading Ancient Chinese philosophy.

Tyler Godoff (郭泰乐) - Trustee

Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Tyler attended Vanderbilt University and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Human and Organizational  Development and a minor in Corporate Strategy. During his junior year,  Tyler spent a semester studying at Fudan University in Shanghai while also interning at China Mobile, China's largest state-owned telecommunications company.

Tyler co-founded the Vanderbilt chapter of GCC, which was the 2010 recipient of the University’s Outstanding International Student Organization award. Tyler also served GCC as president of the Alumni Association, focusing on establishing an organizational structure and recruiting a team to manage ongoing relationships among graduates of GCC's international chapter network. As a member of GCC’s Board of Trustees, Tyler is responsible for all major strategic decisions and officer appointments.

Tyler lives in Beijing and works  for the Energy Logistics division of Sinotrans, China’s leading state-owned shipping and logistics company. Within his division, Tyler coordinates the international business development efforts, focusing on EPCs, Oil and Gas, and Wind Energy companies. Tyler has previous work experience at Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Investments and Nadastra, a Sri Lankan KPO consulting firm.

David Y. Zhu (朱英楠) - Trustee

David was born in China and grew up in Canada. He attended Columbia University with a degree in Economics, and was a visiting student at Tsinghua University during his gap year. During his time in GCC, David has served as the Director of Network Management, Vice President of External Affairs, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees.

David is a co-founder of Heart2Heart Canadian Youth Society, a student-run charity organization that has raised over $300,000 to to build schools in rural China. At Columbia, he served as president of Raw Elementz, Columbia's largest hip-hop dance troupe and performed in a number of large-scale events. David was given a King's Crown Leadership Award by Columbia University for his active leadership on campus.

Pursuing his interest in finance and investment, David has worked at Goldman Sachs and Bain & Company. David speaks Mandarin, Canatonese, and Wuhanese, and hopes to learn more Chinese dialects in the future. In his spare time, David plays five musical instruments, enjoys hip-hop dancing, karaoke, and keeps a blog.