2018 Speakers

Benjamin is a Director and General Manager of Control Risks’ East China business. In this role, he is responsible for leading market development and client relationships in East China, developing new business with domestic and multinational companies, and advising companies on areas of business risk that may impact their operations.

Benjamin Chang has over 15 years of consulting experience focusing on Strategy Advisory and Risk Management; Benjamin’s major focus sectors include Auto, Healthcare, TMT, consumer goods and industrial in the greater China region. Prior to consulting, Benjamin also had many years of finance industry experience in investment (Private Equity and Venture Capital) and financial services among other regions, including Japan, Korea, India and Malaysia.

Benjamin acquired his MBA from USC Marshall School of Business (IBEAR program) and Bachelor of Business Administration (Major in Finance) from National Taiwan University. Benjamin is fluent in both Chinese and English and gets some familiarity in Japanese.

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Baizhu Chen studies macroeconomics and international economics, with an emphasis on China. His work has been published in the Journal of Peace Research, European Journal of Political Economy, China Economic Review, Applied Financial Economics, Social Choice and Welfare, and Journal of Macroeconomics. He is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Finance and Banking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, chief economist of Sino-Century Capital, a VC firm in Shanghai, and former president of the Chinese Economists Society. He is academic director for Marshall’s GEMBA program, and a recipient of the Golden Apple Award.

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Xiao Jing Chen is the Vice President, Head of Public Affairs and Corporate Communication at Novartis Group, a global healthcare company, in China. Prior to these positions, Ms. Chen was VP, Clinical/Medical Affairs at Medtronic in Beijing and Sr. Director, Market Access at Covidien in Beijing.

Prior to these positions, Ms. Chen spent five years at Johnson and Johnson, where she created the Clinical Research department and led a cross-functional team of Clinical Research, Medical Affairs and Government Affairs in China. In 2009, she was selected into the Johnson & Johnson International Development Program and held the position of Associate Director of Clinical Affairs at Lifescan Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company based in California. During her work in the United States, she published her research through international medical journals and scientific meetings. Ms. Chen received a B.S. in the field of Clinical Pharmacy from Sichuan University and an M.S. from Peking Union Medical College in China.

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As the Vice President of Human Resources at Walmart China, Patricia Chew has led teams to analyze, design, and implement Talent Acquisition, Talent Management and Learning & Development frameworks, processes, and systems in alignment with Walmart China’s business strategies. She successfully designed and facilitated Talent Assessment (the first in Walmart China) in May 2015, and is currently working on designing a Walmart China University.

Prior to her time at Walmart China, Patricia Chew served as the Director of Human Resources, North Asia for ONYX Hospitality Group in Hong Kong and the Regional Learning Advisor for Shell Oil Company in Singapore. Ms. Chew received her Executive MBA from the University of Hull in 2015 and her diploma in Human Resources Development from the Singapore Institute of Management in 2001.

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Richard Drobnick is the director of the IBEAR MBA program at the USC Marshall School of Business. He was the founding director of the School’s Center for International Business (1990-2014), which was supported by the U.S. Department of Education since 1990, as one of its 33 national resource centers on international business. Dr. Drobnick served as USC’s inaugural Vice Provost for International Affairs (1994-2005). He was the inaugural Secretary General (1997-2002) and a member of the Steering Committee (1997-2010) of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), an association of presidents of 45 leading Pacific Rim research universities (www.apru.org). He launched and led APRU’s Pacific Rim research programs on “Sustainability and Climate Change” and “Public Health”(2006-2010).

Dr. Drobnick specializes in Pacific Rim economic and business issues and U.S. and Pacific Rim trade policies. He is the author of numerous articles regarding international economics and business, as well as the co-author of Neither Feast nor Famine: Food Conditions to the Year 2000 and co-editor of Small Firms in Global Competition. He is a member of the U.S.-Asia Pacific Council, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Asia Society of Southern California’s Executive Committee, and is a director of the Japan-America Society-Southern California. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia (1967-1969), Drobnick served as an economic advisor to the Malaysian Department of Agriculture’s Farmers Association Movement.

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As the Director of Talent Management and Operations for Schindler China, Ms. Du is responsible for Organization Development, Leadership Development, Performance Management, Business Diagnosis & Solutions, Talent Development and Learning Solutions in Zone China. Prior to Schindler, Ms. Du worked at Autoliv as China Talent Development Director. She has also worked at DHL and TNT in Shanghai. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Human Resources Management and International Business Management, respectively, from Tongji University.

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Clayton Dube has headed the USC U.S.-China Institute (china.usc.edu) since it was established in 2006. The institute focuses on the multidimensional and evolving U.S.-China relationship. Dube was trained as an economic historian, has lived in China for five years (1982-85 and 1991-1992) and visited dozens of times for research, to lead delegations, or to lecture or participate in conferences. Dube has long been committed to informing public discussion about China and about the U.S.-China relationship. He was associate editor of the academic journal Modern China and oversaw the web publication AsiaMedia. He currently directs Asia Pacific Arts, and US-China Today. He’s produced and consulted on several documentaries, including the institute’s Assignment:China series on American media coverage of China. He writes the institute’s Talking Points column and he’s frequently cited in the U.S. and Chinese press. Since 2012, he’s co-moderated Chinapol, a private discussion list for academics, journalists, policy analysts, and government officials. Follow him on Twitter @claydube.

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Fan Bao is Chairman and CEO of China Renaissance Group, China’s leading financial institution serving the new economy. Fan began his investment banking career at the dawn of the internet era in the late 1990s. Inspired by his clients’ entrepreneurial zeal, he joined AsiaInfo, China’s largest IT and software services provider, as Chief Strategy Officer in 2000. He then founded China Renaissance in 2005 to connect China’s capital markets with the rest of the world, serving new economy entrepreneurs and investors on a global scale. In 2015, Fan was recognized as one of the world’s “50 Most Influential” by Bloomberg Markets. Fan serves as a trustee of the Green & Shine Foundation, a charity foundation that works to improve the conditions of rural education in China.

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Mr. Fujimori has more than 18 years experience in Japanese and global real estate market. Mr. Fujimori started his career at Mitsui Fudosan. Co. Ltd. In Mitsui, he was an associate and responsible for the office lease business and property management in central Tokyo CBD. After the Mitsui, He worked with Jones Lang as a senior asset manager responsible for around 150 properties in Japan. In Round Hill Capital Partners(Now PGIM Real Estate), as an asset manager, he was charged of investment decision/advice business on the big size office and commercial properties in mainly Tokyo area.

He has joined with MAC Advisers as a general manager and was responsible of establishing Mac Investment Management Inc. He has sourced a business opportunity from KBC Financial Product Tokyo and KBC Asset Management UK and connected with KBC and MAC. KBC is the biggest financial bank in Belgium. He set up Ireland Domicile unit trust as KBC Japan Real Estate Fund. Mr. Fujimori set up Asia Link Investment on June, 2010 in Tokyo and Japan Asia Pacific Link Limited in Hong Kong in 2011. He has served as an adviser and arranger with Asian super high net worth for deal sourcing and acquisition of Japanese properties and helped them to get non recourse financing from Japanese banks. He has also been adviser for some listed Hong Kong developers as an adviser to bring advanced expertise and technologies about Japanese real estate to their PJ in China and Hong Kong.

Yosuke got a bachelor degree majored in marketing from KEIO University and a MBA from University of Southern California. He is a real Estate transaction licensed person, Real Estate Consultant in Japan and California Licensed Real Estate Broker in US. He is native in Japanese and fluent in English and conversation level in Chinese.

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Ker Gibbs is head of Korn Ferry’s RPO and Professional Search business in China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan. Korn Ferry has over 200 people in China across the Solutions (RPO) business and Professional Search.

Mr. Gibbs has lived and worked in Asia for more than 20 years in a variety of roles. He came to talent acquisition and consulting after a successful career as an investment banker. At HSBC he was the head of the technology and media practice for greater China, responsible for clients like Alibaba, Baidu, and Huawei. He has advised clients on cross border deals and mergers involving public, private, and state owned enterprises. Before banking Mr. Gibbs held corporate development and senior executive roles for Disney (Go Network/Infoseek), Apple, and other Silicon Valley firms.

Mr. Gibbs served for four years on the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and was elected by the membership as chairman for 2016 and 2017. He speaks and writes frequently on topics relating to U.S. – China business relations and consults with officials from both governments. In addition to the AmCham board, Mr. Gibbs serves on the China Council of the United Way and volunteers with a local homeless shelter, the Renewal Center. Mr. Gibbs first came to China as a student in 1985 and is a mandarin speaker. His first professional work in China was with the Boston Consulting Group in 1991. He holds a MBA from UC Berkeley and a degree in Economics from UCLA.

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Kan served in the Ministry of Education, Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, TCL Thomson Electronics and TCL Capital respectively. Kan started Long Capital (early stage venture capital) and Rainforest Ventures (growth fund) as founder after leaving TCL. Kan has extensive border merger & acquisition experience in both U.S and in Europe.

As an investor, his portfolios include Hive Box (the leader of smart mailbox company in China), UB Tech (the leading Robot company of China), XP Motors (electrical car company), and other five successful IPOs. Kan also holds GPHR (Global professional HR) certificate from SHRM of U.S.

Other honors: include guest lecturer of Investment, CKGSB (Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business), invited Investor panelist and judge on “We Are the Hero” of CCTV2. He has BA from Nankai University; MBA from USC Marshall School of Business and an EMBA from CKGSB.

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Rene Matthe is the COO of the Escalator Division of Schindler in Shanghai, China. In his 11 years at Schindler, Matthe has held other positions in the Escalator Division, like Senior Vice President and CFO, as well as in Schindler Pars International Ltd, a subsidiary of Schindler, where he was Area Controller Middle East. Matthe holds a bachelors and masters degree in Economics from Humboldt University of Berlin.

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As Vice Chairman, Public Affairs, Asia Pacific of Edelman, a leading global communications marketing firm, Ian McCabe leads and strengthens Edelman’s public affairs and advisory offerings across the region. He has nearly 40 years of experience in public affairs, crisis and risk management. McCabe joins Edelman from Burson-Marsteller, where he was most recently Vice Chairman, Public Affairs and Government Communications of APAC. He previously served as Managing Director of the Asia-Pacific Public Affairs Practice, Market Leader of Burson-Marsteller Hong Kong, and Managing Director of the firm’s U.S.-centered international public affairs programs in New York.

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James McGregor is chairman of APCO Worldwide’s greater China region and author of two highly regarded books: No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers: The Challenges of Chinese Authoritarian Capitalism, published in October 2012, and One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China, published in 2005. He was a veteran reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and prior to joining APCO, he was founder and CEO of a China-focused consulting and research firm for hedge funds. He also held previous roles as a senior adviser for Ogilvy Public Relations China and the China managing partner for GIV Venture Partners, a venture capital fund that focused on technology and Internet investments in China and India.

Mr. McGregor was a reporter in the Washington bureau of Knight-Ridder newspapers during the Reagan administration. After serving as the Taiwan bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal from 1987 to 1990 and China bureau chief from 1990 to 1994, he spent seven years building Dow Jones’ media business in China as CEO of Dow Jones’ China. During this time, he established CNBC in China and created the Chinese language website of wsj.com, Dow Jones’ Chinese-language newswires, Chinese stock-market indexes and the first weekly business-television show in China. He was also a Series A investor in Sohu.com and served on the Sohu board for several years. After successfully preventing Xinhua News Agency from obtaining a monopoly on financial information in China, he received the Barney Kilgore award, Dow Jones’ highest employee accolade.

Mr. McGregor is a professional speaker, regular television and radio commentator and a contributor of essays and opinion articles for a variety of publications. He has lived in China for more than two decades and can speak and read Chinese. He was an active member of the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham) for nearly a decade and served as chairman in 1996. He also previously served as chairman of the U.S. Government Relations Committee for AmCham, and is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Atlantic Council, a Global Council member of the Asia Society, a board member of the U.S.-China Education Trust and a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

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Manoj Mehta is the CEO of naked Group, a resorts, yachting and co-working space company. Mehta first moved to China in 2005 when the company he was working for, Goodyear, moved its Asia headquarters from Akron, Ohio to Shanghai. He helped Goodyear establish a global sourcing business in China, building the branch up from scratch, hiring new people, and putting best practices in place. After nine years at Goodyear, where he moved upwards across ten different roles, he left the company to become CEO of naked Group.

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Patricia O’Keefe is the Senior Admissions Consultant at Shang International Education Group. Shang is China’s premier international education solutions provider which develops curriculum and provides advisory services to facilitate Chinese students’ first transition into the West, academically, emotionally, socially and professionally.

Her background includes: 18 Years work experience in Asia, 15 Years in International Education (Japan, HK & China), 15 Years presenting trends on International & Higher Education in Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Houston & Washington D.C., 7 Years as the Director of the USC Global Office Japan, 3 Years on the USC OC Pacific Alumni Association Committee, and 1 intense year as a USC Marshall IBEAR student!

Ms. O’Keefe is Chair of the Global Committee for the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), and an elected member of HECA, NACAC & WACAC. She was elected Governor to the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce, Japan (ACCJ) in 2009 and was Chairwoman of the ACCJ International Education Committee from 2006 – 2009. She visits over 20 colleges and universities a year speaking to students, admissions reps and professors. As you can see, she loves her mission. Ms. O’Keefe is a native Californian but straddles two continents. She uses both and Mandarin and Japanese on a weekly, if not daily basis. Her mantra is: “Empower Students to Believe, Achieve & Succeed Every Single Day”

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Edoardo Podestá, born 1962 in Italy, has been Managing Director Air & Sea Logistics Asia Pacific since 2014. He is in charge of 12 business areas of DACHSER’s Asia Pacific Business Unit. Prior to this, Podestá was Managing Director at Züst Ambrosetti Far East Ltd., a joint venture with DACHSER. In 2003, when DACHSER took full control of the company and renamed it DACHSER Far East Ltd., Podestá ensured a smooth transition. He has steered the growth of the Far East entity before extending his scope of responsibility to the Asia Pacific region. Podestá has held a variety of positions in the logistics industry in Asia for more than 25 years. Edoardo Podestá began his career in the logistics field in Spain and the UK.

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Qiao JiaZeng is the VP Commercial Finance at Walmart China. She brings 14 years of consulting experience, including six years at a professional management consulting firm and five years in in-house consulting. She has led large-scale APAC Enterprise Transformation projects that include design and deployment of new operating models for enterprise functions, including streamlining of processes, systems
implementation, organization design and change management. She has a deep expertise in the design and implementation of global business services / shared services centres / business process outsourcing, Financial Planning and Analytics activities as well as non-Finance functions (e.g. HR, Procurement, IT, Sales Admin, Digital content production.)

Prior to Walmart China, Qiao JiaZeng served as the Managing Director at Accenture in Singapore, the Branch Head of the Ministry of Defence of Singapore, and the Head of Sourcing & Partnerships at the Ministry of Finance in Singapore. She graduated from Stanford in 2002 with a M.S. in Management Science and Engineering.

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Daisy Qiu is the founder of Ruiwen ShePower, currently China’s largest professional women education platform. She is a second-time entrepreneur, having founded her first start-up, Talent Lead, with only 5 months prior industry experience. Talent Lead is currently successfully operating as a top recruiting partner for many MNCs like eBay, Meituan Dianping, Liulishuo, EF labs, Lectra, Bluescope, Centric, Morgan Stanley Technology & Data.

Daisy Qiu has 15 years working experience in both fortune 500 company and self-owned companies. She has been awarded the “2018 the Most Influential People” at the 7th China Finance Summit.

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Rainer Roten is the CEO of Schindler Elevator Ltd. in Shanghai, China. He has worked at Schindler since 2010, also holding positions as CEO and Director of Field Operations of Schindler in Switzerland. He received his MBA from University of Rochester NY.

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Based in China since 1985, Dr. Jonathan Woetzel has been instrumental in building McKinsey & Company’s China office. In addition to his work helping Asian businesses prepare for global growth, Jonathan is a director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey’s business and economics research arm. He also leads McKinsey’s Cities Special Initiative and is responsible for convening McKinsey’s work with city, regional, and national authorities in more than 40 geographies around the world. He is a co-chair of the non-profit think tank, the Urban China Initiative,a joint venture that aims to develop and implement solutions to China’s urbanization challenges.

Jonathan’s public sector work is extensive. He has advised national governments in Asia on improving the environment for foreign investors, national energy policy, and economic development strategies. He also leads work with local government authorities, having conducted more than 60 projects throughout China to support local economic development and transformation. Jonathan works in the private sector as well, most often on topics related to corporate strategy, operations, and organization. He has served clients in industries such as energy, metals and mining, health care, telecommunications, and transportation. He supported the largest company in China in a fundamental restructuring that led to the then-largest foreign listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Jonathan actively participates in a number of international forums and lectures at the Guanghua School of Business and the China-Europe International Business School, and is also an honorary lecturer at Jiaotong University’s Antai Business School. Published widely in both Chinese and international publications, Jonathan has written five books on China, including Capitalist China: Strategies for a Revolutionized Economy (Wiley & Sons, 2003) and Operation China: From Strategy to Execution (Harvard Business Press, 2007).

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Cho Lan Wu joined Huaxing Optoelectronics in 2012 and is currently the Chief Human Resources Officer (SVP) of Shenzhen Huaxing Optoelectronic Technology Co., Ltd. and the Dean of Huaxing College. He is familiar with the business operations of large-scale industrial groups, human resources strategy, talent development strategy and organizational design of group management. He knows how to support business operations, focus on organization and talent development; Improve organization efficiency, and effectively promote human resources; Build and cultivate corporate culture, implement various human resources projects. He has rich experience in HR management.

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Paul Wu is the Senior Vice President of Research and Development of UBTech Robotics. He has extensive experience in product and business development, as well as a deep understanding of China’s business environment and practices.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Wu was Vice President, Greater China of Cisco in Shanghai (2014-2017) and General Manger of EC Wise, an e-commerce startup, in Chengdu, China (2011-2015.) Mr. Wu started his career at Microsoft in 1991 where he worked for 19 years, first as a Software Engineer, then as a Senior Program Manager, and finally as the Director of Microsoft Asia Center for Hardware (MACH.) As the Director of MACH, he founded the center in Shenzhen, China, where he setup hardware and software cross functional development and manufacture management group.

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Taylor Wu joined Huaxing Optoelectronics in 2013 and is currently the vice president of marketing and sales of Shenzhen Huaxing Optoelectronic Technology Co., Ltd. TCL Group’s 18 years of work experience, more than 10 years of experience in team management of LCD panel procurement and sales.

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Mr. Yang is currently the General Manager at Hexlena, a full service strategy consultancy firm, and serving as President of the USC Alumni Club of South China. Prior to his current position, Mr. Yang worked for Merrill Lynch, Prudential Financial, Goldman Sachs in the United States. In China, Mr. Yang lead Coby Electronics Corp.’s investment, financial and IP/legal works; represented TCL in number of cross-boarder M&A transactions, joint venture companies, IP matters and Hollywood ent. related investment projects.

With strong experience in the capital market, muti-national corporation, Mr. Yang is specialized in cross boarder transactions, M&A, Intellectual Properties, and corporate strategies.

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Zhang Ping has been serving as the Chinese Consul General in Los Angeles since November 2017. He has extensive experience representing the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the United States. From 1992-1996, he served as Vice Consul and Consul at the Consulate General of the PRC in New York, and from 2006-2011, he served as Counselor and Minister-Counselor at the Embassy of the PRC in the United States of America. He has also represented China in other countries, like Vietnam and Australia. Most recently, before his current position. He served as Vice President of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs, from 2011-2015, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the PRC to the Republic of Fiji, from 2015-2017.

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Rosy (Caixia) Zhao completed her undergraduate studies in material science and engineering in Zhejiang University. She proceeded with an MBA at the People’s University of China in 2004. Rosy has more than twenty years’ experience in the consumer electronics industry.

Rosy joined Xiaomi Inc. on April 29, 2015, as the director of supply chain management in the Mi Ecosystem Business Unit of the company. In November of the following year, she was promoted to vice president of Mi Ecosystem. As part of her role, she has been pivotal in the establishing of Mi Ecosystem’s supply chain system and setting up several business centers that focus on raw material and centralized sourcing management. As of 2018, Rosy is now the vice general manager of Mi Ecosystem, where she leads the whole operation including project management, quality assurance, supply chain, business control, R&D etc.

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Mr. Yonggang Zheng serves as the Chairman of Shanshan Group Co., Ltd. and ShanShan Investment Holding Co., Ltd. since 1996. He has played a critical role in advancing China’s fashion industry, re-positioning the country from being a low-cost clothing manufacturer to being a global force in design and fashion. At Shanshan, Mr. Zheng led the creation of a network of franchises, which was unheard of in China at the time. He also helped Shanshan diversify from clothing into rare earth minerals and real estate.

When he was younger, Mr. Zheng served in the army. After retiring from the army, he started working at Ningbo glove factory, a loss-making enterprise, and turned it around in two years. Afterward, he was asked to repeat his success at a larger, clothing manufacturer, which he promptly named the Yonggang costume factory. It later changed its name to Shanshan.

Mr. Zheng has also served as a Director of Bank of Ningbo Co., Ltd., since January 2005. He holds a Master’s Degree and the title of Senior Economist.

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As the Marketing and Communications Director, Shaojun Zhu is responsible for GE Aviation China’s business growth strategy, leading GPB and go-to-market strategy. He leads integrated communication teams to drive regional communication strategy and execution on internal and external communications, including marketing and trade show events. Prior to his current position, Zhu also served at GE Aviation as BGA & Integrated Aircraft Systems Business Director, Greater China; Commercial Aircraft Program Marketing Director, Greater China; Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (Customer and Product Support); GE Aviation Operations Center Senior Program Manager; and Aircraft Engine Field Service Engineer and Program Manager.


Zhu graduated from Northwestern Polytechnic University (CN) with a BS in Aeronautical Engineering. He then went on to work as an Aeroelestic Design Engineer at the Xi’an Aircraft Design institute and as an Aircraft Line maintenance team leader at the Aviation Service Company of Xi’an Xianyang airport co. before joining GE Aviation.

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