MS. ZHANG XIN | CEO, SOHO China
Chairwoman
One of the first private entrepreneurs to engage in commercial real estate development in China, Zhang Xin has led SOHO China to becoming the largest commercial developer in Beijing and Shanghai. After working in investment banking for Goldman Sachs and Travelers Group, Zhang Xin co-founded SOHO China with her husband Pan Shiyi in 1995. She has received various honors for her achievements, including recognition as one of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes magazine in 2008, and one of the Top 50 Women in World Business by Financial Times in 2009 and 2011. Zhang Xin co-founded the SOHO China Foundation in 2005 with Pan Shiyi, a charity organization guided by the mission of advancing education as a means for alleviating poverty. She has studied Economics at the University of Sussex and earned a Master’s degree in Development Economics from Cambridge University in 1992.
MR. FANG FENGLEI | Founder and Chairman, Hopu Investment Management
Vice Chair
Mr. Fang Fenglei is Founder and Chairman of Hopu Investment Management. Mr. Fang is also Chairman of Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities. Previously, Mr. Fang was Vice President of China International Capital Corporation, a Chief Executive Officer of Bank Of China International Holdings, and a Chief Executive Officer of ICEA Finance Holdings. Mr. Fang has been recognized as one of the “Top Ten Influential Leaders of China’s Capital Market” by Financial Asia and he was also awarded “Asian Financial Service Development Outstanding Achievement” by Euromoney. Mr. Fang Fenglei graduated from Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen) University in 1982 and attended an advanced business executive training program at Harvard Business School.
MR. OLIVER WEISBERG | Managing Director, Citadel
Treasurer
Oliver P. Weisberg is a Managing Director at Citadel (Hong Kong) Limited, having joined the firm in 2006. Prior to joining Citadel, Mr. Weisberg was with Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs & Co in Hong Kong. Mr. Weisberg received his B.A. from Harvard College and then completed a one-year advanced Chinese language program at the Stanford University Center at National Taiwan University. In addition to chairing the Development Committee on Teach For China’s Board, Mr. Weisberg is on the Advisory Board of the Harvard University Shanghai Center and Harvard China Fund.
MS. MEI ZHANG | Executive Director, Office of Government Affairs, Goldman Sachs Asia
Secretary
Mei Zhang is an executive director in the Office of Government Affairs at Goldman Sachs Asia. Based in Hong Kong, she covers government and regulatory relations in Asia Pacific with a focus on Greater China. Mei joined Goldman Sachs in 2002 as an executive director in the Corporate Communications Department in Asia. Mei had also acted as a central coordinator of the firm’s China initiatives, including government and regulatory relations, internal communications, sponsorships and charitable services. Prior to joining the firm, Mei had worked at Salomon Smith Barney, an affiliate of Citigroup, as a Vice President of Corporate Communications in Asia. She had also worked as producer and editor at CNN in the headquarters in Atlanta and in Hong Kong for total of five years. A Chinese native, Mei grew up in northeastern China and received a Bachelor’s Degree of Art in International Journalism from Beijing Institute of International Relations, and a Master’s Degree of Mass Communications from Louisiana State University, USA.
MR. PETER GEITHNER | Advisor, Asia Center at Harvard University
Chairman • Emeritus
Mr. Peter F. Geithner is an advisor to the Asia Center at Harvard University and a consultant to the Asia Pacific Philanthropy Consortium, Rockefeller Foundation, Sasakawa Peace Foundation, and other organizations. He serves on the boards of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, the China Center for Economic Research (Peking University), the Center for the Advanced Study of India (University of Pennsylvania), Clemente (Holdings) Asia, Inc., and the Institute of Current World Affairs. Mr. Geithner was with The Ford Foundation for 28 years, where he held program management positions mainly concerned with Asia. He was Director of Asia Programs from 1990 to 1996. Prior to assuming that position, he served for two and a half years as the Foundation’s first representative in Beijing, China. Mr. Geithner is a graduate of Dartmouth College (BA) and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (MA). He is a recipient of the State Department Distinguished Service Award.
MS. CAI JINQING | Senior Vice President and Managing Director of China, Christie’s
Ms. Cai Jinqing is the China Managing Director for Christie’s. In this role, she leads the Christie’s company office in China, working to develop its services to clients in the region. She works to grow Christie’s educational and cultural activities, taking an active role in promoting international exposure of Chinese art and advising clients globally on both the Chinese art categories and the Chinese marketplace. From 2005 to 2012, she served as founding partner for the Brunswick Group in Beijing. She has previously worked in New York and Hong Kong in management consulting and venture capital focusing on China investments. Ms. Cai graduated from Wellesley College with a Bachelor of Arts and obtained her Master's of Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton University.
MR. JIMMY HEXTER | Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
Mr. Jimmy Hexter is a director of McKinsey & Company and lads the firm’s Operations Practice in Asia. Mr. Hexter is located in the Beijing office and speaks fluent Chinese. In his fourteen years with the firm, Mr. Hexter has served multinational and Chinese companies in many industries, particularly on operations strategy, manufacturing performance, and procurement and supply chain strategy. He has published extensively in the McKinsey Quarterly, the Asian Wall Street Journal, and other publications, and is a frequent speaker at executive events. Mr. Hexter is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar and received the Thomas A. Wolfe and Henry Ford awards.
MR. HUA XINGHONG | Managing Director, Cerberus Capital Management, Asia
Mr. Hua Xinghong is currently the Managing Director of Cerberus Capital Management’s Asian operations. From 2004-2008 he was Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at the Asia-Pacific Branch of the mining and materials firm Alcoa. Prior to that, he held management positions with the energy firms Pace Global Energy and the Atlantic Richfield Company. Mr. Hua also serves on the advisory board of Chinglish.com, an internet platform designed to facilitate business opportunities between Chinese and English speaking professionals. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from Peking University in International Relations and also holds a Masters Degree in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
MS. WENDY KOPP | CEO & Co-Founder, Teach For All; Founder & Board Chair, Teach For America
Ms. Wendy Kopp is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Teach For America. She is also Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Teach For All, an organization that seeks to replicate the success of the Teach For America model internationally. Under her leadership, Teach For America’s nearly 33,000 participants have reached more than 3 million children nationwide during their two-year teaching commitments. Participants have also sustained their commitment as alumni, working inside and outside the field of education to ensure educational excellence and equity for all children. Ms. Kopp has been the recipient of numerous awards for her contributions to educational reform, including the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2008. Ms. Kopp received a Bachelor’s degree from the Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
MS. DEE POON | Director, Y.L. Yang-Esquel Education Foundation, Hong Kong
Ms. Dee Poon graduated from Harvard College in 2004, where she earned a bachelors degree in Philosophy. Dee worked in Hong Kong as a buyer for Hong Kong Seibu. In 2005 she became the manager of PYE, the retail arm of the Esquel Group. Ms. Poon serves on the boards of the Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design, Zuni Icosahedron, and the Y.L. Yang – Esquel Education Foundation, as well as on the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s Design, Marketing and Licensing Services Advisory Committee. She is an editor-at-large for iLook magazine and a featured columnist for Modern Weekly.
DR. SUN ZHE | Director, Center for US-China Relations, Tsinghua University
Dr. Sun Zhe is a Professor at the Institute for International Studies and the Director of the Center for US-China Relations at Tsinghua University. He is the former Deputy Director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, and has previously served as the spokesperson for the Boao Forum for Asia in 2002. Dr. Sun often appears as an expert commentator on NPR, VOA, CCTV, Shanghai TV, and in the Global Times, among many others. His research interests include trade and economic relations between the US and China, comparative legal studies (in particular US Congress and China's National People's Congress), and US-China relations. Dr. Sun is currently working on a paper on Obama´s strategy for global development and its implications for China, as well as on a manuscript on democracy and US-China relations.
DR. WANG JISI | Director, School of International Studies, Peking University
Dr. Wang Jisi has been Dean of Peking University’s School of International Studies since 2005. Concurrently, he is Director of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at the Party School of the Communist Party of the China Central Committee, a Guest Professor of the National Defense University of the People’s Liberation Army, Vice-Chairman of the China Reform Forum, and President of the Chinese Association for American Studies. He was Director and a Senior Researcher of the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing from 1993 to 2005. He is a Founding Member of the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles, and serves on the advisory boards of the Brookings Institution Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, the Stanford University East Asian Security Program, and the Harvard University Asia Center. Dr. Wang's scholarly interests include international relations theory, US foreign policy, Chinese foreign policy, and China-US relations.