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Barbara Franklin (President and CEO of Barbara Franklin Enterprises)

Barbara Franklin

President and CEO of Barbara Franklin Enterprises

Barbara Hackman Franklin is an American government official, corporate director, and business executive. She served as the 29th U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1992-1993 to President George H.W. Bush, during which she led a Presidential mission to China.

Prior to her Cabinet position, Secretary Franklin served in the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan. In the Nixon White House, she led the first Presidential effort to advance women in the federal government. Following that, she was an original commissioner and first Vice Chair of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. In 2006, she received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service. In 2017 TIME Magazine named her one of the “50 Women who Made American Political History”.

Secretary Franklin has served on the board of directors of 18 companies, including Dow Chemical, Aetna Inc., Westinghouse, and Nordstrom. Directorship Magazine and the American Management Association named her one of the most influential people in corporate governance, and in 2014 she was inducted into the Directorship 100 Hall of Fame. She is currently the President and CEO of Barbara Franklin Enterprises, a private international consulting firm.

Secretary Franklin was one of the first women graduates of the Harvard Business School. She is married to Wallace Barnes, retired chairman and CEO of Barnes Group, Inc.

Vanessa Friedman (Fashion Director and Chief Fashion Critic of The New York Times)

Vanessa Friedman

Fashion Director and Chief Fashion Critic of The New York Times

Vanessa Friedman was named fashion director and chief fashion critic for The New York Times in March 2014. In this role she leads global fashion coverage for both The New York Times and its International Edition on all platforms.

Before joining the paper, Ms. Friedman was the inaugural fashion editor of The Financial Times, beginning in 2003. Along with editing the Style pages and the Luxury360 vertical, she wrote a weekly column for the Weekend edition, and created the FT’s annual Business of Luxury conference.

Previously, she was the fashion features director for InStyle from 2000 to 2002. Before that she worked as a fashion correspondent for the FT, as an arts contributor at The Economist, and was the European editor at American Elle. In addition, she contributed regularly to Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly.

She is the co-author of “Emilio Pucci” published by Taschen Books, as well as an honorary professor at Glasgow Caledonian University. She was the recipient of the 2012 Front Page Award for fashion writing, and the 2013 Fashion Monitor Journalist of the Year Award.

Ms. Friedman received her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.

Kurt Tong (Consul General at U.S. Consulate General, Hong Kong & Macau)

Kurt Tong

Consul General at U.S. Consulate General, Hong Kong & Macau

Kurt W. Tong assumed his duties as Consul General representing the United States to Hong Kong and Macau on August 26, 2016. As Chief of Mission, Mr. Tong leads a large interagency team that cooperates with the governments of Hong Kong and Macau in a variety of areas. Those areas include expansion of trade and bilateral investment; combatting transnational crime; protection of the environment; and educational and cultural exchanges. The Consulate General also supports U.S. resident citizens and visitors to Hong Kong and provides visa services to facilitate tourist and business travel to the United States.

Prior to his service in Hong Kong, Consul General Tong was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the Department of State, the most senior career diplomat handling economic affairs for the State Department. Before that, Mr. Tong served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. Earlier, he was the U.S. Ambassador for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), managing all aspects of U.S. participation in APEC, while concurrently serving as Economic Coordinator for the Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Mr. Tong has been a diplomat for the State Department since 1990, including service as Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council from 2006 to 2008 and as Economic Minister-Counselor in Seoul from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he served as Counselor for Environment, Science and Health at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Deputy Treasury Attaché in Tokyo, and economic officer in Manila. Consul General Tong was a Visiting Scholar at the Tokyo University Faculty of Economics from 1995 to 1996. Before joining the Foreign Service, he was an Associate with the Boston Consulting Group in Tokyo.

Consul General Tong holds a B.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and studied economics at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. He has also studied at the Beijing Institute of Education, Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei, Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Tokyo, and International Christian University in Tokyo.
  
Consul General Tong speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. He was born in Ohio and raised in Massachusetts, and enjoys tennis, soccer and other sports. He is married to Dr. Mika Marumoto. They have three grown children.

唐偉康先生於二零一六年八月二十七日履新,出任美國駐香港及澳門總領事。他將率領跨部門團隊,與香港及澳門政府在多個領域合作,包括拓展貿易和雙邊投資、打擊跨國犯罪、環境保護、加強學術及文化交流。總領事館為居於香港的美國公民和美籍訪客提供協助,同時也為前往美國觀光及商務旅遊人士,提供美國簽證服務。

此前,唐偉康總領事在美國國務院經濟及商業事務局擔任首席副助理國務卿,是國務院處理經濟事務最高級別職業外交官。他亦曾於東京出任美國駐日本大使館副館長及臨時代辦。在此之前,他曾出任美國駐亞太經濟合作組織(APEC)大使,負責美國在該組織中參與的一切事務;在同一期間,他兼任國務院東亞及太平洋事務局經濟協調官。

唐偉康總領事一九九零年加入美國國務院出任外交官,曾於二零零六至二零零八年擔任國家安全委員會亞洲事務主任;以及於二零零三至二零零六年於首爾出任美國駐韓國公使銜經濟參贊。在此之前,他曾是駐華大使館環境、科技和衛生事務參贊;美國財政部駐東京副代表;以及駐馬尼拉經濟事務官員。一九九五至一九九六年他在東京大學經濟學系出任訪問學者。成爲外交官之前,他在波士頓諮詢公司(BCG)東京辦公室擔任合夥人。

唐偉康總領事在普林斯頓大學伍德羅‧威爾遜公共及國際事務學院獲得學士學位,並曾於美國外交學院學習經濟。他亦曾分別就讀於北京教育學院、台北中國語文聯合研習所、東京日本語文聯合研習中心及東京國際基督教大學。

唐偉康總領事通曉中文及日語。他出生於俄亥俄州,並於麻省長大,愛好網球、足球及其他運動。他與太太Mika Marumoto博士育有三名孩子。

Julie Moore (Executive Director, Innovating Global Health China (IGHC) and Vice President of International Affairs at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB))

Julie Moore

Executive Director, Innovating Global Health China (IGHC) and Vice President of International Affairs at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB)

A graduate nurse, Prof. Dame Julie Moore, worked in clinical practice before moving into management. She was appointed as Chief Executive of UHB in 2006.

In 2018 UHB acquired the former Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust to form the new UHB, which has 4 hospitals, community services, 3000 beds, £1.6bn turnover, 20,000 staff and treats over 2,000,000 patients annually. A Trustee of the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation, Julie is also founder member and past Chair of the Shelford Group, ten leading academic hospitals in England.

Julie was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2012. She was awarded an Honorary Chair at Warwick University in 2013, and has Honorary Doctorates from the University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University and Oxford Brookes University. She was included in the BBC’s list of the 100 most powerful women in the UK and undertakes numerous speaking engagements, including appearing with President Clinton in 2014.

Julie retired as UHB’s Chief Executive in September 2018 and subsequently became Professor of Health Systems at Warwick University and Associate Non-Executive Director, Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust. Julie’s contribution to international work will continue through her Executive Director role with IGHC and as UHB’s Vice President of International Affairs. She is also a Non-Executive Board member for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.

Erika Irish Brown (Chief Diversity Officer at Goldman Sachs)

Erika Irish Brown

Chief Diversity Officer at Goldman Sachs

Erika is the chief diversity officer of Goldman Sachs. She is responsible for driving the firm’s global diversity and inclusion strategy and initiatives related to the recruitment, retention and advancement of diverse professionals. She joined the firm as a managing director in 2018 from Bloomberg, where she was the global head of diversity and inclusion since 2015. Prior to that, she led diversity hiring efforts at Bank of America from 2009 to 2015 and Lehman Brothers from 2005 to 2008. Erika is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, vice chair of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and serves on the Board of Advisors for Catalyst.

Jing Ulrich (Managing Director & Vice Chairman of Asia Pacific at JPMorgan Chase & Co.)

Jing Ulrich

Managing Director & Vice Chairman of Asia Pacific at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Jing Ulrich is Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Asia Pacific at JPMorgan Chase. She provides strategic advice to the firm’s most senior global clients across all sectors and asset classes, while building relationships with executives at Asia’s leading enterprises. Ms. Ulrich works with all lines of business at JPMorgan Chase to foster cross-border collaboration and strengthen senior client relationships in Asia Pacific and the rest of the world.

Educated at Harvard and Stanford Universities, Ms. Ulrich is one of the most prominent advisors to the world’s largest asset-management companies, sovereign wealth funds, and multinational corporations.

Ms. Ulrich has been ranked one of Fortune Magazine's 50 Most Powerful Global Businesswomen. Forbes named her one of Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen and ranked her among the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World. She has also been dubbed as "the unofficial voice of China" and the "Oprah Winfrey of the investment world."

Kimberley Cole (AmCham Women of Influence Professional of the Year Winner 2015)

Kimberley Cole

AmCham Women of Influence Professional of the Year Winner 2015

(Moderator)

Kimberley Cole is a global business executive whose most recent role saw her lead a team of sales professionals, as Head of Solution Sales, Asia for Thomson Reuters Financial and Risk business. Her career has taken her from Australia to Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom in leadership roles across multiple functions from Product Management to Marketing and Sales.

Kimberley has founded multiple business networks including Women in Finance Asia and she is also the Chief Risky Woman of Risky Women, a global network connecting, celebrating and championing women in risk, regulation and compliance which also includes the podcast Risky Women Radio!

She also works to stop slavery using business platforms and collaboration with a focus on how to use data and technology. She is a non-executive director at the Fair Employment Foundation.

Fangfang Chen (Asia Pacific Chair and Asia Pacific Head of Asset Servicing and Digital at BNY Mellon)

Fangfang Chen

Asia Pacific Chair and Asia Pacific Head of Asset Servicing and Digital at BNY Mellon
Felicity McRobb (Founder of McRobb Consulting)

Felicity McRobb

Founder of McRobb Consulting

Felicity McRobb is the Founder of McRobb Consulting, a Hong Kong based company specializing in individual and team performance at the executive level. She has been at the forefront of women’s leadership development in the world’s largest organizations, and in the poorest villages in developing countries, for the past thirty years.

She first came to Asia in 1984 and has lived and worked in Japan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and Portland, Oregon, returning to Hong Kong in 2011 with her family, to build a regional consulting practice.

Felicity holds a B.A. in Modern Languages from Anglia University in the United Kingdom. She is married with four children and six grand-children, and loves to spend time traveling with her husband Dennis.

Mark Militello (Asia Pacific Regional Head of Markets at BNY Mellon)

Mark Militello

Asia Pacific Regional Head of Markets at BNY Mellon

Based in Hong Kong, Mark Militello is BNY Mellon’s APAC Regional Head of Markets, leading the Foreign Exchange, Collateral Services, and Securities Finance businesses for the region. He is a member of BNY Mellon’s Asia Pacific Leadership Council and the Global Management Team of Markets.

Mark joined BNY Mellon in August 2012 and has previously worked at Shinsei Bank, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley. Beginning his career in the Mortgage Department at Morgan Stanley New York, Mark continued his fixed income sales efforts at Lehman Brothers Japan. Mark later joined Shinsei Bank in Tokyo and worked in various capacities, including as Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional Bank, Co-Head of Corporate Lending, and Head of Asset Management.

Mark is a graduate of Duke University.

Mark has worked and lived over 20 years in Asia. He was an Honorable Mention All-American in both football and baseball at Duke and had a very brief stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Marina Vogt (“Chief Happiness Officer” in residence at Fung Group)

Marina Vogt

“Chief Happiness Officer” in residence at Fung Group

Marina Vogt joined Li & Fung Limited in February 2013 under the Corporate Communications & Strategic Engagement unit and has transferred to Fung (1937) Management Limited in October 2017, both of which are Fung Group companies.

Marina has a diverse background and work experience in academia, creative arts, event management, non-profit and corporate spanning over 15 years. She is currently “CHO” in residence at the Fung Group. She has designed a number of Happiness initiatives both in role and through a wider global community of supporters. She is currently working on her biggest project yet which aims to put the “Human” back into HR and creating Happiness in the workplace.

Marina holds 2 degrees in Literature from the University of Hong Kong and is a certified Applied Positive Psychology life coach. She is an alumnae of United World College and The Women’s Foundation Mentoring Programme. She is a mother of twins. She loves to bake and make jewelry in her spare time.

Lale Kesebi (Founder and CEO of human-at.work)

Lale Kesebi

Founder and CEO of human-at.work

(Moderator)

Lale Kesebi is Founder and CEO of human-at.work. She is a sought-after strategist, innovator, and transformation coach. Her work focuses on how to create high performance cultures and how to make transformation stick for companies.

Lale began her career in Canada as a litigation lawyer and has lived in Asia for 20 years. Prior to her current venture, she worked in both profit and not-for profit sectors in leadership roles culminating in nearly 15 years at Li & Fung, the last 8 of which she was a member of the executive team leading transformation, building out innovation and designing the social impact of the company through purpose across teams in 40 countries. She regularly speaks on leadership, innovation, and strategy that influences transformation and in 2017 was invited to deliver the commencement address at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill's Kenan Flagler Business School. In 2018 she gave a TED talk on "Why it's time to bring yourself to work".

Lale is a Trustee of the Asian University for Women, a Board Member of The Women's Foundation in Hong Kong and Advisor to several Asian start-ups disrupting incumbents. She is a graduate from Dalhousie University in Canada and lives in Hong Kong with her husband and three children.

Ines Gafsi (Co-Founder of Female Entrepreneurs Worldwide)

Ines Gafsi

Co-Founder of Female Entrepreneurs Worldwide

Ines Gafsi the Co-Founder of Female Entrepreneurs Worldwide (FEW). FEW is an international female-founders platform that aims to connect, inspire and empower women for entrepreneurial and personal success. FEW offers connections, training and development, business advice to female founders and senior executives. With over 10,000 registered female members, the platform is rapidly expanding in Greater China.

Ines began her career in Paris and London, where she developed strong leadership and expertise in brand building, strategic partnerships, digital marketing, e-commerce and CRMs across the luxury and F&B industries. Ines loves technology, digital business, and has a strong passion to empower women.

She served as a speaker at the SCMP’s Game Changers and was voted “Top 10 Female Entrepreneurs in Hong Kong” by Hong Kong Tatler.

Jessie Lam (Chief Financial Officer at Brinc)

Jessie Lam

Chief Financial Officer at Brinc

Jessie Lam is the CFO at Brinc, a new type of startup platform that bridges the divide between the digital and physical worlds. Part incubator, part accelerator, part investment fund, part awesome - Brinc meets founders wherever they are in their development process with a customized growth plan.

Prior to joining Brinc, Jessie was a New York-based financial specialist who spent the past 11 years managing valuation risk in the banking industry. She covered the Interest Rate, Multi-Asset Hybrid Derivative, Credit, and Municipals desks, before relocating to Hong Kong to join Credit Suisse in 2014. She advised the Asia Pacific Equity desks on a global legal entity restructuring initiative, which involved the migration of derivative product and proprietary valuation systems from Europe to Asia and implementing appropriate governance in the infrastructure.

Jessie is also an active tech investor in Hong Kong and provides financial expertise and input to founders to aid in their business growth and development plans. She holds a degree in Finance and Accounting from New York University, Stern School of Business and is a licensed CPA.

Czarina Leung (Humanitarian Doctor; Founder and Director of Be Priceless)

Czarina Leung

Humanitarian Doctor; Founder and Director of Be Priceless

Czarina Leung is Humanitarian worker for over 15 yrs - teaching medicine in India, Nepal and refugee camp at Thailand-Myanmar border; running free medical clinics in Vietnam, Uganda and Philippines.

She is an Intensive care specialist doctor.

She is the Founder and Director of Be Priceless, a non-profit organization for creating educational materials to empower vulnerable populations against human trafficking.

Czarina is a Volunteer at World Health Organization, Geneva - work on disaster risk reduction.

Research Academic of The Hong Kong Institute of Diabetes and Obesity and The Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Vivian McGrath (CEO / Executive Producer / Author / Blogger of Redback Productions)

Vivian McGrath

CEO / Executive Producer / Author / Blogger of Redback Productions

Vivian McGrath is an Executive Producer / Author / Blogger
www.vivianmcgrath.com

Vivian is an Executive Producer with twenty-nine years’ experience in the television industry making documentaries for major US, UK and Australian networks.

She is also a survivor of domestic violence. Her memoir – Unbeatable: How I left a violent man - will be published soon. How she went from young, single mother to find success in life, career and love.

Through her Unbeatable Blog www.beingunbeatable.com, writing, videos, podcasts, online video courses and One-to-One coaching she guides others to overcome fears, insecurities and negative patterns to create the life they want to lead.

Vivian was based in HK during the 90s as Foreign Correspondent for Seven Network Australia. Then Senior Producer Fox News Asia Bureau, covering events like the HK handover from Britain to China. She spent four years in Shanghai and eleven as an Exec Producer in the UK.

Vivian was born in Australia where she began her journalism career as News & Current Affairs Producer / Reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

She has a BA English / Linguistics degree from Macquarie University.

She is married with two sons, loves running, adventure travel and living on her boat.

Tanja Wessels (Activist, aggregator, agitator)

Tanja Wessels

Activist, aggregator, agitator

Tanja Wessels - Activist, aggregator, agitator. She studied filmmaking and art in Lisbon and London before moving to Asia in 2006.

A founding member of Circular Community Hong Kong, she is part of a group dedicated to sharing skills from a range of industries to cut waste and get creative around solutions.

Her platform All In – Asia, connects HK pioneers in environmentalism, aligned in values but from different industries, responding to the ecological sign of the times.

Art activism is her preferred call to action. Art is alarming. So is our environmental situation.

Jen Flowers (Head of Design-Thinking and EmTech Strategy; Director, The Experience Centre at PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd)

Jen Flowers

Head of Design-Thinking and EmTech Strategy; Director, The Experience Centre at PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd

(Moderator)

Jen is a Director in the PwC Consulting Practice working directly with their Experience Centre focused on digital, data, customer and emerging technology.

She helped launch the Experience Centres in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 2016 and is working on the build out of a Greater China Emerging Technology Network.

She is also a leader of Catalyst, which is PwC’s design-­thinking workshops – helping clients solve
important challenges in an agile way. She have over 15 years experience across marketing, business development, innovation and change.

She has a masters degree in Chinese Literature, speaks Mandarin and spent over 10 years living across Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

As leader of our Catalyst Team, which is PwC’s design-­thinking methodology for solving client problems in an agile and creative space, Jen facilaites multiple client sessions a week, ensureing that energy remains up whilst also directing the client to achieve the right results in the allotted time.

As co-­chair of the TEDx TinHau committee, Jen oversees all facets of the planning and running of multiple non-­profit TEDx conferences and events in her free time.

Anne English (Founder of Bamboo Strategic Advisors)

Anne English

Founder of Bamboo Strategic Advisors

Anne English is an analytical strategist with more than 15 years of experience. She has diverse functional expertise across varying industries (CPG, Technology, Media, Finance & Non-Profit). She has worked for large consulting firms (Accenture and Booz & Co.), Unilever, and a NGO based in Hong Kong. Early in her career, Anne gained invaluable operating experience (5 years) as the 3rd employee at a Fintech start-up. The company was later sold to a private equity firm.

Bamboo Strategic Advisors works side-by-side SMEs to provide tailored, strategic advisory services to surpass scaling hurdles and implement the solutions. Anne’s approach is customised, data driven and results focused. The majority of Bamboo’s clients are women Founders.

She has a M.B.A. from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and graduated magna cum laude in both Economics and Psychology from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Anne and her family have resided in Hong Kong since 2010.

Taura Edgar (Founder of Digital Devotee)

Taura Edgar

Founder of Digital Devotee

Taura is the Founder, Digital Devotee

Digital Devotee provides services from designing and building simple websites to creating complex social media customer service capabilities. Taura works with direct clients to create digital brand and customer experiences or in-house as a consultant to improve digital business and operations, train staff, and analyze resourcing.

Taura has been a Hong Konger since 1998. She has run digital advertising at CNN, Social Media & PR for 7-Eleven and CSL mobile, and digital marketing for Intel before starting her own company so has a wide background in strategy, conception, art direction and production for digital projects.

Tracy Kahn (Story Specialist)

Tracy Kahn

Story Specialist

Tracy Kahn is an American writer and performer based in Asia. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, on RTHK radio, and at Liars’ League. She appears on stage often with Hong Kong Stories, and is the curator of Literary Burlesque.

She holds undergraduate degrees from the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a master’s degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Tara Joseph (President at The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong)

Tara Joseph

President at The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

(Moderator)

Tara Joseph is the President of AmCham Hong Kong. In her 22 years as journalist, she has reported on hundreds of the world’s most important and high profile news stories including Russia’s financial crisis, Myanmar’s emergence from virtual isolation, China's rise on the world stage and the Beijing Olympics to name a few. Earlier in her career, Tara was the editor and main presenter of Reuters Financial Television based in London, and covered emerging markets and G7 economic issues. She has twice served as President of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong, one of the world’s largest press clubs.

Anne O'Riordan (Senior Managing Director - Global Life Sciences of Accenture Co. Ltd.)

Anne O'Riordan

Senior Managing Director - Global Life Sciences of Accenture Co. Ltd.

AmCham Women of Influence Committee Chair

Jennifer Parks (COO, Asia at White & Case)

Jennifer Parks

COO, Asia at White & Case

AmCham Women of Influence Committee Chair