2024 U.S.-China People’s Dialogue: Charting a Path Forward

Charlene BARSHEFSKY 

CHAIR, NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS; FORMER U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Charlene Barshefsky, chair of Parkside Global Advisors, Washington, D.C., advises multinational companies on their global market access, investment, and negotiation strategies. She previously served as senior international partner at WilmerHale where she chaired the firm’s international trade, investment, and market access group. She joined WilmerHale after serving as the United States Trade Representative from 1997 to 2001 and Acting and Deputy USTR from 1993 to 1996. Ambassador Barshefsky is best known globally as the architect and negotiator of China’s WTO agreement, which opened China’s economy as a worldwide market. 

Ambassador Barshefsky has served on an array of corporate boards, and is a trustee of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a director of the Climate Leadership Council, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  

FU Ying

Former Ambassador to the Philippines, Australia, and the United Kingdom; Former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs

Starting her career with China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 1978, Fu Ying has long engaged in Asian and European affairs. She joined a UN peacekeeping mission in Cambodia from 1992 to 1993 and then served successively in MFA’s Asian Affairs Department as Division Director and Counselor. She was appointed Minister Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia in 1997, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines in 1998, and Director General of MFA’s Asian Department in 2000. She then was appointed Ambassador to Australia (2004-2007) and Ambassador to the United Kingdom (2007-2009). She served as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for European Affairs and then for Asian Affairs (2009-2013).  

Ambassador Fu was elected deputy to China’s 12th (2013) and then 13th (2018) National People’s Congress (NPC). She was the Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee and spokesperson of the 12th NPC (2013-2018). She was the Vice-Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of China’s 13th NPC (2018-2023). Ambassador Fu is also the Founding Chair of the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at Tsinghua University.  

Stephen ORLINS

President, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations

Stephen Orlins has been president of the National Committee since May 2005.

He previously served as managing director of Carlyle Asia and chairman of the board of Taiwan Broadband Communications, one of Taiwan’s largest cable and high-speed internet providers.

Before that he was a senior advisor to New York-based leveraged buyout firm AEA Investors, with responsibility for its business activities throughout Asia; managing director of investment banking firm Lehman Brothers; and president of Lehman Brothers Asia, supervising offices in Hong Kong, Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Manila, and Singapore. Earlier in his career, he practiced law with Coudert Brothers and Paul Weiss in New York, Hong Kong, and Beijing. From 1976 to 1979, Mr. Orlins served in the State Department’s Office of the Legal Advisor of the United States, first for Political-Military Affairs and then for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, serving as a member of the legal team that helped establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.

Mr. Orlins is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and earned his law degree at Harvard Law School. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

In 1992, Mr. Orlins was the Democratic nominee for Congress in New York’s Third Congressional District.

ZHU Min

former Vice President, People’s Bank of China; former Vice President, International Monetary Fund

Zhu Min is vice chairman of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges and envoy of Sino-UK Professional and Financial Service for the Belt and Road Initiative. He is a member of the 14th Five-Year Plan Expert Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Foreign Policy Advisory Committee, and the State Internet Information Office’s Expert Advisory Committee. He also serves as a board trustee of the World Economic Forum and Peterson Institute for International Economics.  

Mr. Zhu previously served as the chairman of the National Institute of Financial Research at Tsinghua University (2017-2022), deputy managing director at the IMF (2011-2016), deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, and executive vice president of the Bank of China. He also worked at the World Bank and taught economics at both Johns Hopkins University and Fudan University.  

ZHANG Mei

Founder & Chairperson, WildChina Travel 

Zhang Mei is the founder and chairperson of WildChina, a China-based travel company. Finding her true passion for sustainable travel while working as a McKinsey & Company management consultant, she launched WildChina in 2000, growing it into an award-winning business that has pioneered a sophisticated interpretation of Chinese culture and nature. WildChina’s innovative operation has been featured in multiple Harvard Business School case studies. 

The author of Travels through Dali with a Leg of Ham (published by Penguin Random House), Ms. Zhang is also an active influencer on Chinese social media (Little Red Book & WeChat Video), promoting sustainable lifestyles to her 1.2 million followers (as of 2024).  

Ms. Zhang serves on the advisory board of Conde Nast Traveler and is a China Fellow of the Aspen Institute. She earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and is currently a PhD student in environmental science at the University of California Berkeley. Ms. Zhang is a mother of 3 children.       

Douglas MORRIS

Chair, Board of Directors, Global Parks  

Douglas Morris chairs the board of Global Parks, a non-governmental organization established to connect National Park Service and other retirees with parks and conservation projects in developing countries – a role he assumed after retiring from the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) after 40 years of service. 

Mr. Morris’s National Park Service work, from 1965 to 2005, included 13 years as a park superintendent, at Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona, and at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Earlier in his career, he served as a park ranger at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, District Ranger at Point Reyes National Seashore and Sequoia National Park, and Chief Ranger at Cape Cod National Seashore and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. He also spent six years as an instructor at the Horace Albright Training Center at Grand Canyon, Arizona. He was often called upon to serve as a member of various NPS policy workgroups, focusing on natural resource management, employee training, wilderness management, fire management, law enforcement, and international engagement. 

As a senior NPS staffer, Mr. Morris often traveled outside the U.S., recommending ways that NPS policies and best practices could be applied in local environments. He worked with park staff and community leaders in Kenya and Tanzania and partnered with stakeholders in Croatia, supporting economic recovery efforts in war-torn rural areas around national parks.  

During his post-NPS career, he has continued his international work, notably in the Galapagos Islands, China, Mongolia, and the Lower Mekong Delta, contributing to park planning, training, and law enforcement. Beginning in 2008, funded by The Nature Conservancy and others, he made more than a dozen trips to China, contributing to development of a national park system in China as well as training and various park planning efforts.  

Mr. Morris is a native Californian who graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in wildlife management.  He served for 13 years on the Executive Council of the 1600-member Coalition of National Park Service Retirees. 

Kevin XU

Founder, Interconnected Capital  

Kevin Xu is the founder of Interconnected Capital and writes the Interconnected newsletter on tech, business, and geopolitics. His insights have been cited in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, and Wired, among other media outlets. Mr. Xu previously worked as a senior executive at GitHub and as a venture capitalist, and served in the White House and Commerce Department under President Obama.  

Mr. Xu studied law and computer science at Stanford Law School and received his undergrad degree in international relations from Brown University. 

ZHAN Xianyuan

Assistant Professor, Institute for AI Industry Research (AIR), Tsinghua University; Former Data Scientist, JD Technology; Former Researcher, Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA)

Xianyuan Zhan is a research assistant professor at the Institute for AI Industry Research (AIR), Tsinghua University. Before joining AIR, Dr. Zhan was a data scientist at JD Technology and also a researcher at Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA). Dr. Zhan previously led the research and development of AI-driven industrial system optimization products at JD Technology. He has published more than 70 papers in top international journals and conferences in the field of transportation engineering and computer science, as well as applied for more than 20 patents. Dr. Zhan is also a reviewer for many top transportation and computer science journals and conferences. He is currently a committee member of China Computer Federation-Artificial Intelligence & Pattern Recognition (CCF-AI) Committee. 

Dr. Zhan received his B.E. in Civil Engineering from Tsinghua University (2011), M.S. in Computer Science (2016) and PhD in Transportation Systems (2017) from Purdue University.  

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Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.

Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. 

GONG Jiong (John)

Professor, University of International Business and Economics

Gong Jiong currently serves as an economics professor at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing, having previously served as vice president of the school’s branch campus in Israel. 

A prolific scholar, Dr. Gong has published papers in world-class journals in the fields of economics and electronic engineering. He is also a regular op-ed contributor to several leading English-language media outlets in Asia, including the South China Morning Post, Global Times and CGTN (China Global Television Network), as well as frequent expert commentator on many CCTV news programs. He previously served as the executive editor of the U.K.-published Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies (JCEFTS), an authoritative journal on Chinese international trade. 

An expert in antitrust, patent disputes, and national competition policies, Dr. Gong is an academic affiliate of the U.S. consulting firm Global Economics Group, and deputy director of the Merger and Antitrust Research Center of the China WTO Research Association. He is also a special expert of the Antitrust Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, where he was the chief architect of the Bureau’s national competition database, and has served as a consultant to the World Bank on national competition policies for Kazakhstan and Namibia on behalf of the World Bank. 

Dr. Gong received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1995. 

David MOSER

Associate Professor, Beijing Capital Normal University  

David Moser has been based in Beijing for over 30 years, and has been active in academic and media circles. Currently an associate professor at Beijing Capital Normal University, Dr. Moser has previously served as Associate Dean of the Yenching Academy at Peking University, Academic Director at CET Chinese Studies at Beijing Capital Normal University, a visiting professor at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, and a visiting scholar at Peking University. 

Dr. Moser is also a frequent China analyst on Al Jazeera television, appears occasionally on the BBC radio show Business Matters, and co-hosts the Barbarians at the Gate podcast covering aspects of Chinese history and modern culture. He has worked at China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing as a program advisor, translator, and host, and continues to be active on Chinese television as a commentator in both Chinese and English on news shows such as CGTN Dialogue and World Insight. In addition, he is author of A Billion Voices: China’s Search for a Common Language, published by Penguin. 

Dr. Moser holds a master’s and PhD in Chinese studies from the University of Michigan, with a major in Chinese linguistics and philosophy. 

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Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.

Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. 

Michael ROSENBLUM

culinary anthropologist & chef; Principal, FMC Consulting Limited; author

Michael D. Rosenblum is an award-winning chef, author and tea maker, and is currently a doctoral student at Macau University of Science and Technology. He is one of the only non-Chinese nationals globally to be certified as Master Tea Appraiser, Master Tea Maker, and Advanced Tea Artisan; all credentials bestowed by China’s Ministry of Social Affairs. Fluent and literate in Mandarin Chinese, Mr. Rosenblum arrived in China in 1998 and has since built a reputation as a leading cultural anthropologist and culinary historian.  

From 2013 to 2016, Mr. Rosenblum served as Executive Chef and Chief of Mission Residence Manager for two Ambassadors, Gary Locke and Max Baucus, and completed his first work on American culinary history, Foodways: An Anthology of American Cuisine, Vol 1: Heritage – All That Roams, in 2019. In January 2020, Mr. Rosenblum founded The River House on Guangzhou’s historic Shamian Island. A cultural venue focusing on preserving China’s vast legacy of culinary heritage through thoughtfully prepared menus, programs, and one of Asia’s largest curated selections of artisan tea, the space has received numerous awards. In 2021, Mr. Rosenblum joined China Merchants-Viking Cruises as Ambassador of Culinary Culture, creating the Yidun ship’s tea program under his boutique brand, Provenance Tea Company.  

For his work promoting sustainability and the protection of cultural heritage, Mr. Rosenblum’s work has been featured across numerous platforms and publications. He is a frequent contributor to popular television programs, often appearing on-camera as a commentator, and off-screen as consulting cultural anthropologist and food historian. In February 2023, The Wall Street Journal Magazine recognized Mr. Rosenblum with the 2022-2023 Creative Innovator Award, and in March 2024, Mr. Rosenblum was awarded 2023 Chef of The Year by Food & Wine Magazine.  

Mr. Rosenblum holds an MA in anthropology from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, a BA in East Asian studies from Cornell University, as well as a Grand Diplôme in Culinary Arts from the International Culinary Center in New York City. 

CAO Yu

culinary anthropologist; author

Cao Yu is a lecturer at Jinan University, where he researches diet, overseas Chinese, and immigration, as well as a writer and food anthropologist. The author of two books, The History of Chili Pepper in China and The History of Betelnut in China, and multiple journal pieces, Dr. Cao has also amassed a broad following on social media, where he writes a regular column about the intersection of food and migration on Sixthtone.com and posts videos to multiple platforms. 

Dr. Cao received his PhD in history from Jinan University in 2015. While a PhD candidate, he also studied at Ireland’s Maynooth University and the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2018, he completed post-doctoral work in Sun Yat-sen University’s department of anthropology. Cao Yu holds an M.A. in communications from Hong Kong Baptist University and a B.A. from Guangzhou University. 

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Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.

Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. 

DENG Feng

Founding General Partner, Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC)

Mr. Deng Feng is the founding general partner of Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC), a globally minded, tech-centric venture firm investing at the intersection of enterprise, healthcare, and consumer opportunities. To date, NLVC has backed over 400, mostly early-stage companies.

In 1997, Feng co-founded NetScreen Technologies, and served as its vice president of engineering, chief strategy officer and board member. NetScreen went public on NASDAQ in 2001 and was acquired by Juniper Networks in 2004 for $4 billion. From 2004 to 2005, Feng served as the vice president of corporate strategy at Juniper Networks. For his work at NetScreen/Juniper, Mr. Deng received an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award (2002) and a CRN Innovator of the Year award (2003). Prior to founding NetScreen, Feng worked at Intel Corp.

Mr. Deng serves on numerous corporate boards, including at Quantapore, Sentons, and Stellar Cyber.He holds a MBA from the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, an MS in computer engineering from the University of Southern California and an MS in electronic engineering from Tsinghua University. He also holds five U.S. patents in computer system architecture and IC design.

Ming HSIEH

Chairman & CEO, Fulgent Genetics  

Mr. Hsieh currently serves on the board of directors of Fortinet, Inc., a network security company traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Hsieh has served as a trustee at the University of Southern California since 2007 and at Fudan University in China since 2011. In 2015, Mr. Hsieh was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and, in 2017, to the National Academy of Inventors. 

He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both in electrical engineering, from the University of Southern California in 1983 and 1984, respectively, as well as honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California in 2010 and the University of West Virginia in 2011.  

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Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.

Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. 

Logan TOM

Vice President, Player Personnel, Pro Volleyball Federation; Head Coach, Maccabi Raanana

Vice president of player personnel and director of international strategy for the U.S. Pro Volleyball Federation, Logan Maile Lei Tom is a four-time Olympian – and two-time Olympic silver medalist, in 2008 and 2012 – who made history when she competed at the 2000 Sydney Games as the youngest woman, 19, ever selected for the U.S. woman’s indoor volleyball team. Concurrent to working for the Federation, Ms. Tom coaches Maccabi Raanana, a professional Israeli women’s team. She is no newcomer to Israel; from 2020 to 2022, she was head coach of Israel’s women’s national team.

As a collegiate player at Stanford University, Ms. Tom was a four-time, first-team All-American twice chosen as the National Player of the Year. Selected to three NCAA Final Four all-Tournament teams, including earning MVP honors in 2001 when Stanford won the national title, Ms. Tom was coached by many outstanding people throughout her career, including by the legendary Lang Ping 郎平, the U.S. women’s head coach at the 2008 Games. She was inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Ms. Tom’s paternal grandfather, Frank Tom (originally 譚, “Tam” in Cantonese), immigrated to Hawaii from China. Ms. Tom does not know his Chinese name: “He was always Tutu to me,” the Hawaiian word for grandparent, she says.

Ms. Tom received a master’s in homeland security and counterterrorism from Israel’s Reichman University and a bachelor’s in international relations from Stanford University.

YAO Ming

former President, Chinese Basketball Association

A former professional basketball player for the Chinese National Team and the NBA’s Houston Rockets, Yao Ming is one of the most iconic Chinese athletes on the global stage. An eight-time NBA All-Star, Mr. Yao was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. Mr. Yao was the President of the Chinese Basketball Association from 2017 to 2024. 

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Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.

Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. 

YANG Bin

Vice President & Provost, Tsinghua University

Yang Bin is vice president and provost of Tsinghua University, where he also serves as director of the Center for Leadership Studies, chairman of the Tsinghua University Education Foundation, and a management professor.  

He is also deputy chairman of the National Engineering Graduate Education Steering Committee and the secretary general of the National Business Administration Graduate Education Steering Committee.  

The recipient of numerous Beijing and national teaching awards, Dr. Yang developed and taught some of Tsinghua’s elite courses, including “Leadership and the Team” and “Critical Thinking and Moral Reasoning,” and MBA/EMBA courses such as “Management Thinking”, “Thinking, Decision and Leadership”, “Culture, Ethics and Leadership”, “Crisis Management” and “Introduction to Management.” His research interests include business and society, leadership theory and practice, non-market strategy, business ethics, and crisis management.  

Dr. Yang was admitted to Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management in 1987, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a PhD in management. 

Jeffrey LEHMAN

Vice Chancellor, NYU Shanghai

Jeffrey S. Lehman is the founding vice chancellor of NYU Shanghai, the first “Sino-American Joint University.” He had previously been president of Cornell University, dean of the University of Michigan Law School, and founding dean of the Peking University School of Transnational Law.

Mr. Lehman has been chair of the board of governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, and co-convener of the U.S.-China Trade Policy Working Group. He was a member of the American delegation to the China-U.S. Legal Experts Dialogue during President Obama’s administration.

His honors include the National Equal Justice Award from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., life membership in the American Law Institute, membership in the Council on Foreign Relations, and membership in the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He is an honorary citizen of Shanghai and a recipient of China’s Friendship Award. In 2018, China named him one of the forty “most influential foreign experts” during the country’s first forty years of “reform and opening up.”

Early in his career Mr. Lehman was a law clerk to Chief Judge Frank Coffin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and to Associate Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Alison FRIEDMAN

Executive & Artistic Director, Carolina Performing Arts

Alison M. Friedman is the James and Susan Moeser Executive and Artistic Director for Carolina Performing Arts (CPA) at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She took up this position in October 2021 after 20 years living and working in China. Prior to CPA, Ms. Friedman was Artistic Director of Performing Arts for the Hong Kong West Kowloon Cultural District, one of the world’s largest arts and cultural developments. Previously she founded and ran Ping Pong Productions, a US- and Beijing-registered cultural exchange organization that worked in more than 50 countries on five continents, producing works with and launching the careers of artists like TAO Dance Theater, director Wang Chong, and others.  

Ms. Friedman’s productions have toured Lincoln Center, Sydney Opera House, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, Shanghai International Arts Festival and other leading venues and festivals. She has served as international director of Beijing Modern Dance Company and general manager of Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun’s company, as well as a producer and host on Chinese national radio and television programs.  

Fluent in Mandarin, she was a 2002-03 Fulbright Scholar to China and a John F. Kennedy Center arts management fellow.  

LIU Tianchi

Professor, the Central Academy of Drama; Founder, Liu Tianchi Acting Workshop

Liu Tianchi is a professor at the Central Academy of Drama, as well as the founder of the Liu Tianchi Acting Workshop. Many students of Dr. Liu are active on stage, screen, and television, becoming beloved actors by the audience. Dr. Liu herself gained public recognition in 1993 for her role as Fengxia in Zhang Yimou’s award-winning film To Live. Other notable works include the TV series Parents’ Love and Snow Leopard. 

Dr. Liu received third prize at the 6th National Tao Li Cup and the Best Leading Role award at the 4th Academy Awards of the Central Academy of Drama. Since 2017, she has been a mentor for the iQIYI Swan Project and practical training camps, in addition to serving as a performance coach for various film and television productions. As a director, she has directed musicals, stage plays, and TV dramas, with many excellent works. She once played 15 roles alone in a Chinese New Year drama, which was a breakthrough in domestic drama performance. 

Dr. Liu graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 1995 and holds a PhD in Chinese Opera Studies from the Central Academy of Drama. She studied in Japan from 1995 to 1998.  

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Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.

Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. 

LI Yanying (Caroline)

Managing Director & Deputy Head of China Research, UBS 

Yanying (Caroline) Li is the deputy country head at UBS research. She is responsible for strategic direction and management oversight for the Greater China research team, including talent development, franchise building, client relationship, research operation and compliance. She is also the Head of Product overseeing Greater China Investment Review Committee. During her tenue, UBS Research has ranked No. 1 with Institutional Investor for 7 consecutive years.   

Previously Ms. Li was an equity research analyst at Goldman Sachs for 8 years, and China equity market expert at Bloomberg where she drove the terminal sales strategy. She also had corporate strategy and financial management positions at several Fortune 500 companies, an ASEAN conglomerate, and a Chinese startup.  

Ms. Li holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, and a BA from Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade. 

Cameron JOHNSON

Vice Chair, The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai; Senior Partner, Tidalwave Solutions; Adjunct Faculty Instructor, NYU Shanghai 

Based in Shanghai, Cameron Johnson is a China market and industry expert with more than 20 years of in-country experience in supply chains, manufacturing, and technology. He is currently Vice-Chair of the board at the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and is frequently sought out as an expert on U.S.-China trade and supply chain issues. His current and past clients include multi-national corporations in carbon fiber composites, automotive, software firms, personal protective equipment, and various high technology sectors. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, The Straits Times, and various other news outlets. A published author, his latest work, “Impacts of Digitalization on Traceability,” published by Wiley, reviews the digitalization impact on carbon fiber supply chains in Asia. Publications also include articles in Caixin, China Business Review, and China-US Focus. His work helping U.S. and other overseas buyers source personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic has been featured on the PBS series Frontline titled “America’s Medical Supply Crisis.” 

Mr. Johnson is a senior partner at Tidalwave Solutions, an Asia-focused consulting and HR firm, and head of APAC strategy for FAO Global. He is also currently a professor at the New York University School of Professional Studies at NYU’s Shanghai campus, teaching courses on leadership and project management. He previously served as the Asia general manager for a multinational carbon fiber company delivering a CAGR of 48% over 7 years, helped establish and manage logistics and export control compliance for sensitive products in Asia, and held numerous management roles at Microsoft China. 

Mr. Johnson has extensive relationships with business leaders and trade associations in China, Europe, and the United States. Besides being a Vice-Chair for AmCham Shanghai, he is a multi-year delegate as part of the Chamber’s “Door Knock” to Washington DC. 

Mr. Johnson received bachelor’s degrees in comparative religion and communications from the University of Washington (2002), and a graduate certification in management and corporate strategy from the University of Wales (UK, 2005). 

John OSBURG

Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology, University of Rochester  

John Osburg is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Rochester and a Fellow on Chinese Society at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. Since the late 1990s, he has spent several years living in China as either a student, teacher, or researcher.  

Dr. Osburg is the author of Anxious Wealth: Money and Morality among China’s New Rich (Stanford University Press 2013), which examines elite business networks in China and documents the changing values, lifestyles, and consumption habits of China’s new rich and new middle classes. In 2018, he was awarded an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship to support research examining the emergence of new forms of spirituality and religion among the Chinese middle class. Currently, he is completing a book tentatively titled Consuming Belief: Tibetan Buddhism and the Search for Meaning in Urban China. In addition to his book projects, Dr. Osburg has published articles on masculinity, consumer culture, corruption, and changing values in China.  

He received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Chinese Studies at Stanford University. From 2016-18 he was a Fellow of the Public Intellectuals Program at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. While conducting ethnographic field research in China, he briefly worked as the co-host of a variety show on a provincial television station. 

Roberta LIPSON

Chief Executive Officer, New Frontier Health; Founder, United Family Healthcare  

Roberta Lipson is the founder of United Family Healthcare (UFH) and Vice Chair of New Frontier Health, now China’s largest private pay healthcare network. With 40 years of experience as a pioneer in the healthcare industry in China, she originally co-founded United Family Healthcare’s predecessor company Chindex in 1981, expanding the business from China’s top medical equipment distributor into China’s first and largest foreign-invested healthcare system. UFH’s healthcare platform now includes 11 hospitals and 20+ clinics in China’s major cities.  The company has become the provider of choice for those seeking premium, personalized healthcare and has had a profound impact on the delivery of healthcare in China.  

Ms. Lipson is an active leader in the international community, with many years as director of the US China Business Council and currently Vice Chair of AMCHAM China. Ms. Lipson holds a BA in History from Brandeis University and an MBA from Columbia University.  

WU Tao

Founder, Chairman & Chief Scientist, DART Imaging Technology

A pioneering inventor and researcher of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), an advanced 3-D mammogram technology, Tao Wu founded DART Imaging Technology in 2017, using DBT technology to focus on early detection of breast cancer, reduce cancer mortality, and improve the quality of life.

Dr. Wu began contributing to DBT knowledge over two decades ago. He won the American Association of Physics in Medicine (AAPM) Young Investigator Award in 2003 for his DBT work, and the Sylvia Sorkin Greenfield Award for Best Paper published in Medical Physics in 2004. While at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Wu developed the world’s first DBT prototype and reconstruction algorithm, later acquired by the hospital’s Russell Museum of Medical History and Innovation. He also made pioneering contributions to the development of DBT’s clinical benefits. In 2005, Dr. Wu started working on the commercialization of DBT technology, leading to the first FDA-approved DBT product in 2011.

Dr. Wu serves on the Tomosynthesis and Mammography committees of the American Association n of Physicists in Medicine. He has also participated in the development of national standards for quality control for digital mammography and DBT in China.

Dr. Wu received B.S. in Physics from Beijing University in 1997, and Ph.D. in Physics from Brandeis University in 2002. He completed his Ph.D. thesis on digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School, and continued working there as a postdoctoral lecturer and instructor in Radiology.

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Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.

Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. 

LI Cheng

Professor of Political Science & Founding Director, Center on Contemporary China and the World (CCCW), University of Hong Kong

Li Cheng, Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong and the founding director of the Center for Contemporary China and the World. He went to the United States for studies in 1985 and earned a Master’s degree in Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Princeton University. In 2006, he joined the Brookings Institution and, in 2014, became the first Chinese-American Director of the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings, leading one of the top U.S. teams focused on China studies. He also serves as a board member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Committee of 100, an elite organization of prominent Chinese-Americans. He has also served as Vice President of the Committee of 100. 

Amy CELICO

partner, Albright Stonebridge Group

Amy Celico is a partner of Albright Stonebridge Group – Dentons Global Advisors (ASG) and leads the firm’s China team in Washington, D.C. With over 25 years of experience working on China issues, Ms. Celico helps clients develop and implement strategies to deepen relationships with stakeholders, resolve complex problems, and expand their business in the China market. Prior to ASG, she served as senior director for China affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; deputy director of the Office of the Chinese Economic Area at the Department of Commerce; and as a diplomat in Beijing and Shanghai with the Departments of State and Commerce.

Ms. Celico earned a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She a director of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

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Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.

Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. 

Pamela LEONARD

Director, China Folk House Retreat 

Pamela Leonard is co-founder of the China Folk House, a project that in 2016 moved a house threatened by dam construction on the Mekong River in Yunnan to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where it now has been rebuilt as a place for experiential learning, people-to-people exchange, environmental stewardship, and community engagement. In 2023, she helped lead China Folk House’s first student tour to China, a four-week program ln Beijing, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Hong Kong with 28 high school and college students. 

Dr. Leonard holds a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Cambridge and is a former adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research, including fieldwork in rural Sichuan (1991-1993) in collaboration with Heifer Project International’s livestock development program, focused on social and economic change in the Chinese countryside as it relates to ecological issues.  

From 2014 to 2017 she helped lead the Sidwell Friends School China Fieldwork Semester in Yunnan where high students apprenticed with local craft masters, studied local ecology, and completed interdisciplinary projects.  

YUAN Ming

Honorary Dean, Yenching Academy of Peking University

Yuan Ming is a renowned Chinese scholar in international relations currently serving as an Honorary Dean of the Yenching Academy and a professor at the School of International Studies, Peking University, where she teaches the history of international relations and Western classics of international relations. 

Dr. Yuan was originally trained as a student of western language and literature at Peking University. Prior to her graduate work, she spent eight years in the rural areas in Northwest China. China’s Reform and Open Door policy allowed her to do her graduate work in the Law Department of Peking University and then to visit distinguished institutions abroad. She was a visiting scholar at U.C. Berkeley from 1983 to 1985 and a senior associate member at the St. Antony’s College in Oxford University from 1989 to 1990. 

In 1995, she performed research at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Her publications include Cross Century Assignment: the International Relations Studies in China and A History of International Relations (1648-1989), which is one of the leading publications and textbooks in China. She is also the co-editor of Sino-American Relations (1945-1955). 

Dr. Yuan has organized many globally significant academic symposia on Sino- American relations and international relations in China and has wide links in Asia, North America, Europe and Oceania.  

Dr. Yuan was a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference from 1998 to 2012, and was also a member of its Foreign Relations Committee. She sits on the boards of a number of institutions in China, and is an active contributor to cultural and international exchange between China and the rest of the world. She was a trustee of the Asia Society in New York from 1998 to 2004. She joined the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in 2004, and the Board of the United Nations Foundation in 2007. At the invitation of the Hong Kong SAR government, Dr. Yuan served as a member of its University Grant Committee from 2008 to 2014. Since 2014, she has been a member of the Duke Kunshan University International Advisory Group. 

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Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.

Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. 

XU Tao

Founder, podcast studio ShengFM; producer & host, ETW.fm

Xu Tao, a seasoned journalist with over a decade of experience and a proficient podcaster, is the founder of the podcast studio ShengFM (声动活泼). Her career includes positions such as Associate Chief Editor at CBNweekly and Editorial Director at 36Kr. 

Since 2019, in addition to producing ETW, she has launched several other shows, including “What’s Next” and “ShengFM Morning Brew,” among others. Many of these programs have been acknowledged by Apple China as the Best of the Year. 

Paul ASHTON

Founder, qamp Consulting; content creator 

Paul Mike Ashton provides entertainment and tourism consultation and education. As a content creator and key opinion leader (KOL), Mr. Ashton commands an audience of over 1.5 million fans across seven different platforms, and entertains as a comedian, improviser and host offline.

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Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.

Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure.