Speakers

Markus J. Beyrer has been Director General of BusinessEurope since late 2012. Prior to this he held the positions of CEO of the Austrian Industry Holding ÖIAG, Director General of the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) and Director for Economic Affairs of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.

Before this Mr Beyrer served as Chief Economic Advisor to the Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel.

In addition to his executive positions, Mr Beyrer held a number of non-executive board functions in various Austrian industrial companies and was a member of the non-executive board of the Austrian Central Bank.

Mr Beyrer read Law and Commercial Sciences in Vienna, graduating in law at the University of Vienna. Later he completed postgraduate studies in European Law at the Danube University in Krems (Austria) and the Stanford Executive Program at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

Charles Brand is Executive Vice President, Product Management & Commercial Operations, Tetra Pak Group. He assumed this position in January 2015. Charles joined Tetra Pak in 1985 as an Electronics Development Engineer in the Automation department of the company’s R&D organisation. In 1992 he was named Vice President R&D Tetra Rex Packaging Systems and was appointed Managing Director, Tetra Pak Flexible Packaging Systems in 1994. Since then he has held several senior management positions including Managing Director Tetra Pak Taiwan, Cluster Leader responsible for Marketing & Product Management, China and Taiwan. From 2010 to 2014 Charles was Vice President Marketing & Product Management in Lausanne, Switzerland, responsible for managing the company’s worldwide marketing activities and the development and deployment of its product portfolio.

Yongping Chen, Deputy Managing Director and Auto Business Director of BYD Europe BV in Rotterdam for the entire Pan-Europe (including Turkey and Isreal). He graduated from the Rotterdam School of Management of Erasmus University with a PhD degree in 2001, and joined BYD Europe BV in 2004 as a sales manager of battery and electric passenger cars. From then onward, he was appointed as a General Manager in BYD electronics in Hungary and Romania (2006-2008), and BYD Electronics India for 3 months in 2010. Now his main focus is on e-bus business for Europe.

A seasoned executive with global experience in human capital and financial management, Ettling leads the HR line of business, which includes the leading cloud solutions from SuccessFactors, an SAP company, and the SAP® ERP Human Capital Management solution. In this capacity, Ettling oversees the more than 17,000 customers worldwide that use them. He reports to Robert Enslin, member of the SAP Executive Board and president of Global Customer Operations for SAP.

Ettling is the former chief executive for NGA Human Resources, a multimillion global HR and payroll services provider. At NGA, Ettling managed relationships with leading HR technology companies and successfully guided many of the world’s largest companies in finding HR solutions that fit their business needs.

Ettling was recently named to the HRO Today 2014 Superstars list, which recognizes the top leaders of HR annually. He was awarded the ‘Global Thought Leader of the Year 2012’ by the HROA recognizing his innovative contribution and influence around HR transformation and the HRO industry as a whole.

Ettling’s early career began in his native South Africa. He holds a Masters in Finance from the London Business School, UK, is a graduate of the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and a member of the South African and English Institutes of Chartered Accountants.

Born in 1960, Mr. HeLian Ming Li worked as Vice Factory Director of Xi’an 113 Factory from 1982 to 2000. From 2000-2007, he work for Xi’an Far East Company as Vice General Manager.

He graduated from Hong Kong Polytech University with degree of MBA.

With 27 years of experience at Procter & Gamble in Brand Management and Innovation, Virginie is one of the most senior marketing leaders at P&G with a broad experience across multiple categories and global to local brand management expertise. She has international experience (France, UK, Switzerland and United States). Prior to her current position, she was the Western Europe Franchise Leader for Ariel, one of P&G largest (billion dollar) brands. In July 2012, she was nominated to the newly created position of Global Sustainability Brand Director, working across all P&G business units and regions. Her mission is to embed sustainability into the innovation, brand-building and everyday business practices at P&G. She is a catalyst for sustainable product and business model innovation, as well as culture change.

Since 2008, Mr. Jie He has been served as general manager of China Telecom (Germany) limited with dedicated contribution to set up and enforce the business development of China Telecom in German market. He has more than 10 year telecommunication experience and insights also with his previous roles with T-systems Germany and Huawei Germany. He holds the telecommunication master degree from Technical university of Darmstadt (TUD).

Spencer Lake was appointed Global Head of Capital Financing with effect from 12 August 2013. Capital Financing houses the primary products, such as Debt Capital Markets and Equity Capital Markets, of Global Banking and Markets. Spencer was previously Co-Head of Global Markets with effect from 1 January 2011. Global Markets housed the bank’s fixed income, commodities and equity activities across sales, trading, origination and research.

Spencer joined HSBC in 2006 as Global Head of Debt Capital Markets and Acquisition Finance. He was also jointly responsible for HSBC’s Government Sector.

Prior to joining HSBC, Spencer had a 17 year career with Merrill Lynch in New York, Hong Kong, and London across a number of areas including real estate finance, investment banking, and debt capital markets. During his career at Merrill, Spencer ran Asian debt origination, started and managed European Public Sector origination, managed European Emerging Markets asset and liability origination, European financing and risk management, and prior to his departure, ran liability origination in the Pacific Rim (Japan, Asia-Pacific and Australasia). Before Merrill Lynch, Spencer worked for two years at JP Morgan in real estate investment banking.

Spencer holds a B.A. in International Finance and Marketing from Suffolk University, Massachusetts and an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Dr. Li currently serves as CTO of Products and Solutions at Huawei. Prior to this, Dr. Li served as CTO at Carrier Network Business Group, IT product line and Core Network product line respectively, as well as the president of Data Center & Media Network business unit. Before joining Huawei in 2009, Dr. Li held several senior leadership roles and served as a full-tenured professor at ECE department, University of Texas, Austin in US. He co-founded high-tech companies such as GaoHong Telecommunication Technology Inc. in China (acquired by Datang Telecom Group in 2000) and Santera Systems Inc. in US (acquired by Tekelec in 2003) and also co-led and architected original spin off of Santera Softswitch to form Spatial Wireless (acquired by Alcatel in 2004). In 2003-2007 he served as CTO at Tekelec. In his distinguished career, Dr. Li provided technical consulting services to companies like Cisco, AT&T, Verizon, KT, Samsung and served on the advisory boards of several high-tech startups. Dr. Li had 25 patents filed/granted and over 160 papers published in international academic archival journals and best-in-class refereed international conference proceedings. Over 20 Ph.D. students graduated under his supervision.

Emma Marcegaglia has been President of BusinessEurope since July 2013.

Ms Marcegaglia is Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Marcegaglia S.p.A., which is a leading group in steel processing, and of its controlled companies.

Chairman of ENI since 8 May 2014.

President of Confindustria from May 2008 until May 2012.

President of Luiss Guido Carli University since July 2010.

Furthermore, she is the President of Mita Resort, the company in charge of running the Forte Village touristic resort in Santa Margherita of Pula (Cagliari). She is also in the Board of Directors of the following companies: Bracco and Gabetti Property Solutions.

Dr. Bernd Montag is the CEO of Siemens Healthcare GmbH. Prior to his appointment in February 2015 he was Division CEO Imaging & Therapy Systems of the Siemens Healthcare Sector.

Dr. Montag has a doctorate in theoretical physics from the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. He started his career with Siemens Healthcare (formerly Siemens Medical Solutions) in 1995 where he worked in numerous positions including product manager, marketing manager, head of the CT Business Unit and Division CEO Imaging & IT.

Qiao Baoping acts as Chairman and the Secretary of Party, China Guodian Corporation. Mr Qiao is a representative of the 18^th China Communist Party Conference. Prior to China Guodian Corporation, Mr Qiao successively served as Leader of Discipline Supervision of China Power Investment Corporation, Director of United Front Work Department at State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Committee Member of China Communist Youth League, and Secretary of Youth League Working Committee of State-owned Companies.

Mr Qiao started his career in 1973. He is certified as senior economist, graduated from Nankai University and majoring in Political Economy.

Lord Sassoon, Kt is Chairman of the China-Britain Business Council and President of the EU-China Business Association.

James began his career at KPMG, before joining SG Warburg (later UBS Warburg) in 1985, where he became a Managing Director and Head of the investment bank’s industry sector teams and global privatisation business.

He joined the Treasury Board in 2002 as a Civil Servant, where he had responsibility for Financial Services and Enterprise Policy.  Between 2007 and 2010, he chaired the Financial Action Task Force and, acting as an Adviser to the then Shadow Chancellor, he conducted The Tripartite Review of the United Kingdom’s system of financial regulation. 

From May 2010 to January 2013, he was the first Commercial Secretary to the Treasury in the United Kingdom, and acted as the Government’s Front Bench Treasury spokesman in the House of Lords.  During his banking and government career, he had a consistent focus on international business, particularly relating to Asia; he has participated in each round of the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue since 2002.

In 2013 he became an Executive Director of Jardine Matheson Holdings.  He is also a member of the Global Advisory Board of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

James was knighted in 2007 and joined the House of Lords in 2010.

He was born in London in 1955 and educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics.  He is a trustee of the British Museum and a former trustee of the National Gallery Trust.

Dr. Rudolf Staudigl studied chemistry at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, obtaining his Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat) in 1981.

After post-doctoral research at Harvard University (Cambridge, USA) and Ludwig Maximilian University, he joined Wacker Siltronic AG in 1983. Rudolf Staudigl became Vice President of Operations at Wacker Siltronic Corporation (Portland, Oregon, USA) in 1989 and President a year later. He joined the Executive Board of Wacker Siltronic AG in 1993.

In 1995, Rudolf Staudigl was appointed to Wacker Chemie GmbH’s Executive Board. Since 2005, he has been an Executive Board member of Wacker Chemie AG.

In May 2008, Rudolf Staudigl was appointed President & CEO of the Executive Board of Wacker Chemie AG.

Kevin Taylor is responsible for BT Global Services’ business and operations across the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa & Turkey and Eastern Mediterranean region. In this role he is a member of the BTGS global leadership team.

Kevin joined BT as Vice President – Global Solutions in December 2003. In that role, he was responsible for the delivery and management of the portfolio of IP infrastructure/WAN, mobility, CRM, conferencing, security, outsourcing and other products, services and solutions BT offered customers across the Asia Pacific region.

The wealth of experience Kevin gained through years of building businesses and architecting outsourcing deals has proved invaluable in his current role at BT Asia Pacific. Kevin was appointed Managing Director of BT Asia Pacific in May 2009.

Immediately before joining BT, he had been Regional Vice President and General Manager – Asia Pacific at the Canadian logistics company, Descartes Systems.

Mr. TIAN joined Bank of China in April 2013, and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors since May 2013. Mr. TIAN has been serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors and a Non-executive Director of BOCHK (Holdings) since June 2013. From December 2010 to April 2013, Mr. TIAN served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Manager of China CITIC Group. During this period, he also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Non-executive Director of China CITIC Bank. From April 1999 to December 2010, Mr. TIAN successively served as Vice President and President of China Cinda Asset Management Company, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of China Cinda Asset Management Corporation Limited. From July 1983 to April 1999, Mr. TIAN held various positions in China Construction Bank (“CCB”), including subbranch general manager, deputy branch general manager, department general manager of the CCB Head Office, and Executive Assistant President of CCB. Mr. TIAN received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Hubei Institute of Finance and Economics in 1983.

Sam, an Australian citizen, joined Rio Tinto in 1991, following 20 years in the automotive industry at General Motors and Nissan Australia. He has held a number of management positions during his career at Rio Tinto including chief executive of the Aluminium group from 2001 to 2004, chief executive of the Iron Ore group from 2004 to 2009 and chief executive, Iron Ore and Australia from 2009 to 2013. Sam is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Academy of Technical Science and Engineering. In 2010, he was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia.

WU Xiaohui, male, was born in October 1966. He graduated from National University of Singapore with a major in Public Administration, and was a visiting scholar at Harvard University. He served as Head of the Preparatory Group of Anbang Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Ltd., as Vice Chairman and CEO of Anbang Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Ltd., and as Vice Chairman and CEO of Anbang Insurance Group Co., Ltd.. He is currently the Board Chairman and CEO of Anbang Insurance Group Co., Ltd. as well as Deputy Director of the Insurance Association of China.

Jörg Wuttke is Vice President and Chief Representative of BASF China, based in Beijing. Since joining BASF in 1997, Mr. Wuttke has been responsible for helping guide the company’s investment strategies for China, negotiation of large projects and government relations. (BASF Greater China’s sales in 2014 were €5.5 billion)
Previous to joining BASF, Mr. Wuttke worked with ABB for 11 years; in fact his first professional encounter with China was in 1988 as the Finance and Administration Manager of ABB Beijing. In 1990, he returned to Germany as Sales Manager of ABB Power Plants Division, responsible for gas turbine sales to Africa and Russia. In 1993, he became Chief Representative ABB China in Shanghai and in 1994 moved to the President’s Office of ABB China in Beijing, where he was responsible for the development and financing of large projects.
From 2001 to 2004 Mr. Wuttke was the Chairman of the German Chamber of Commerce in China. From 2007 to 2010, and again since April 2014 he is the President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.
In January 2011 the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC), a Paris based body of major business associations that lobbies the OECD, named Mr. Wuttke to become Chairman of the BIAC China Task Force.
Since its establishment in 2013, Mr. Wuttke is member of the Advisory Board of Germany’s foremost Think Tank on China, Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), in Berlin.
Since July 2013, Mr. Wuttke is Vice Chairman of the CPCIF International Cooperation Committee, a group representing Multinational Companies in China’s Chemical Association.
Mr. Wuttke is a Rotarian and a member of the European Bahai Business Foundation.
Mr. Wuttke holds a BA in Business Administration and Economics from Mannheim and studied Chinese in Shanghai 1982 and Taipei 1984-85. A frequent speaker on business and industry issues in China, he co-authored:
“The Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry in China” by Springer Publishing Trust in 2005;
“Energy Resources Security” by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in 2006;
“The Handbook of Chinese Organizational Behavior: Integrating Theory, Research, and Practice” By Edgar Elgar Publishing in May 2012.
In 2008, he is featured in the book “My 30 years in China” as one of 13 prominent expatriates in China.

Mr. Yang Guang, is an executive Director and the chairman of the Board of Guodian Technology & Environment Group Corporation Limited. Mr. Yang received a bachelor’s degree in power plant hydraulic power from Chongqing University in July 1985. He is a Senior Engineer. Mr. Yang joined Guodian Group on January 6, 2005. Mr. Yang previously served successively as designing chief engineer, deputy director and director of engineering division of South West Electric Power Design Institute; deputy chief engineer and director of project division of South West Electric Power Design Institute; deputy director and director of economic and trade division of international department of the State Power Corporation; deputy head of engineering and construction department, head of international cooperation and overseas business department, and head of sci-tech and comprehensive business department of Guodian Group. Mr. Yang has rich experience in the sci-tech energy field as he has been participated in this industry for over 30 years.

Fraser Cameron is Director of the EU-Asia Centre in Brussels. He is a former European Commission official and well known policy analyst and commentator on EU and international affairs.  He is visiting professor at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, the universities of St Andrews, Auckland and Hawaii, and Senior Advisor to the European Policy Centre. Dr Cameron was educated at the Universities of St Andrews (MA) and Cambridge (PhD). He was a Research Fellow at the University of Hamburg (1973-74) and a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Kent (1974-75). From 1975 89, he was a member of the British Diplomatic Service. He joined the European Commission in 1990, as an advisor in external relations, and was Political Counsellor in the EU delegation in Washington DC from 1999-2001. Dr Cameron has lectured widely to business, academic and media audiences around the world. He is the author of several books and articles on the EU and foreign policy.

Shada Islam is responsible for policy oversight of Friends of Europe’s initiatives, activities and publications. She has special responsibility for the Asia Programme and for the Development Policy Forum. Shada is the former Europe correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review and has previously worked on Asian issues at the European Policy Centre. She is closely involved with initiatives to promote Asia-Europe exchanges including within the context of ASEM (Asia Europe Meetings). As a journalist, Shada also worked extensively on development questions including relations between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states as well as on world trade, including the Doha Round. Shada continues to write on EU foreign and security policy, EU-Asia relations and trade and development issues for leading Asian, European and international publications.

Stephen Phillips joined the China- Britain Business Council as Chief Executive in 2006 and at the same time became Chairman of EUCBA.  He has been actively engaged in business in and with China since 1989 and his experience spans a number of sectors including aerospace, oil, gas and petrochemicals, infrastructure, ICT and financial services.

Stephen held senior investment banking positions with Deutsche and BZW/Barclays Capital in Asia for over 10 years, where he specialised in structuring and financing cross border investments totalling in excess of £20 billion.  In China, Stephen worked with a wide range of multinational and Chinese enterprises on major projects, acquisitions and joint ventures.

Stephen was then Managing Director and co-founder of iBridge Capital, a group of companies providing IT solutions and financial and business consulting services throughout Asia and the Middle East.  Before joining CBBC Stephen was International Trade Director, UK Trade & Investment based in the South West England.

Prior to moving to Asia in 1989, Stephen worked for the Barclays Group in the UK and Botswana.  He holds a BSc in Chemistry and Law from the University of Exeter.