Programme

Bob Davis is a senior editor or the Wall Street Journal who economic and other issues in the 2016 presidential campaign. From 2011 through 2014, he covered the Chinese economy from Beijing – and still misses China despite the pollution. He and his wife, Debra Bruno are writing a book on their experiences in the country, which will be published by the Journal. Until Oct. 2011, he was international economics correspondent in Washington DC. From 2004 to 2007, he was the Journal's Latin America bureau chief. From 2002-2004, Mr. Davis was the Washington DC news editor responsible for coverage of economic policy making. In 2001 and 2002 he was the Wall Street Journal's Brussels bureau chief. In 2000, he was awarded the Raymond Clapper award for Washington reporting for coverage of the White House negotiations with China over the World Trade Organization. A year earlier, he was part of a team of Journal reporters that won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for coverage of the Asian and Russian financial crisis. In 1998, he co-authored "Prosperity," which was selected by Business Week as one of the year's 10 best business books.

Dr. Xiang Bing is the Founding Dean and a Professor of Chinese Business and Globalization at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), a leading business school in China. Established in November 2002, CKGSB is China’s first privately funded and faculty-governed business school. Dr. Xiang’s research interests include the relationship between state and business, the reform of state-owned enterprises, innovation and the role of the private sector in China. He is a leading authority on Chinese business, innovations in China, the globalization of Chinese companies and the global implications of the transformation of China. His writings and cases on these subjects are considered among the most influential in China. He is an independent board member of a number of companies listed in Hong Kong, mainland China and the US. He also serves as a member of the boards of trustees for The United Way Worldwide (US) and for Asia House (UK), as well as a member of the International Advisory Council of FDC business school in Brazil. He has worked with many leading companies to offer consulting and training in China and globally. These companies include China Mobile, China Telecom, Huawei Technologies, TCL, Midea, Petro China, CNOOC, IBM (China), GE (China), Siemens (China), Goldman Sachs (Asia), Clifford Chance, Cummins, DFS, Lenovo, Bank of China and China Railway Construction Corporation.

Based in China since 1986, Jonathan has been instrumental in establishing and growing McKinsey’s presence in China. In addition to his work helping Chinese and other Asian businesses prepare for global growth, Jonathan is responsible for convening the Firm's work with city and regional authorities in more than 40 geographies around the world. He leads McKinsey’s Cities Special Initiative and co-chairs the non-profit think tank Urban China Initiative—a collaborative project of Columbia University, Tsinghua University, and McKinsey & Company—that aims to develop and implement solutions to China’s urbanization challenge. An expert on energy, sustainability, and economic master planning, Jonathan’s public sector work is extensive. He has conducted more than 60 projects for local governments throughout China to support economic development and transformation. He actively serves urban authorities in the Middle East, Russia and North America on economic master planning and performance improvement. Jonathan works in the private sector as well, most often on topics related to corporate strategy, operations, and organization. Jonathan lectures at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Business and the China-Europe International Business School. Published widely in both Chinese and international publications, Jonathan has written five books on China. He currently has 3 Amazon international business bestsellers.

Ivan Glasenberg joined Glencore in 1984 and has been Chief Executive Officer since January 2002. He initially spent three years working in the coal/commodity department in South Africa as a marketer, before spending two years in Australia as head of the Asian coal/coke commodity division. Between 1988 and 1989 he was based in Hong Kong as manager and head of Glencore’s Hong Kong and Beijing offices, as well as head of coal marketing in Asia, where his responsibilities included overseeing the Asian coal marketing business of Glencore and managing the administrative functions of the Hong Kong and Beijing offices. In January 1990, he was made responsible for the worldwide coal business of Glencore for both marketing and industrial assets, and remained in this role until he became Chief Executive Officer in January 2002. Mr Glasenberg is a Chartered Accountant of South Africa and holds a Bachelor of Accountancy from the University of Witwatersrand. Mr Glasenberg also holds an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is currently a non-executive director of United Company Rusal plc. Before joining Glencore he worked for five years at Levitt Kirson Chartered Accountants in South Africa.

Mr Rudd served as Australia’s 26th Prime Minister (2007-2010, 2013) and as Foreign Minister (2010- 2012). He led Australia’s response during the Global Financial Crisis, reviewed by the IMF as the most effective stimulus strategy of all member states, and helped found the G20. Mr. Rudd was a driving force in expanding the East Asia Summit to include both the US and Russia in 2010, and initiated the concept of transforming the EAS into a wider Asia Pacific Community. Mr. Rudd drove Australia’s successful bid for its non-permanent seat on the United Nation’s Security Council for 2012-14. Mr. Rudd joined the Asia Society Policy Institute as its inaugural President in January 2015. ASPI is a "think-do tank" dedicated to using second track diplomacy to assist governments and businesses in resolving policy challenges within Asia, and between Asia and the West. He is Chair of the Independent Commission on Multilateralism where he is leading a review of the UN system over the 2015-16 period. Mr. Rudd is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School where in 2014 he completed a major policy paper on "Alternative Futures for US-China Relations." He is a Distinguished Fellow at Chatham House, a Distinguished Statesman with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a Distinguished Fellow at the Paulson Institute. Mr. Rudd is a member of the Comprehensive Test Ban Organization's Group of Eminent Persons. He is proficient in Mandarin Chinese, serves as a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, and co-Chairs the World Economic Forum’s China Council.

Founder and General Director of the Cityads Group, since its foundation in 2011. He is responsible for the company’s global operations in different parts of the world, overseeing the company’s strategic development, as well as the company’s M&A transactions. Previously, he was the Co-Founder of venture capital funds with the volume totaling more than USD 200 million in funds under management. All funds were organized on a public-private partnership basis, with financial participation from Russian Federation subjects, state corporations of OJSC RBC and private investors. Graduated and awarded the designation Distinction from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology State University (MIPT) in 2005; holds a Ph.D. in Economics.

Dr Andy Xie is Shanghai-based independent economist specialising in China and Asia. He is currently director of Rosetta Stone Advisors. He is also a guest columnist for the South China Morning Post and Century Weekly. Dr Xie is one of the few economists who has accurately predicted economic bubbles including the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and the more recent subprime meltdown in the United States. He joined Morgan Stanley in 1997 and was Managing Director and Head of the firm’s Asia/Pacific economics team until 2006. Prior to that he spent two years with Macquarie Bank in Singapore, where he was an associate director in corporate finance. He also spent five years as an economist with the World Bank. Dr Xie earned a PhD in economics in 1990 and an MS in civil engineering in 1987 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Maxim Sokov joined En+ Group as first deputy CEO in July 2013. Mr. Sokov is in charge of managing En+ investment portfolio, creating partnerships to develop Group’s investment projects as well as overseeing the development and introduction of cost reduction programs and production system in the Group’s companies. In 2004–2013 Mr. Sokov served as Director for Strategic Investments Management, Director for Corporate Strategy, Director for Management of Investment to Norilsk Nickel, Head of the Department for Strategic Projects, Head of the Department of Mergers and Acquisitions at UC RUSAL. In 2002–2004 Mr. Sokov worked as a lawyer for the Moscow Representative Office of Herbert Smith CIS Legal Services. Maxim Sokov graduated with honors from the Russian State Tax Academy under the Russian Ministry of Taxes, majoring in Law. He also holds a Master's degree from New York University School of Law.

Xinli Zheng, born in 1945, is a well-known economist in China, serving as the executive director of the China Association of Policy Science (CAPS), vice president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), and director of the Chinese Industrial Economic Association. He was the deputy director of Policy Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CCCPC). Xinli has long been engaged in the research of economic theory and policy. He participated in drafting a series of important governmental documents. He has published a series of important papers in a host of influential Chinese journals such as People’s Daily and Qiushi Journal. He has also published dozens of Monographs including. Xinli keeps on adapting his thoughts to changing reality. He has conducted a lot of valuable theoretic research in and made enlightening policy suggestions on China’s macroeconomic regulations and controls after the reform and opening-up, mid-and long-term development strategy, and key economic policies, as shown in his publications. His research in and suggestions on the issues of optimizing and upgrading industrial structure, promoting domestic demand, and transforming the economic development mode are of great insight and foresight. After the Asian Financial Crisis in 1998, he put forward a proposal of issuing long-term national development bonds. The proposal was accepted by the State Council and greatly improved China’s economic situation subsequently. In 2013, he made an influential recommendation on initiating the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which was approved by the central government. The establishment of the AIIB is now under way.

Denis Shulakov is the First Vice-President of Gazprombank since September 2012, in charge of capital markets across international and domestic debt, equity and equity-linked products as well as trading, brokerage and market research. Over the last 3 years Gazprombank has established itself within top 5 bookrunners for Russian eurobonds and #1 bonds arranger in Russian Oil&Gas and Energy industries (Gazprom, Gazpromneft, Novatek, Rosneft, Sibur, Federal Grid mandates executed). Prior to joining Gazprombank Denis worked as a Managing Director of Barclays in London (2003-2012) heading Russian investment banking and lately CIS public sector. During this time, Barclays became the #1 bookrunner for Russian Eurobonds (2010) and was among top-3 bookrunners for a number of consecutive years. Denis managed over 70 eurobond placements and liability management mandates for largest Russian and CIS clients, including re-entry of the Russian Federation in theEurobond market in 2010, debut international debt offerings of Vhesheconombank, Russian Development Bank and Russian Railways, numerous eurobond issues for Lukoil including USD1.5bn convertible bonds in 2010, loan portfolio restructuring of Rosneft with USD7.5bn pre-IPO bridge financing, IPO and debut eurobonds, rating advisory, positioning of Ukrainian Railways for international debt issue and many others.

Mr. Yang Xiyu, Senior Fellow at China Institutes of International Studies, and also Executive Vice President at Institute of Boao Forum for Asia. Before he moved to CIIS in 2008, he was 2006-2007 Pantech Fellow at Stanford University. He served founding Director of the Office on Korean Peninsula Issues in Chinese Foreign Ministry between 2004 and 2005, during which he was heavily involved in the Six Party Talks, and drafted the "9.19 Joint Statement" that is the commonly accepted by all the parties as guidance for denuclearization on the Peninsula. He also took part in the Four Party Talks between 1996 through 1998, as Representative for China at the Working Level Meeting of the Four Party Talks in New York, and Assistant to the Head of Chinese delegation at the Four Party Talks in Geneva. He worked in Chinese Embassy in the US, and The Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations as First Secretary, and Councilor between 1994 through 1998, and 2002 to 2003 respectively. He was recipient for China State Council's Award for Distinguished Contribution to Social Science Studies.