Women’s
Conference

Amantia Muhedini is a Sustainable Investing (SI) Strategist in the Chief Investment Office, Global Wealth Management. Prior to UBS, Amantia was a sustainable investing fellow with Morgan Stanley’s Investing with Impact team focusing onimpact measurement and product development. She also spent time at Working Capital – the Supply Chain Innovation Fund conducting impact and commercial due diligence on potential investments. Amantia previously was an Investments Associate at the Omidyar Group’s Humanity United addressing forced labor in global corporate supply chains. She is also a member of the Governance Council of United World Colleges International (UWC), a global education organization, and was a founding board member and acting Executive Director for UWC Albania, an education non-profit based in Albania. Amantia holds a BA from Princeton University and a MPA from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

Professor Amy Chua is the John M. Duff Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Professor Chua graduated from Harvard College in 1984 and Harvard Law School in 1987. While at Harvard Law School, Professor Chua was the first Asian American executive editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating, Professor Chua practiced for four years with the Wall Street firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, where she worked on international transactions throughout Asia and Latin America. She joined the Yale Law School faculty in 2001. Professor Chua is also the author of World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, as well as her 2011 memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, a runaway international bestseller translated into over 30 languages. In 2011, she was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Angie is a senior consulting partner at Deloitte China, currently on secondment to Deloitte US to support clients on complex cross-border business transformations.  She has over 20 years of management consulting experience across North America, Europe and Asia.  Angie’s expertise spans across operations strategy, cost optimization, technology-enabled transformations, mergers & acquisitions, and BPO advisory.   She current serves as the Global Lead Consulting Partner across several priority-tiered High Tech clients.  Since 1999, her clients served have realized over $1 billion in in financial and operational benefits.

Prior to Deloitte, Angie worked for Ernst & Young (Principal) and Accenture (Managing Director).

As a global executive, Angie is trilingual, as she was born in Taiwan, grew up in Puerto Rico, and recently relocated from Shanghai to NYC.

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Anla Cheng is the Founder and CEO of SupChina, an independent digital China news, business, events, consulting marketplace platform and podcasts with social media/website. We inform and connect a global audience regarding the business, technology, politics, culture and society of China. Prior to this, Ms. Cheng ran a Family Office of Asian Hedge Fund of Funds. Centenium Capital. Her career included work as Asia Head, SVP at Robert Fleming, (bought out by JP Morgan). Her career began at Goldman Sachs, then Citi where she was a Pacific Basin analyst, then became an Asian Portfolio Manager for both Institutional and Private Wealth Group. Ms. Cheng received her MBA from the Wharton Graduate School of Business. She is a Trustee of the following Boards: Vice-Chair of China/US at TNC (The Nature Conservancy); Facing History and Ourselves(past Chair of China Project); Vice-Chair at China Institute; and past Trustee and current member of Committee 100. Ms. Cheng is also China/ Global Council Member of Brookings and a Member of NCUSCR and Columbia University's China Global Center. SupChina/Sinica (podcasts) have received multiple awards from Asia Society; China Institute; the New York Chinese Cultural Center; Ascend; and The Chinese Cultural Foundation. Ms. Cheng has spoken at multiple venues and magazines including, Milken Institute Singapore/ Abu Dhabi; keynote at The Economist, London; Columbia University; NYU; Committee 100, China Institute; NCUSR; Leaders Magazine to name a few.

Anna Ashton is Senior Fellow for Asia Pacific Trade, Investment, and Innovation at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Her research focuses on the United States and China’s respective economic engagement in the region and implications for the U.S.-China bilateral relationship, as well as U.S. policy more broadly.  

Prior to joining ASPI, Anna led the U.S. China Business Council’s government affairs work, developing and implementing advocacy on behalf of member companies and representing the Council in engagements with the policy community and the public. Anna began her career as an intelligence officer for the Department of Defense, analyzing and briefing officials on strategic China issues. She later worked for her home state of Arkansas to recruit Chinese investment, and also spent several years analyzing trade and investment issues for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Anna holds a JD from Georgetown Law, an MA in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a BA in Chinese Studies from Wellesley College. She serves on the Congressional Circle for the U.S.-Asia Institute and is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the Trade Policy Forum, and Women in International Trade.  

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Catherine X. Pan-Giordano is a Partner and Corporate Group Head in the firm’s New York office and leads the firm’s globally recognized U.S.-China transactional practice. As a highly skilled attorney and trusted advisor, and one of the most prominent Chinese-speaking business lawyers in New York, Catherine is relied on by our clients to handle their strategic corporate transactions and to solve complex legal problems for their business. She has a strong client following among some of the world’s largest corporations, financial institutions and business leaders. She frequently serves as their chief outside legal counsel. Catherine, together with the government grants lawyers and white-collar criminal defense lawyers at Dorsey & Whitney’s China Initiative Task Force, has successfully helped scientists, researchers, universities and research labs navigate the difficult territory of the Department of Justice’s “China Initiative” investigations and case. Catherine serves as a member of the Firm’s Management Committee, the executive body of the Firm.

Deborah Lehr is the Vice Chairman and Executive Director of the Paulson Institute. In that capacity, she advises the Chairman on U.S.–China relations as well as oversees the development and implementation of Paulson Institute programs and initiatives. In addition, Ms. Lehr manages the Green Finance Center for the Paulson Institute.

Ms. Lehr has served in the public, private and not for profit sectors focused on China, the Middle East and emerging markets. She advised Mr. Paulson when he was the CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs and helped then-Treasury Secretary Paulson to create and launch the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue.

In addition, she served as Senior Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch and was a Senior Managing Director at the New York Stock Exchange. Ms. Lehr has built several successful consulting businesses, including as a partner at Mayer Brown, a top-10 law firm, as President of Stonebridge China and then with her own firm, Basilinna. Basilinna is focused on China and the Middle East.

Ms. Lehr also served in the U.S. Government in the Executive Office of the President as a Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China, where she was a lead negotiator for China’s accession to the World Trade Organization, for two intellectual property rights negotiations and on the team for the 1992 Market Access Agreement. Also, Ms. Lehr was one of the youngest Directors of Asian Affairs at the National Security Council. Previous to that, she was involved in export control and trade policy issues at the Department of Commerce.

As the Founder and Chairman of the Antiquities Coalition, she works with governments around the world to fight against the illicit trade in antiquities. She serves on the International Advisory Board of the London School of Economics, the World Monuments Fund Board and the Middle East Institute Board. Ms. Lehr is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. UNESCO listed Ms. Lehr on its inaugural list of accomplished global women. She also received the prestigious Hadrian Award from the World Monument Fund for her work in fighting the illicit trade in antiquities.

Ms. Lehr has lived and studied around the world, including China, England, France, and Germany. Her writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Foreign Affairs, South China Morning Post, U.S. News and World Report, Caixin Magazine, and Xinhua.net, among others.

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Di Cai has a personal mission to bridge the perception gap between the US and China through the art of comedy. Di started her comedy journey during her MBA days at The Wharton School. As a member of the Wharton Comedy Club, Di performed at Wharton Comedy Smackdown and Wharton Graduation Roast shows and was received with great enthusiasm by her classmates. As an artist, Di uses clean comedy with a dark and sarcastic sense of humor that catches the audience by surprise. Di now performs regularly at NYC comedy clubs, going by her stage name "Dr. Dee". Dr. Dee and her comedy shows have been featured in Seattle International Comedy Competition, Lysistrata Comedy Festival, TimeOut New York, etc.  

      Professionally, Di is a Partner at Sanders Capital, a investment management firm with over $75 billion assets under management. Di received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, home of six Nobel Prize Laureates in Medicine or Chemistry. Prior to moving to the US, Di was a presenter at Tianjin TV Network, the fourth largest TV network in China.

      Outside of work and comedy, Di is a member of the Economic Club of New York, the executive committee of Wharton Club of New York, and planning committee of Hudson River Community Sailing. Di is also a water sports enthusiast - she is a proud sailor and racer for Sailing for Scholars Regatta

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Gabby Hirata is the president and chief executive of DVF (Diane von Furstenberg), having joined the company in January 2020. Prior to DVF, Gabby served as the chief strategy officer of Jill Stuart in 2019, and the managing director of Adeam, a NY-based Japanese luxury brand from 2014 to 2018. Prior to these senior management roles, Gabby specialized in product development and supply chains at Ralph Lauren, managing the global sourcing of Blue Label and the launch of Polo for Women from 2009 to 2014.  

Raised in China and educated in the US, Gabby is passionate about leveraging her multi-cultural and tri-lingual background to streamline and scale organizations through establishing international offices, standard operating procedures, and global go-to-market strategies with a focus on China.

Haishan Fu is the Director of the World Bank’s Development Data Group and Co-Chair of the Bank’s Development Data Council. In this capacity Haishan leads and coordinates the development and implementation of the Bank’s development data agenda. She has been an active leader in the global statistical community, having served or currently serving as a member of the UN Secretary General’s Independent Expert Advisory Group on Data Revolution for Sustainable Development, Council Member of the International Statistical Institute, and Co-Chair of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities among over 45 UN and other international development agencies, among others. Prior to joining the Bank in 2014, Haishan was Director of the Statistics Division at UNESCAP, served as the first Chief of Statistics of UNDP’s Human Development Report, and worked as Senior Research Associate at the Guttmacher Institute and Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Haishan holds a Ph.D. in Demography from Princeton University and a B.A. in Economics from Peking University.

Hope King is the co-author of Closer, Axios' daily business newsletter. King was previously an anchor with Cheddar News, where she hosted the network’s primary business shows and conducted over 10,000 interviews live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and across the country. King was also previously with CNN where she covered big tech. Among her favorite interviews: Jack Ma of Alibaba, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, elite athletes Steph Curry and Hope Solo.  Before her career in journalism, King was a VP of business development at Merrill Lynch, where she helped run a $200 billion managed money platform.

Jenny Liu is a partner in Pillsbury’s Corporate practice and co-leader of the firm’s China practice. She splits her time between the San Francisco, Shanghai and Beijing offices.

Jenny advises growing companies on their operations in the United States and China in various industries, including internet and telecom, software, energy, education, medical devices, and consumer services. She also represents private and public companies, financial institutions, private equity firms and venture funds in commercial and corporate transactions, including equity financings, loan and credit agreements, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and the formation and structuring of direct investments in the United States and China.

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Lanlan Zhang is the Managing Director of CICC US Securities, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of China International Capital Corporation Limited (“CICC”). Previously she was Director and CEO of CICC US Securities, Inc. Ms. Zhang joined CICC’s Research Department in 1999. Since then, she has served as the Chief Analyst of CICC's Research Department, the Head of its Sector Research Group and its Strategic Research Group. Ms. Zhang received her Bachelor Degree in Economics from Shanghai International Studies University, and her Master of Business Administration degree from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

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Lesly Goh is the Senior Technology Advisor, former Chief Technology Officer for the World Bank Group. She is a Fellow at Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) Judge Business School and Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Lesly brings extensive international experience, advising government policymakers and central banks on the regulatory impact from emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G, Cloud and Edge Computing. Prior to the public sector role, Lesly built a solid technology career in the private sectors such as Microsoft, Deloitte, and startups. She worked on many high-profile Data and AI initiatives in highly regulated industries such as Financial Services, Healthcare/Life Sciences, Agriculture and Digital Government, including Smart Cities designed for resilience. Lesly is on the Board of Director for Singapore GovTech and Harvard Advisory Board for (HPAIR). She is a member of the WEF Global Future Council on Data Policy to promote innovative thinking and shape a sustainable and inclusive future for all.

Ms. Lili Zheng is a senior US international tax partner with more than 30 years of experience in the field. She has substantial experience in cross-border tax planning and is responsible for Deloitte’s overall cross-functional services to multinational companies investing Asia as well as Chinese & Asian clients investing in the US. Leveraging on her extensive experience in Deloitte offices in San Francisco, Tokyo, Beijing, San Jose and Hong Kong, Lili provides practical and implementable solutions to MNCs on their cross-border investment structuring, IP planning, JV planning, M&A, entry and exit strategies. She is a trusted advisor with substantial experience in advising PE/VC funds and their portfolio companies in IPO positioning & restructuring to access different capital markets in the US, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taiwan. Fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese, Lili has a deep understanding of the unique considerations of companies from Asia Pacific on their cross-broader greenfield investments in the US and related supply chain impacts in various industries including but not limited to life sciences and healthcare, technology, financial services and manufacturing. Outside Deloitte, Lili is a member of the Board of Directors at Huayuan Science and Technology Association in Silicon Valley, and a member of BayHelix. Lili received her BS in Accounting and Finance from UC Berkeley and MS in Taxation from Golden Gate University. She is a licensed CPA in California and New York and a member of AICPA.

Lizzi C. Lee is an economist turned journalist. She graduated from MIT’s PhD program in Economics prior to joining the New York-based independent Chinese media outlet Wall St TV. She is an occasional contributor and guest to SupChina and the Sinica Podcast.

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Catalyst’s vision and mission have been a passion for Lorraine Hariton since college. Lorraine’s career has benefited tremendously from Catalyst’s work, and she is honored to lead the organization at this crucial time, to pay it forward to future generations, and to help write the next chapter in its 58-year legacy of accelerating positive change for women. Lorraine brings a strong and diverse background in technology, innovation, and partnering to her role as President & CEO. Her extensive career includes senior-level positions in Silicon Valley, as well as leadership roles across the private, nonprofit, and government sectors. She served as CEO of two Silicon Valley start-ups and held senior executive roles at IBM and other public companies. In 2009, she was appointed by President Obama to be Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the US Department of State. Most recently, Lorraine was Senior Vice President for Global Partnerships at the New York Academy of Sciences. Lorraine has been involved in women’s advancement leadership initiatives throughout her career. At the New York Academy of Sciences, she was instrumental in creating the Global STEM Alliance and its 1000 Girls, 1000 Futures program, a global mentoring initiative to help girls pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). At the US Department of State, Lorraine established the Global Entrepreneurship Program, the WECREATE program for women entrepreneurs, and the Secretary’s Council on Women’s Leadership. She has served on several boards of organizations committed to the advancement of women in the workplace, including the UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change, the Stanford Clayman Institute for Gender Research, and Watermark. Lorraine is the proud mother of Glen and Laura and enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, Moses and Alma, as often as possible. She is an accomplished triathlete who enjoys cycling, tennis, and all things outdoors. Lorraine holds a BS in Mathematical Sciences from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mattie Bekink is responsible for the Economist Corporate Network’s China strategy, including programme development and client servicing across China. She also provides support to all Economist Corporate Network programmes worldwide with a China component.

Ms Bekink has extensive experience in the public, private and policy sectors. Prior to joining The Economist Group, she was the Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission in the Netherlands. She also ran an eponymous consulting business, advising senior executives from businesses, universities and non-profit organisations on China policy, strategy, public affairs, and corporate social responsibility. Ms Bekink practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, has worked with the US-Asia Law Initiative at NYU Law School and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative China Program, and served in the legal department at General Motors China.

Ms Bekink has a BA in International Relations from Stanford University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Rui (pronounced “rey”) was born in China but grew up in the U.S., mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is currently based. She has over fifteen years of experience in investment banking and investing, spanning seed stage to pre-IPO investing, and spent eight of those years working across multiple industries including real estate and media as well as technology in Shanghai and Beijing.  She is currently an angel investor and advisor to several startups and funds. Rui is also active in philanthropy and currently runs Rookie.Fund, a nonprofit student venture fund network in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. She’s vegetarian and would like to be a Chinese calligrapher when she retires.

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Sara Yang Bosco was appointed senior vice president, secretary and general counsel for Emerson in May 2016. In this role, she is responsible for Emerson’s legal affairs, as well as providing legal counsel on a wide range of matters, such as mergers and acquisitions, compliance, dispute resolution, and corporate and commercial operational matters. In 2016, she was named to Emerson’s Office of the Chief Executive, which helps develop and guide the company’s global business strategies.

Bosco was previously president of Emerson’s Asia-Pacific organization and was responsible for corporate operations and strategic development in the Asia-Pacific region, a role she held since 2008. She began her career at Emerson in 2005 as general counsel for Emerson in Asia-Pacific.

Prior to joining Emerson, Bosco had a long history of supporting Emerson as an external legal counsel in her capacity as a partner with the Hong Kong offices of the Baker & McKenzie and Perkins Coie law firms. Admitted to practice law in New York, Bosco has practiced law in New York, Taipei and Hong Kong.

Bosco has more than 30 years of legal experience, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, cross-border investment and joint ventures. She has been named one of Asia's leading business lawyers in AsiaLaw's past annual surveys. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. Bosco served six years on the board of directors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, most recently as a member of the executive committee and treasurer. She is also an Emerson representative on the US-China Business Council.

While living in Hong Kong, she served as a visiting professor to the business school of Nanjing University, China, and also served on an advisory group for a program jointly offered by the faculties of business administration and law of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as the executive MBA program at Chinese University. She also served as an advisor to the China Europe International Business School based in Shanghai. A U.S. Midwesterner by birth, Bosco speaks and writes Mandarin Chinese.

Bosco holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from the University of Notre Dame. She received her Juris Doctorate from Indiana University Bloomington and in 2014 was named to its Academy of Law Alumni Fellows, the highest honor bestowed by the university's Maurer School of Law.

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Dr. Stella Xu is Managing Director of Quan Capital, a life science venture fund  with deep expertise and broad experiences in cross-border value creation and  global investments. Prior to Quan, Stella was Corporate VP/Site Head of Roche  R&D Center China and a core member of the global management team of  Roche’s Immunology, Inflammation & Infectious Diseases. From 2012-2017, she  led the fully integrated team of ~200 scientists to deliver an innovative pipeline  from Discovery to global clinical development. She also had extensive global  business development experience with Roche Partnering. Stella joined Roche  from McKinsey US and worked in biotech R&D earlier in her career. Stella  received her Ph.D. in Immunology from Northwestern University, and B.S. in  Biophysics from Peking University. Stella currently serves on the Board of  Design Therapeutics (Nasdaq: DSGN), HBM Healthcare Investment (SWX:  HBMN), Therorna Inc., Walking Fish Therapeutics and Zidan Medical. She was  a board member of ARMO BioSciences (Nasdaq: ARMO), NextCure (Nasdaq:  NXTC) and Tempest Therapeutics (Nasdaq: TPST).

Wu Fei is a classically trained composer, singer and master of the guzheng, the 21-string Chinese zither. She has performed around the world at venues including the Forbidden City, New York’s MoMA, Paris’ Quai Branly Museum, the North Sea Jazz Festival, Vossa Jazz, the Europalia Festival and the Big Ears Festival in Tennessee.

She plays in the guzheng’s vernacular — a musical language at least 2,500 years old – mixing Western classical and Chinese traditions with a contemporary, idiosyncratic sound. Wu composes for choir, string quartet, chamber ensemble, Balinese gamelan and orchestra. Her chamber orchestral work “Hello Gold Mountain,” inspired by the stories of Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai from Europe in World War II, earned a MAP Fund award.

Wu has collaborated with artists from different disciplines and genres, including Emmy-winning directors Pierce Freelon and Jon Halperin, Grammy-winning musicians Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn and Billy Martin (Medeski-Martin-Wood) and composers John Zorn and Fred Frith. She has released two solo recordings and two collaborative albums – one with classical guitarist Gyan Riley and the other with singer-songwriter Abigail Washburn.
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Wu studied at the China Conservatory of Music and Mills College. A native of Beijing, she currently lives in Nashville.

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