Theme: Charting Business Success by Empowering Female Leaders
Date: October 23 (Wednesday), 2024
City: Shanghai, China
Organizer: Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
Supporting Organizations: The British Chamber of Commerce Shanghai, Swiss Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Canada China Business Council (CCBC)
As the tides of change continue to surge, female leaders are not only driving social progress but are also key innovators and visionaries within family businesses and established corporations, bridging tradition and transformation.
Family businesses are vital pillars of both Chinese and global economies, directly impacting prosperity and stability worldwide. Female successors, positioned at the intersection of heritage and modernity, face unprecedented challenges and opportunities. They are tasked with upholding family legacies while demonstrating sharp insight, exceptional leadership, and innovative thinking in a rapidly changing market landscape. Understanding how women excel in family businesses reveals insights into sustainable growth and future success.
Despite their growing presence, women’s paths to leadership across businesses remain fraught with obstacles. The scarcity of high-quality opportunities and hidden barriers to advancement in both large and mid-sized companies are challenges that urgently need to be addressed. Elevating women’s leadership is about more than breaking gender barriers; it is about building a more inclusive, diverse, and resilient business ecosystem. When women’s voices are truly heard and their talents fully realized, both businesses and society thrive, leading us all to a more prosperous future.
We believe that the success stories of female successors in family businesses and those in established, multinational companies will set powerful examples to inspire women to step into leadership roles. At the same time, the support and empowerment from the business community will lay a strong foundation for enhancing women’s leadership, collectively charting the course for future success.
On October 23, join us in Shanghai at the 2024 Women in Leadership Forum to hear the insights and wisdom of global female leaders as we explore how to empower women amidst today’s transformative times and craft a brighter, more successful future together.
Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee took office as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China on 16 January 2021 and is the designated representative of – and reports to – the UN Secretary General. He presented his letter of credence to the President of China on 14 April 2021.
Mr. Chatterjee has more than 25 years of experience in international cooperation, sustainable development, humanitarian coordination and peace and security in the United Nations and the Red Cross movement. He has served in many fragile and war-torn countries all over the world.
A 3 times TEDx speaker, he is a regular opinion contributor on humanitarian and development issues for a range journals which includes Newsweek, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Huffington Post, Forbes, CNN, Al Jazeera, the Guardian as well as of late he has also published in mainstream Chinese journals.
Mr. Chatterjee holds a master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University in the United States of America.
Phone: +86 10 8518 8858 ext. 3803
E-mail: htli@ckgsb.edu.cn
Dean, Dean’s Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance, and Director of the Family Business Research Center, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
PhD, Yale University
Areas of Expertise: Asset Pricing, Continuous-Time Finance, Credit Risk, Financial Engineering and Derivatives, Financial Management, Hedge Funds, Insurance, Investment, Option Pricing, Term Structure
Biography
Dr Li Haitao is the Dean, Dean’s Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance, and Director of the Family Business Research Center at CKGSB. Previously, he was the Jack D. Sparks Whirlpool Corporation Research Professor in the Finance Department of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He also served on the faculty of the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Dr Li serves on the editorial boards of Management Science (the Department of Finance) and the International Review of Finance. Dr Li holds a PhD in Finance from Yale University.
Director of MOZ SPACE, founder of Zhizhen Culture, interior designer and curator of art life. With over a decade of international experience in home and design, Elyn founded MOZ SPACE, adhering to the design philosophy of “Empowering Spaces with Warmth”. Her unique aesthetic vision, global insights, and life perspective “without limits” have garnered widespread acclaims within the industry, particularly in the diverse sectors of high-end private home design and imported home furnishings. She focuses on people-oriented approaches to truly create “emotional” new artistic living spaces for her clients. To better explore the design and art practice based on interdisciplinary thinking, Elyn pursued continuing studies of EBMA programs at the University of Hong Kong and the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in addition to her own major of design. She is active as a life aesthetician in multiple fields such as interior design, imported home furnishings, contemporary art, finance, and fashion, leading the integration of resources for MOZ DESIGN, MOZ CASA, and MOZ ART. By virtue of excellent creativity and rich experience in interior design, she has customized personalized residences with temperature, flowing emotions and memory for many high-end luxury property developers and high net worth fashion elite customers, and curated a number of creative life art exhibitions with cross-border integration. The notable projects she completed cover a number of luxury residences such as One Shenzhen Bay by Parkland, Tsui Lake Villas V in Shanghai, The Bayview by China Resources in Shenzhen, Tomson Riviera in Shanghai, KWah Group’s Palace Court in Shanghai, Gubei No.1 in Shanghai, Zhongying Black Forest in Shanghai, The Bound of Bund by OCT in Shanghai, etc. Moreover, she has been recognized for her great achievements, including the Gold Medal of the American Muse Design Award in 2023 and the Silver Medal of the London Design Award in 2023.
Bonnie Yimin Yan is currently the assistant president and a board member of Shanghai Guangdian Electric Group. She graduated with Honors from Claremont McKenna College in 2015, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, and is a proud member of Phi Beta Kappa. Following her graduation, Bonnie worked at Fosun in Hong Kong before returning to Mainland China in 2017 to join her family business. She furthered her education by obtaining a Master’s degree in Art Business from Tsinghua University while working. In 2024, Bonnie began pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at CKGSB.
Phone:+86-10-8518 8858 ext. 8527
Email: xyfan@ckgsb.edu.cn
Assistant Professor of Economics, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
PhD, University of California, Los Angles (UCLA)
Areas of Expertise: Game theory, political economy, industrial organization, economic history
Biography
Dr. Xinyu Fan is an Assistant Professor of Economics at CKGSB. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Los Angles (UCLA) in 2018. He also holds B.Econ & Fin from the University of Hong Kong. Dr. Fan is mainly interested in political economics, organizational economics, and economic history, with a special focus on 3 research themes: 1. Self-enforcing social order in the shadow of power struggles; 2. Power succession and transition in dynasties and family businesses; 3. Economic origins of social, cultural, and gender norms.
Dr. Fan’s work has appeared in leading scholarly journals such as the International Economic Review, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Public Choice, and Journal of Theoretical Politics.
Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior, Associate Dean for EMBA Program, Associate Dean for Inclusivity, Diversity and Equity, Executive Academic Director for Executive Education and Director of the Research Center for Leadership, Behavioral Science & Inclusivity, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
PhD, the R.H. Smith School of Business at University of Maryland, College Park
Areas of Expertise: Corporate Governance, Creativity and Innovation, C-suite Motivation, Empowerment, Interactional Relationships, Leadership, Leader Support, Motivation
Biography
Professor Zhang Xiaomeng is Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior, Associate Dean for EMBA Program, Associate Dean for Inclusivity, Diversity and Equity, Executive Academic Director for Executive Education, and Director of the Research Center for Leadership, Behavioral Science & Inclusivity at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. Prior to joining CKGSB, she was a tenured Associate Professor at the Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington DC. Her research interests are in the areas of creativity, leadership and motivation, with a desire to understand the relationships between all those areas.
Professor Zhang has published articles in multiple top academic journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies and Human Resource Management Review.
Professor Zhang has taught Principles of Management, Organizational Behavior, Management of Organization and Human Capital, Business Policies, International Business Practices in China, and HR Management. She earned a BA with emphasis in Economics and Business Administration from Sun Yat-sen University, China and a PhD in Organizational Behavior/Human Resource Management from the R.H. Smith School of Business at University of Maryland, College Park with a Paine Award for outstanding academic achievement and several teaching awards.
“Highly Cited Chinese Researchers of 2020” by Elsevier
“Highly Cited Chinese Researchers of 2019” by Elsevier
Lily Guan joined Cargill in May 2016 as Country Lead Lawyer to lead China legal team, provide legal support to business’ growth in Great China, and since July 2021 her role expand to Korea and Japan legal support as North Asia lead. She is appointed as Cargill China President in Nov. 2022.
As President of Cargill China, an Agricultural and Food company, Lily is passionate about sustainability, DEI and talent development.
Prior to joining Cargill, Lily worked in different multinational companies as General Counsel where she build up legal team and set up legal framework, her responsibility also cover compliance and security work. Lily’ work experience as in house counsel cover different industries including food, cosmetic, high tech, retail etc.
Lily graduated from East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai.
Operating with the highest ethical standards ensures mutually rewarding relationships among employees, partners and suppliers and is the foundation for superior service to our customers.
As President of China and Senior Vice President of FedEx, Poh-Yian Koh oversees the operations of FedEx in this vital market.
As a key strategic decision-maker for the company, Poh-Yian Koh is dedicated not only to driving the company’s business growth and market expansion in China but also to maintaining close collaborations with government entities, clients, and partners. Her leadership is pivotal in advancing FedEx’s strategic goals in China, ensuring sustained success and fostering long-term development and a positive corporate image in this crucial market.
Ms. Koh started her career at FedEx in Singapore. In 1994, she moved to China and led the company’s efforts to explore the market, shape customs procedures, and support many of the FedEx strategic projects (i.e., Pudong and Guangzhou Hub), network, and service expansion in the country. During her 34 years with FedEx, she has developed an impressive breadth of experience from her directorship roles in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. Her contributions to laying the foundation for FedEx’s continued growth in China and Asia Pacific have been recognized with several awards, including two-time IT Hall of Fame Awards and the most prestigious 5-star Award at FedEx, of which she has been awarded nine times.
Ms. Koh is passionate about advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and empowering women not only at FedEx, but also in the Chinese business community. She headed the disability pillar, called the Sunflower Project, which aims to create an inclusive and positive environment to enable individuals with disabilities to thrive for excellence with their skills and abilities.
Additionally, she is responsible for leading the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa regions in the development of sustainability strategies to meet FedEx’s carbon neutral goal by 2040.
She holds an Industrial Engineering Bachelor’s Degree from Ohio State University and an Executive MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northern University, in conjunction with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Charlotte Smart is Consul, Science and Technology at the British Consulate Shanghai, where she leads UK diplomatic engagement across science and innovation in China. With a MSc in ‘Social Science of the Internet’ from Oxford University, her career has focused on the interface between technology, international development and foreign policy. Previous roles include leading UK peacebuilding programmes in Sri Lanka, and design and delivery of UK government programming to deliver internet access.
Rui (Juliet) Zhu is Professor of Marketing, Director of Center for ESG and Social Innovation and Member of the Board of Supervisors of the Cheung Kong Education Development Foundation at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). Prior to joining CKGSB, Juliet was associate professor of marketing, and Canada Research Chair in consumer behavior at the University of British Columbia (BC, Canada) and assistant professor of marketing at Rice University (USA). She received her Ph.D. in Marketing from University of Minnesota in 2003.
Prof. Zhu’s research interests center on behavioral science, social innovation, and brand management. Her research has been published in top journals, such as Science, Journal of Consumer Research, and Journal of Marketing Research. She currently serves as associate editor for the Journal of Marketing. She has published two books, “Enterprises of the Future: A Three-step Approach for Sustainable Business” in 2020, and “Logic of Decision: Behavioral Psychology in Everyday Life” in 2022.
Ms. Meng Liu currently leads the China Office of the UN Global Compact. She joined the United Nations in 2007 at UN-OHRLLS, then served the Global Compact in New York and Beijing for nearly two decades including roles as Regional Head for Asia. Prior to the United Nations, her experiences include the Asia Foundation and World Resources Institute focusing on climate change and Environment.
She graduated from University of San Francisco with a master degree in International Development Economics and was an Asian Fellow with Harvard Kennedy School and US Business Law Fellow with Columbia Law School. Book Author of Responsibility Changes the World-UN Global Compact Leading Business Revolution Worldwide.
She was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2015 and Top 10 Chinese Women with brand impact in 2021. A member of Global Future Council on Frontier Risks.
In 2024, She launched and hosted ESG+20 Sustainable Leadership Dialogue with leading CEOs from China, reaching millions of stakeholders to raise awareness and inspire actions on corporate sustainability and the SDGs.
Shanghai Women’s Federation Association
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