Bright Hong Kong is also an international connector
in the search of a global comprehension of our era
In loving memory (1945-2017)
Jean-Pierre Lehmann was Professor Emeritus International Political Economy at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). He was also the founder of The Evian Group, an international meeting of trade policy makers and policy thinkers convened at the Hotel Royal in Evian-les-Bains (on the French side of Lake Geneva) – hence the name of the Group – in April 1995.
Prof. Lehmann was visiting Professor at Hong Kong University Faculty of Economics and Business; Visiting Professor, NIIT University, Neemrana, Rajasthan, India, and Senior Advisor The Asian Lenses Forum (TALF). He is currently working and writing on two major themes: "Globalisation with Chinese Characteristics" and "Asian Dynamics in the New Global Disorder."
Virginia E. and John T. Hazel, Jr. Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Global Policy, Schar School of Policy and Government at the George Mason University
Prof. Jack A. Goldstone (PhD, Harvard University), is Virginia E. and John T. Hazel, Jr. Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Global Policy, Schar School of Policy and Government at the George Mason University. He is also Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C. He worked as chair of the National Research Council's evaluation of USAID Democracy Assistance Programs.
Prof. Goldstone is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Director of the Research Laboratory in Political Demography and Macrosocial Dynamics at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Moscow.
His academic awards include the American Sociological Association Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award, for "Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World," the Arnaldo Momigliano Award of the Historical Society, and seven awards for "best article" in the fields of Comparative/Historical Sociology, Political Sociology, Social Theory, and Collective Behavior and Social Movements. He has won fellowships from the Council of Learned Societies, the U.S. Institute of Peace, the MacArthur Foundation, the Australian Research School of Social Sciences, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and is an elected member of the Council on Foreign Affairs and the Sociological Research Association. He has been the Richard Holbrooke Visiting Lecturer at the American Academy in Berlin, the Crayborough Lecturer at Leiden University, and a Phi Beta Kappa National Visiting Scholar.
"To appreciate life to the fullest, we must embrace the paradoxes in human nature",
(Collected wisdom).
Innovation Provocateur & Evangelist and Investor in Human Capital. Passionate about personal transformation, Dr. Wu encourages the perspective of the entrepreneurial mindset as essential to leadership. His unique insights come from his experience as an educator in Hong Kong and China, after a successful career as a venture capitalist (US and Asia) and entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley.
As an Adjunct Faculty, he currently teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Wisconsin Madison, the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Dr. Wu is currently an Honorary Ambassador to Silicon Valley for Invotech, a nonprofit organization in Hong Kong, which aims to inspire entrepreneurs to focus theirenergies on creating practical solutions that will make Hong Kong a "smarter" city.
He contributes regularly to a blog at www.psychologytoday.com and his most recent book is: “Agile Innovation: The Revolutionary Approach to Accelerate Success, Inspire Engagement, and Ignite Creativity", (Wiley & Sons, 2014).
Alexander Verbeek is a Dutch diplomat and Associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute. Until January 2016 he was the Strategic Policy Advisor on Global Issues, working on international issues related to climate, water, food, energy and resources. He developed the Planetary Security Initiative that fosters cooperation on the impact of climate change, environmental degradation and resource scarcity on security.
With that purpose, Alexander organized in November 2015 the international conference in the Peace Palace, located in The Hague. The conference gathered participants from 75 countries joined in the launch of Planetary Security initiative. His efforts are creating awareness about a subject that will be key in the future.
In Sweden he continues to collaborate with governments, businesses, think tanks and civil society agencies to find connections between these issues and create solutions for the environmental, resource and demographic challenges of the 21st century.
Alexander studied Human Geography in Utrecht (MSc.), worked as a journalist and was an officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy before joining the MFA. Since 2014 Alexander is a Yale World Fellow.
He is often asked for public speaking, lecturing at universities or chairing international meetings. He is in the board of advisors of several international environmental initiatives and is on Twitter (@Alex_Verbeek) one of the most followed diplomats in the world with some 90.000 followers. He ranks sixth in the Top-10 Climate Change Thought Leaders in the social media.
Charlene Chu
Author, China Expert & Head Asia at Autonomous Research
Charlene Chu is Head of the Hong Kong office of Autonomous Research. She is well-known in the finance world for her analysis of the Chinese economy and financial sector, and she is considered one of the leading experts on China's shadow finance system.
Prior to joining Autonomous in 2014, Charlene worked for eight years as a Senior Director in the Financial Institutions Group at Fitch Ratings in Beijing, and prior to that she served as a senior analyst in the Emerging Markets & International Affairs group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where she focused on financial sector reform and monetary policy development in China and other Asian countries.
It was during her time in Beijing that Charlene embarked on a fascinating journey to find her father's side of the family. Her search led her not only to find her roots, but to become co-author with an elderly female cousin named Fengxian of a work that is both, historical testimony and a beautiful literary achievement. The title of the book is ¨Song of Praise for a Flower: One Woman's Journey through China's Tumultuous 20th Century¨.
Charlene holds both an MBA and a MA in International Relations from Yale University.
Dr. Jorge Valdés Castellanos
“Educating the mind
without educating the heart is no education at all.”
(Aristotle).
Jorge Valdez Castellanos, Ph.D. graduated in Philosophy from the Free School of Philosophy in Mexico City, studied the Master's Degree in Educational Planning at Stanford University, California, and the Doctorate in Sociology at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France.
He served 25 years at the Mexican Federal Government and was part of the Presidential staff of several presidents of the Republic.
His academic background and knowledge of ethics as a philosophical discipline allowed him to be a pioneer in training projects of teams directly related to areas of investigation and administration of justice. Thus Dr. Valdes worked preparing professional cadres in the office of the Attorney General of the Republic.
He is currently engaged in research and teaching at Mexican universities, in business ethics as well as ethics and values in the Public Administration for the fight against corruption.