Speakers

Corinne Abele has been living and working in China for nearly 20 years. An experienced journalist and economist, she has documented China´s economic development with analyses, articles and lectures. A big part of her work focuses on the observation and analysis of innovation-driven technology markets and industrial digitisation in China. Her other main topics are environmental protection, renewable energy, engineering and competition in China.

Since 2014, Ms Abele has been heading the Trade Information Section of Germany Trade & Invest in Shanghai. Prior to this, she worked in the same position in Beijing (2004–2012) and in Taipei (1998–2004).

Ms Abele graduated from the University of Tübingen in economics (diploma) and eastern european history (MA) with a scholarship from the German National Student Foundation. She was also a scholar of the Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach foundation, which enabled her to study Chinese at Nanjing University from 1992 to 1993.

Björn Avemark is the Head of Business Development and Portfolio Management at Daimler Mobility Services. He spent the last 10 years in various assignments in North East Asia with stations in Japan, Korea and China. For the last 6.5 years he has lived in Beijing, working in various roles in Operations, Strategy and Business Development. In 2016 he established the department of Digital & Mobility Services, managing the mobility and autonomous services for Daimler in China. During that time he gained profound experience in creating new businesses and negotiating partnerships & contracts with potential joint venture partners in China.

Before joining Daimler in 2005, Björn worked as a consultant for several years, building process enhancing software and helping clients to improve business performance mainly for pharmaceutical companies and public transportation services.

 His academic background is in business administration with a focus on information technology.

Bernhard Bartsch is Senior Expert in Bertelsmann Stiftung’s program “Germany and Asia“. Before joining the foundation, he spent more than a decade in China, working as East Asia Correspondent for major German media.

Bernhard Bartsch studied Chinese, Economics, Politics and Journalism in Hamburg, Beijing and London. His career as a journalist began in the Beijing office of German business weekly “Wirtschaftswoche“. Between 2003 and 2013, he worked as a correspondent for several German language media, including the daily newspapers “Neue Zuercher Zeitung”, “Berliner Zeitung” and the business journal “brand eins”. He reported about political, social, economic and cultural issues in China, Japan, South and North Korea as well as other countries in East Asia.

In 2013, Bernhard Bartsch joined Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Asia team where he continues to wrap his brain around the political, economic and social developments in Asia and their impact on Germany and Europe.

Tobias Bergmann was born on July 11, 1971 in Munich. He is the Managing Director of his own business consulting firm as well as President of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. Tobias Bergmann holds a Bachelor of Economics from the “Technische Universität Dresden” and a Master in Economics from the Università degli Studi di Parma in Italy.

Before becoming president, Bergmann served as Chair of the Economic Committee at the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce between 2014 and 2017 and was also a member of the Services Sector Committee and the Committee on Internal Affairs.

In May 2017, Bergmann launched Tobias Bergmann Consulting GmbH.

Prior to these entrepreneurial successes, Tobias Bergmann served as Deputy Managing Director of Rambøll Management GmbH in Hamburg for nine years. Rambøll employs 13,000 consulting engineers, designers and management consultants worldwide.

Reinhard Bütikofer is a Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA) and the Co-Chair of the European Green Party (EGP). He sits on the Committee of Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) as a full member and on the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) as a substitute member. He is the Vice Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China as well as a member of the delegation to the United States and a substitute member of the ASEAN Delegation.

Before getting elected to the European Parliament in 2009, Mr Bütikofer was the Co-Chair of the German Green Party BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN (from 2002 until 2008). He was the party’s Secretary General from 1998 until 2002. Prior to that, he served as the Chair of the Greens in the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg.

Mr Bütikofer is also member of the Europe/Transatlantic Advisory Board and the General Assembly of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the NABU Club, the board of the Green European Foundation as well as the German–Israeli Society and the German–Chinese Dialogue Forum.

Before joining Alibaba, Toni Cheng (Chinese Name, Ji Cheng) had been working in the ICT industry of the European market for more than 10 years.

He has been based in Europe since 2007 and was the pioneer of the Swiss market development and one of the founders of Huawei Switzerland. Toni was the 1^st CEO of Huawei Switzerland.

In 2012, he was nominated as CEO of Huawei Germany, developed the local team in the Carrier, Enterprise and Consumer business and reached the revenue target of 1 billion USD in 2014 as a great milestone for Huawei Germany. Afterwards, he was EU CEO of Sengled, focused on the smart home domain.

He lives in Germany together with his wife and son.

Victor Chu was born in Canton, China and came to Hong Kong at the age of four. He received his early education in Hong Kong and England, and took his law degree at University College London. Mr. Chu is admitted to practise law in England and Hong Kong since 1982.

Mr. Chu is Chairman of First Eastern Investment Group, a leading Hong Kong-based international investment firm and a pioneer of private equity investments in China.

Victor Chu has served as Director and Council Member of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Advisory Committee Member of the Securities and Futures Commission, and part-time member of Hong Kong Government’s Central Policy Unit. Mr. Chu has served as a Foundation Board Member of the World Economic Forum from 2003 to 2015 and currently co-chairs the Forum’s International Business Council. From 2004 to 2009, Mr. Chu served on the Executive Board of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris where he also chaired the ICC Commission on Financial Services and Insurance.

Mr. Chu was awarded the 2011 Global Economy Prize by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. 

Ms. Christi Degen was born on August 11, 1964. She studied economics at the University of Cologne, one year of business administration abroad in Barcelona, Spain and wrote her diploma thesis on the topic of “Spain's integration into the European Monetary Union”. Between 1991 and 1998 she was director of the Center for International Relations Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Cologne. From 1999 to 2004 she was director of program development at the Community of European Management Schools in Paris. From 2005 to 2009, Ms. Degen headed the Center for International Relations at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Cologne. From 2009 to 2013, Ms. Degen was Managing Director for Industry, Economics, Innovation and Environment at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Cologne.

From 2013 – 2014 Christi Degen was Managing Director of F.A.Z. Executive School. Last stop before relocating to Hamburg was the IHK Oberfranken Bayreuth, where Ms. Degen was chief executive officer from 2014 - 2017. Since December 2017, Ms. Degen has been CEO of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.

Geoff Dong is currently CFO of Geely UK and VP – Geely Commercial Vehicle Group.

He has over 30 years of experience with MNCs as well as academic work during early year of his career.

Over his executive career he has been mostly working with multinationals in Europe and Asia, leading and managing direct investments to Asia and particularly China. Prior to his current role whereby he changed the gear with an inspiration to help Chinese companies going global, he was VP and MD of IDEX Asia – a global portfolio company in critical industrial solution space since 2013, leading APAC business for Meritor Inc. as regional managing director. Before these, he worked with Cummins for 18 years in Europe and East Asia with increasing responsibilities in areas from strategy and business development, product planning, sales and marketing, distribution and general management. He also served as East Asia CFO from 2003 to 2010 when the regional business grew at 30% CAGR to reach $3bn mark in 2010. Due to his financial leadership he was awarded as Top 10 CFO of China by CFO Magazine in 2010.

Mr. Dong received a B.Sc. degree in 1983 and a M.Sc. degree in 1986 in Naval Architecture from Shanghai Jiaotong University. In the early 1990s, he did a three year academic research with Professor P J Buckley in the U.K. in the field of international business. Geoff and his wife Claire now live in the U.K. 

Knut Engelmann is a Partner at Kekst CNC, one of the world’s premier strategic communications firms.

He advises companies on complex capital markets transactions including cross-border M&A deals and has supported on the majority of large IPOs in the German-speaking market over the past five years, with a particular focus on the tech and digital sector.

Prior to joining Kekst CNC, Knut spent more than 20 years in high-profile roles in international finance and business journalism. These included various leadership roles at global news agency Reuters and at Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal in both Germany and the United States.

Nathalie Errard was appointed as SVP Head of Europe and NATO Affairs at Airbus at the beginning of 2012. Prior to this position, Nathalie served as SVP Head of Investor Relations and Financial Communication and was in charge of the Group’s financial communication from April 2008 to the beginning of 2012. She had been part of the investor relations department since the end of 2005. Nathalie began her career as an external auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1995. She joined the mergers and acquisitions team at Aérospatiale in 1998 to participate in the merger with Matra and the creation of EADS (previous name of Airbus). From mid 2000 to the end of 2005, Nathalie held several positions in the mergers and acquisitions and business development teams at Technicolor in France and in the US. Her major projects included doubling of revenue at the California subsidiary; establishing a TV manufacturing joint venture with TCL in China; and disposal of the cathode ray tube business to the Indian company Videocon. Nathalie also served as the head of Thomson’s corporate audit for Europe and Asia. Nathalie holds a degree from France’s Institut Mines-Télécom business school.

Marion Finney, actually Head of Customer Scrap Solutions at Aurubis AG, has been working in many roles in copper, be it sales of products or supplies of recycling raw materials or hedging.

Her actual function is a cross-functional role destined to develop closed-loop copper product customer scrap solutions along the copper value chain. Marion is also familiar with multi-metal customer models.

She has been working in the metal sector since the end of the 70s and is with Aurubis for more than 35 years. Her Background is economics, she finished several extra-occupational education, also IHK trainings.

Besides her function at Aurubis she is a member of the board of the VDM (Verband Deutscher Metallhändler) and member of an WV Metalle (Wirtschaftsvereinigung Metalle) expert group dealing with raw materials and foreign trade since 2015.

She also belongs to the foreign economic committee of the IHK Dortmund.

Cui Haifeng is responsible for P&L of Enterprise Business in the German market. Cui Haifeng has joined Huawei in 2000. Prior to his current role, over the past 11 years he  held  several key  positions  for  the international  market,  such  as  VP for solution sales and marketing in West Europe, General Director for Enterprise Business Group in Northern Latin America, Managing Director for Huawei Colombia, Managing Director for Huawei Peru, and Director for Application and Software Business Unit of Latin America.

Ahead of his multinational experience, he had served as Director for Application and Software Department in the Grand China Region since 2002.

Born in July 1965, Mr. Song Hailiang is a professor-level senior engineer with a PhD. He received honours including `Most Popular Entrepreneurs in 2008´, `Top 10 Modern-management Entrepreneurs in Engineering Survey and Design´, etc.

Upon graduation in 1987 from Wuhan University, he served successively as engineer, Director, Dean, Chairman and General Manager of the Water Transport Planning and Design Institute of CCCC (China Communications Construction Company Ltd.).

In August 2012, he was appointed Assistant to the President of CCCC, Chairman & Party Secretary of Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.

He became VP of CCCC in January 2014.

He became the president of CCCC in September 2018.

Mr. LIU He is a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council, and Director of the Office of Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs. 

He was Director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs and the Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) from 2013 to 2018. He joined the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs in 2003 as Deputy Director, responsible for economic development and macroeconomic policies. He also served as CPC Secretary and Vice President for the Development Research Center of the State Council from 2011 to 2013.

He served as Vice Minister for the Informatization Office of the State Council from 2001 to 2003, where he was responsible for e-government in China and international cooperation. He was Executive President of the State Information Center from 1998 to 2001. He had a long tenure with the State Planning Commission, and has participated in drafting all of China’s Five-Year Economic-Social Development Plans since the 1980s.

Mr. LIU was born in Beijing in 1952. He received an M.A. in Economics from Renmin University of China. He studied at Harvard University and the business school of Seton Hall University in the U.S., and got an MPA from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Peter Helis, founder and managing director of Helis & Associates, has gained 15 years of professional experience in China.  Born and raised in Germany, he graduated in Chinese studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London before he settled in Hong Kong.  There, Peter Helis was the Sales Director for several multinational corporations.  After working as General Manager of the German Industry   & Commerce in   Guangzhou, he established the consulting firm Helis & Associates.Speaking Mandarin and Cantonese fluently, Peter Helis is a communicator between the two cultures. He is well connected with both the business community and the local governments.

Simon graduated from University of Toronto with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in Finance. Prepared with extensive experience in the automotive industry from Tesla (China) and Mercedes-Benz (Beijing), he holds a very strategic approach to distinguish XCharge from its peers in both China and abroad, and is skilled at using economic models for business analysis and management.

Dr. Dinglong Huang is co-founder and CEO of Malong Technologies, Co. Ltd.
Dinglong obtained his doctorate degree from Tsinghua University, and majored in Human-Computer Interaction (studied with American Academy of Engineering member Gavriel Salvendy). Dinglong previously worked as an intern researcher at Google, product manager and the director of products at Microsoft MSN, the director of business products, and Vice President of products at TripAdvisor in China. He met his co-founder, Matt Scott, at Microsoft where at the time, they both worked together to build the “Bing Dictionary” project. At Tencent, Dinglong led several products such as “Micro-Space” and “Stream Ads“. After joining TripAdvisor, he led the product and marketing team to launch their new application for mobile, which ranked top ten at the AppStore Travel category in only 3 months (which used to be less than 150), and the Android version which generated more than a million downloads each week. Dinglong is an adjunct master instructor of the Computer Science department in Tsinghua University, also, a life mentor of the Industrial Engineering Department. He specializes in Internet product design & management, user experience design, and market-oriented products. In 2017, Dinglong won a provincial award for his contribution on the AI industry in China.

Andreas Hube is Global Vice-President and the head of the China Liaison Office, SAP SE. Reporting to the
Office of the CEO, he is coordinating key programs and initiatives with regards to SAP’s activities in the Greater
China region externally and SAP internally. He is advising SAP senior management on the company’s China
strategy and serving as an external representative and expert on topics related to SAPs strategy and solution
for Greater China. Furthermore, he is supporting multinational accounts of SAP on their SAP strategy and
roll-out in China and Chinese accounts on their international expansion.
Andreas joined SAP in 1997. He began his career with the company by supporting to build a significant SAP
presence in China, where he was based from 2000-2013. He held numerous roles in marketing, partner
management, business consulting and operations, including the positions of Chief Operating Officer for China
and Chief of Staff of the President of SAP Greater China.
He holds a Degree in Business Administration with specialization on East Asia Marketing Management of the
East Asia Institute of the University Applied Sciences in Ludwigshafen. He resides with his wife and two sons in
Berlin.

Mikko Huotari is the deputy director of MERICS and heads the programme on China’s foreign relations. His research focuses on China’s foreign policy, China–Europe relations and regional order in Asia. He has published extensively on China’s global investment strategy and economic relations with Europe, as well as on geopolitical shifts related to China’s rise as a global security player. Before joining MERICS, Huotari taught international political economy and Chinese foreign policy at the University of Freiburg. During his studies of international politics and international law in Freiburg, Nanjing and Shanghai, he gained experience in policy-oriented China research at the German-Chinese Law Institute in Nanjing, the German Embassy in Beijing and the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin.

Henrik Isaksen is founder and majority shareholder of GreenMobility. Mr. Isaksen has successfully founded and sold a number of companies in the car- and finance sector. His prior experience includes managing positions at GE Capital, Daimler AG etc. One of Henrik Isaksen’s startups was Clever A/S, which today manages the biggest charging network for electric vehicles in the Nordic region, also AutoLease, sold to DNB, which today is one of the biggest automotive leasing operators in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger has been Chairman of the Munich Security Conference since 2008. He is also Senior Professor for Security Policy and Diplomatic Practice at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin. Ischinger began his diplomatic career in the cabinet of the UN Secretary-General in 1973 and joined the Federal Republic of Germany’s foreign service in 1975. From 1998 to 2001, he was Staatssekretär (Deputy Foreign Minister). From 2001 to 2008, he served first as German Ambassador in Washington, DC, and then in London. From 2008 to 2014, he was Global Head of Government Relations of Allianz SE, Munich. Today, Ischinger serves on a number of corporate and non-profit boards.

Ragnar Kruse is the CEO and co-founder of Smaato. Since 2005, he has built Smaato into the world’s largest independent mobile ad exchange, with over 90,000 publishers and app developers and more than 450 demand partners delivering ads to over one billion unique mobile users per month around the world. He has raised USD 50 million from prestigious investors such as Aeris Capital, EDBI Singapore, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and business angels.

As a serial entrepreneur with more than 30 years’ experience in IT, Mr Kruse understands the unique challenges in bringing new technologies to market. He has built up several companies from inception to market launch in the US and Europe.

At Intershop Communications, a leader in e-commerce software solutions, Mr Kruse was VP of Sales and Marketing in San Francisco. During his tenure, he was instrumental in the company’s growth, ushering it through a successful IPO on NASDAQ and the ‘Neuer Markt’ in 1998, while helping the company to grow from five employees to more than 1,000.

Thomas is a practising lawyer with more than 32 years of experience in energy, transport, infrastructure, dispute resolution and privatisation projects. He also has vast litigation experience in various market sectors and several international commercial and investment arbitration cases. Thomas has been engaged as project director and team leader inter alia for EU-funded projects like INOGATE and TRACECA that aim at the facilitation of infrastructure investments in Central Asia, Caucasus and Eastern Europe for the transportation of oil and gas from Central Asia and Caspian Basin to Europe as well as trade facilitation, cross-border procedure harmonisation, dispute resolution mechanisms and multimodal transportation systems. At present, Thomas is leading a number of high-profile privatisation and concession projects, including the privatisation of ten major ports in Greece and the Hellenic Petroleum privatisation process.

Pui Shan Lee heads the Hongkong office of Kekst CNC, one of the world’s premier strategic communications firms. She advises Chinese and multinational companies on cross-border transactions, corporate communications, investor relations, crisis preparedness and management. Pui Shan has provided highly-tailored media and crisis training programs to hundreds of C-suite and senior-level executives – both Chinese and expatriates – preparing them to deal with the complex, diverse, and evolving media and business environment in China and abroad. Prior to joining Kekst CNC, Pui Shan was a Managing Director and head of the Strategic Communications segment at FTI Consulting in Shanghai. She was previously a Vice President at APCO Worldwide and an Executive Director and head of China at Citigate Dewe Rogerson. Before moving into communications consultancy, she was a veteran journalist in Hong Kong, holding key editorial positions at leading Hong Kong media, including Television Broadcasts Limited, Hong Kong Economic Journal and Hong Kong Economic Times.

Before joining Daimler, Yan LENG was Vice President of TOTAL China responsible for government affairs and communication. Prior to that, he spent 18 years in senior business management positions at leading multinational companies: He was General Manager of Construction Industry and Director of Industry Affairs at BASF, right before that, he was Chief Representative/Country Manager China at Hochtief.

Yan LENG started his career in 1987 as a junior diplomat and chief interpreter for German-speaking countries in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1981, Yan LENG began studying in Germany on a Chinese government scholarship and graduated in 1987 with a Masters

degree of the Karls-Ruprecht University of Heidelberg. In 2003, he earned his MBA degree from China-Europe International Business School (CEIBS).

He speaks Chinese, German and English fluently.

Mr. Liu Guangying was born in March, 1963. He graduated from North China Electric Power University with a PHD degree in economics and management。

Mr. Liu was appointed as Executive Vice President of State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) in Sept. 2014.

From 2000 to 2005, Mr. Liu served as head of Personnel Dept. and Vice President of Shandong Power Company.

From 2005 to 2014, Mr. Liu worked in the headquarters of the State Grid Corporation of China, serving successively as Director General of Supervision Dept., Director General of Administration Office, Director General of Personnel Dept. and then Vice President.

Mr. Liu also serves as the chairman of the Association of China Electric Power Writers, and writes several books such as “Football in black and white”, “self-liberation” and “Bumping into the future”.

A qualified accountant, securities professional, computer specialist, and management consultant, educated at Harvard University and Trinity College Dublin, Professor Mainelli gained his PhD at London School of Economics where he was also a Visiting Professor. He began his career as a research scientist, later becoming an accountancy-firm partner and a director of Ministry of Defence research.  During a spell in merchant banking in 1994, he co-founded Z/Yen, the City of London’s leading commercial think-tank. He has led Z/Yen from creating smart ledgers (aka blockchains) through Global Financial Centres Index, Global Green Finance Index, Global Intellectual Property Index, and Long Finance. He is an Alderman of the City of London, a non-executive director of two listed firms and a regulator, Emeritus Professor at Gresham College, Fellow of Goodenough College, and Master of the Worshipful Company of World Traders. His third book, The Price of Fish: A New Approach to Wicked Economics and Better Decisions (鱼价引爆经济学：真实商业有多难), won the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards Finance, Investment & Economics Gold Prize.

After completing his studies in computer science and the supplementary subject of economics at the University of Hamburg, Jens Meier started his professional career at Software Design & Management AG (Ernst & Young group).

In 2000, he was appointed divisional manager of Systematics AG (later EDS). From July 2002 onwards, Jens Meier was CEO of tts Holding GmbH & Co. KG, where he was in charge of IT, finances and international logistics. Upon the sale of the tts group to Fiege in 2006, he was appointed to the board of directors of Fiege Holding Stiftung & Co. KG, Greven. 

Since April 1st, 2008 Jens Meier has been serving as CEO of the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA).

He is an alumnus of the Young Business People at the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and senator of the Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade where he represents the logistics industry. In 2006, the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg appointed him to the board of trustees of the Logistics Initiative Hamburg.

Mr. Merirands began his professional career at the Energy Department of the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia in 2001.  During his employment there, he worked as a Head of Electricity and Gas Market Unit, Deputy Director of Energy Department, dealing with issues related to legal framework of energy markets, international cooperation and energy security and as a Director of Energy Department. In 2013 he was transferred to the position of a deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Transport in charge of railway, aviation and road transport sector as well as transport and communications security. Mr. Merirands has an academic master’s degree in legal science, as well as an interdisciplinary Master’s degree in Baltic Sea region issues. 

Mr Redonnet previously headed the WTO division and then the Strategy division of the DG Trade.  

Before that, he served as Deputy chief of staff to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and advisor to EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy.

Mr Redonnet is a career European Commission official, having held positions in the monetary, international economic affairs and internal market directorate generals of the EU Executive. He is an economist by training and started his career as a corporate banker for a French bank in the city of London.

Frank Riemensperger has been Chairman of Accenture in Germany, Austria and Switzerland since November 2009. In this role, Frank is responsible for strategy development and execution as well as Accenture’s market development in the German-speaking countries. Currently, Accenture has more than 8,000 employees in this region.

The trained computer scientist and expert for digitization holds a seat in the acatech Senate, the German Academy for Engineering Sciences, and is a member of the supervisory board of the DFKI (German Institute for Artificial Intelligence). Frank is part of the executive committees of the German IT association BITKOM and the German association of IT users VOICE and a member of the steering committees of the Plattform Industrie 4.0 and of the Plattform Lernende Systeme. Furthermore, he is the Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany, a member of the Baden-Badener Unternehmer-Gespräche (BBUG), of the Feldafinger Kreis and is a jury member of several awards including the Top 500 German Growth Champions, the German Innovation Prize and the German CIO of the year.

Together with Prof. Dr. Henning Kagermann, President of acatech, Frank heads the German research project "Smart Service Welt - Digital Transformation of the German Industry”. The aim of the project is to develop recommendations for German industry leaders and policy makers to lead the digital transformation of Germany’s key industries.

Born in Hamburg, Olaf Rotax is Founder and Managing Director of dgroup / since 2016 part of Accenture, one of the world's largest management consulting, technology and outsourcing service providers. With the vision "Creating business in a digital world", he has been driving national and international companies in actively exploiting the potential of digitization since 2008, together with more than 100 colleagues. dgroup is a leading specialist consultancy and enabler for digital transformation. In addition to traditional consulting, dgroup's portfolio also includes the implementation and digital communication/ brand work to guide their clients on the way of digital transformation from top to bottom.
Previously, the graduated industrial engineer (Wedel and Buckingham) worked in a leading role for several well-known companies with a digital focus. After completing his studies and trainee program, he initially worked at Tchibo Holding AG (Tchibo, Beiersdorf, Reemtsma) and established tchibo.de in 1999/2000. After further management positions at Otto, Shopping24 and Karstadt, where he was responsible for the rebuilding of karstadt.de as a Managing Director, Olaf Rotax switched to the service sector after 10 years of professional activity. In total, Olaf Rotax has gained about 20 years of digital experience and has accompanied more than 100 projects on digital transformation for over 50 corporations, medium-sized companies and startups from idea to operation.
Olaf Rotax was born in 1973, is married and has three children.

Professor Eberhard Sandschneider holds a chair in Chinese politics and international relations at Freie Universität Berlin. Between 2003 and 2016, he was the ‘Otto Wolff Director’ at the research institute of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). Since 2014, he has served as one of the two deans of the Bucerius Summer School on Global Governance in Hamburg. In 2017, he joined Berlin Global Advisors (BGA) as a partner.

Between 1995 and 1998, he was a professor of international relations at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. After moving to Freie Universität Berlin in October 1998, he became the managing director of the Otto Suhr Institute from October 1999 to March 2001  and served as dean of the Department of Political and Social Sciences from 2001 to 2003.

Eberhard Sandschneider’s books include Global Rivals: China’s Uncanny Rise and the Helplessness of the West and Europe’s Successful Descent: Giving Away Power Today in Order to Win Tomorrow.

He was promoted to full professor with his work The Stability and Transformation of Political Systems (1993) and wrote his doctoral dissertation on Military and Politics in the People’s Republic of China 1969–1986 (1986).

Robert Schoellhammer, the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Representative to Europe, is a development economist, with dual British-German citizenship, born in Zürich, Switzerland. He joined ADB in 2000 as a project economist working in east and central Asia, after which he joined the Strategy and Policy Department, and including an assignment as Deputy Resident Director to North America. Mr Schoellhammer then transferred to ADB’s Mongolia Resident Mission as Country Director. Prior to joining the European Representative Office, Mr Schoellhammer served as Adviser to ADB’s Director General for East Asia. Mr. Schoellhammer also worked at the African Development Bank, at GOPA Consultants, Germany, and lectured at Mongolia’s Institute for Administration and Management Development. He holds a Bachelors degree in Development Economics from the University of East Anglia, a Masters degree in Agriculture from the University of Aberdeen, and speaks English and German, French, Russian and Mongolian.

Dr. Margot Schüller is an associate and China expert at the Institute of Asian Studies at the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies. She lectures regularly on Chinese and East Asian economies at universities in Germany and abroad and frequently advises governmental and private institutions. Dr Schüller’s current research focuses on China’s transition to a new industrial development model, China’s innovation system and policies and the globalisation of Chinese companies. On behalf of the GIGA, she coordinates the Asia-Pacific Research Area (APRA) monitoring project that analyses national and regional innovation performance. Dr Schüller is also a member of the Sino-German Innovation Platform, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.

Kurt Sievers is president of NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI). In this role, he oversees all NXP business lines, including automotive, industrial and IoT, mobile, and communications infrastructure. Since 2008, he has led the worldwide NXP automotive business as executive vice president and general manager. At the founding of NXP in 2006, he was responsible for strategy and business development in the automotive and secure identification businesses.Mr Sievers serves as a member of the board of the Central Association of the German Electrical Engineering and Electronics Industry (ZVEI). He is also a member of the supervisory boards for AENEAS and PENTA, a key role that shapes European private–public R&D programmes in the field of microelectronics. He chairs the advisory board for the electronica trade fair. He is also the managing director of NXP Semiconductors Germany GmbH.Mr Sievers started his career in 1995 at Philips Semiconductors. He holds a master’s degree in physics and information technology.

Dr Angela Stanzel is a senior policy fellow in the Asia programme of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). She is also the editor of China Analysis, a quarterly analytical survey of Chinese news and debate published by the ECFR. Alongside China’s foreign policy and EU–China relations, her research work focuses on South Asia in the context of China’s rise. She is the author of a range of publications and a frequent commentator in international media. Before joining the ECFR in 2014, Angela worked for the BMW Foundation and the International Affairs Office of the Koerber Foundation in Berlin. Prior to that, she worked in Brussels for the German Marshall Fund of the United States (Asia programme) and in Beijing for the German embassy (cultural section) as well as for several event and marketing firms. Angela Stanzel earned her PhD in Sinology at Freie Universität Berlin in 2013. She has also been a member of the Young China Watchers (YCW) in Berlin since 2015.

Dr Sabine Stricker-Kellerer advises on legal aspects of doing business in China based on her 30 years of experience in Chinese business and legal matters. She was the first lawyer to set up an office for a European law firm in China back in 1985. Dr Stricker-Kellerer is Chairperson of the International Advisory Committee of the German Federal Minister of Economics, member of the Sino-German Dialogue Forum. She is active as an international arbitrator with the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) and other Asian arbitration institutions. She studied law in Munich, Geneva and Harvard.

Angela Titzrath was born on 30 April 1966 in Essen. After studying economics and Romance language and literature at Ruhr University Bochum, she began her career as the Head of Operative and Strategic Controlling at Mercedes-Benz in Rome.

She took on several international top management functions at the Daimler Group between 1991 and 2012, including CEO of the Mercedes-Benz Credit of Canada, Managing Director of the Mercedes-Benz Credit of North America in the US and European Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Bank. She also headed up all services, equity interests and the corporate strategy in the DaimlerChrysler merger. In 2002, Ms. Titzrath took on the role of commercial managing director at the Mercedes-Benz production plant in Spain and subsequently became Member of the Executive Board for Sales, Aftersales and Logistics for the Daimler AG Buses division.

In 2012, she was appointed to the Executive Board of Deutsche Post AG, where she was responsible for Group Human Resources globally until 2014. In the last few years she has been an active Supervisory Board member for various companies and organisations, whilst also working as a consultant and lecturer.

Ms. Titzrath has been a member of HHLA’s Executive Board since October 1, 2016 and its Chairwoman since January 1, 2017.

Dr Peter Tschentscher was born on 20 January 1966 in Bremen. Beginning in 1987, after secondary school and civil service, he studied medicine with postgraduate studies in molecular biology in Hamburg, which he completed with a Doctor of Medicine in 1995. This was followed by a habilitation in 2008. Until 2011, he was a senior physician at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

Peter Tschentscher joined the SPD as a student. From 2008 until 2011, he was deputy chair and financial policy spokesman of the SPD faction in the Hamburg parliament. In 2011, he was named minister of finance in the Hamburg senate.

On 28 March 2018, the Hamburg parliament elected Peter Tschentscher as the first mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. He is the plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany for German–French cultural cooperation with the rank of minister of state.

Margrethe Vestager is EU Commissioner for Competition. She previously served as Minister for Economic Affairs and the Interior (2011-14) and Minister for Education (1998-2001) of Denmark, and as President of the ECOFIN Council during the Danish EU Presidency (2012). She was Political leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party (2007-14), and has worked for the Danish Ministry of Finance (1993-95). Ms. Vestager holds an MSc in Economics (University of Copenhagen).

Henning Vöpel has been director and CEO of the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI) since 2014. In 2010, he was appointed as Professor of Economics at HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration. His research areas include business cycle analysis, fiscal and monetary policy as well as the digital economy.

After studying economics at the University of Hamburg, Professor Vöpel completed his doctorate in 2004 on the topic of the stabilisation effects of fiscal policy. At the same time, he worked as a research associate in the Faculty of Business and Economics. For the next two years, he worked as an independent business consultant.

In 2006, Professor Vöpel twice took part in the joint economic forecast of the leading economic research institutes on behalf of the German government. In 2009, he was invited by the US Department of State to carry out research in locations such as Washington DC, San Francisco and Boston (Harvard and MIT) as part of the International Young Leadership Programme.

Karl Wehner was appointed Managing Director Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Turkey, Eastern Europe in July 2017.

Karl is responsible for helping partners across key European markets access the Alibaba Ecosystem and brings over fifteen years of experience in the digital commerce space to the role.

Karl started his e-commerce career at Amazon Germany in 1999, where he launched and managed the Amazon Marketplace business and was also responsible for the launch of Amazon’s co-branded credit card.

Before joining Alibaba, Karl successfully built a 3rd party marketplace for Takealot.com in Cape Town, which has become South Africa´s largest e-commerce company.

Gunnar Wiegand has been Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific of the European External Action Service (EEAS) since January 2016.

He is the EU's Senior Official for the Asia Europe Meetings (ASEM) as well as for the EU-ASEAN relations. In addition, he is the EU's Chief Negotiator for the new EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement.

Before assuming this function he was Deputy Managing Director Europe and Central Asia since September 2015 and Director Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia and OSCE since 2011 at the EEAS. In this function he has been the EU's Chief Negotiator for the Association Agreements with Moldova, Georgia and Armenia, as well as the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Kazakhstan. He also negotiated the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda, and was the EU Coordinator of the EU-Russia Partnership for Modernisation.

Before this Gunnar Wiegand had worked in various functions related to external relations and trade policy at the European Commission since 1990, including as Desk Officer for external aspects of German unification, as Policy Assistant of the Director-General for Trade Policy, as Spokesman for External Relations to Commissioner Chris Patten until 2002, as Head of Unit, first for Relations with the United States and Canada (2002-2006) and then for Relations with Russia and the Northern Dimension (2006-2008). In 2008 he was appointed Director for Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus and Central Asia at the European Commission's External Relations Directorate-General.

Prior to working for EU Institutions Gunnar Wiegand worked at IRELA the Institute of European Latin American Relations in Madrid (1985-1987) and at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Bonn (1987-1990).

Gunnar Wiegand was born in Hamburg in 1957 and holds a Law Degree from the University of Hamburg and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from the Paul S. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.

Sun Yi, born in Shanghai, learned German at an elite boarding school in Shanghai. After her first degree in German literature she obtained a master’s degree in Economics and Business Studies (Diplom-Kauffrau) in Germany. In 2006, Sun Yi joined EY (formerly Ernst & Young) and in 2011 she became the first Chinese native speaker to work as a partner in a Big Four audit firm in Germany and the youngest partner at EY. Alongside her role as partner in Transaction Advisory Services, Sun also leads EY’s China Business Services in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. She has more than 14 years of experience in cross-border business with China and, with her team, has acted as an advisor to most landmark transactions by Chinese investors in Europe during the last six years.

Mr. Ling Yiqun is a professor-level senior engineer with a Doctor’s degree. In February 2000, he was appointed Deputy Director General of Sinopec Refining Department. From June 2003 to August 2013, he served as Director General of Sinopec’s Refining Department. In July 2010, he was appointed Vice President of Sinopec Corp. From September 2011 to March 2014, he was Vice Chairman of Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company Ltd. (YASREF). From May 2012 to July 2013, he was Executive Director, President and Secretary of CPC Committee of Sinopec Refinery Product Sales Company Limited. In August 2013, he was appointed President and Secretary of CPC Committee of Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical Corporation and President of Sinopec Qilu Company. In August 2016, he served as Secretary of CPC Committee of Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical Corporation. In December 2016, he became Chairman of Sinopec Engineering（Group）Co. Ltd. In March 2017, he was appointed Vice President of Sinopec Group. In February 2018, he was appointed Senior Vice President of Sinopec Corporation. In May 2018, he was appointed as Board Director of Sinopec Corporation.

Born in March 1945, Mr. Li Yizhong, a professorate senior engineer, was once Vice Chairman & Party Secretary of SASAC, Chairman & Secretary of Leading Party Group of State Administration of Work Safety as well as Minister and Secretary of Leading Party Group of the MIIT. He was Vice Chairman of the Economic Committee & standing member of the 12^th CPPCC National Committee. He was also the alternate member of the 14^th and 15^th CPC Central Committee and member of the 16^th and 17^th CPC Central Committee. He is now Chairman of CFIE.

He graduated from Beijing Petroleum College in 1966 and has worked successively as Deputy General Manager，Executive Deputy General Manager of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, General Manager, Chairman & Secretary of Leading Party Group of Donglian Petrochemical Group, General Manager & Secretary of Leading Party Group of Sinopec Group and Chairman & Secretary of Leading Party Group of China Sinopec Corporation, Ltd. He sits as Chairman and Executive President of the Presidium of CFIE since April 2011.

Yong Hu，Assistant General Manager of China FAW Group Co., LTD & Director of Strategy Management and Business Planning Department is a Professorate Senior Engineer.

He graduated from Tsinghua University Department of Automotive Engineering and majored in internal combustion engine and has over ten years’ experience in ICE development and test management. He previously served as: Chief of the Test Management Section, Changchun Automotive Research Institute; Vice Director, Director of FAW Group Steering Gear Factory; Assistant Chief Engineer of FAW Group & 1st Deputy General Manager of FAW Daewoo Company; Deputy Secretary-General of Chongqing Municipal Government (temporary, responsible for communicating with automotive and motorcycle industry); Dean of MMI Planning & Engineering Institute IX CO., LTD; FAW-VW Deputy General Manager of Business & General Manager of FAW-VW Sales Company; Assistant General Manager of China FAW Group Co., LTD & Shareholders’ Representative for VW cooperation; Assistant General Manager of China FAW Group Co., LTD & BOD Member, General Manager of FAW CAR CO., LTD.

Mr. Wang Yongzhi, Professorate Senior Engineer, is the CIO of CRRC. Mr. Wang obtained a bachelor degree from the Southwest Jiao Tong University in 1984 and a master degree from Beijing Jiao Tong University in 1994. Mr. Wang started his technical research career at Zhuzhou electric locomotive institute. Then he has served successively as the vice director of R&D department, the director of R&D department, vice CTO, CTO, CIO of China Railway Rolling Stock Industry Corporation, CNR, CRRC from 1996. Mr. Wang has organized several core projects of Chinese high speed trains and high power AC drive locomotives, relating to the quality control, technology innovation and key product development. He has also organized the “IT Ascend Height Engineer Project” of CRRC and the “CRRC Intelligence Manufacture 2025 Project”. Mr. Wang has won the First/Second prize award of science and technology of the China Railway Ministry/China Railway Academy for several times. Now, Mr. Wang is a member of the integration of information and industrialization leader team of Industry and Information Ministry, and member of the China Intelligence manufacture standardization expert advisory group.

At Souche, Alan is responsible for corporate finance, investment and acquisition Ms, strategic planning and investor relationship. Before joining Souche in 2018, he worked as Vice president of Simcere Pharmaceutical Group from 2016-2018 and was in charge of capital market and global business development. Before Simcere, he extensively worked in global top tier investment banks in multiple industries including TMT, healthcare and consumer/retail. Prior to Simcere, he worked in the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch between 2014 and 2016 as the director of the Consumer and Healthcare group. Prior to that, he held various positions at Credit SUISSE and Deutsche Bank. He obtained an MBA degree from the University of Chicago.

Born in June 1960, Chairman ZHOU has long been working for industrial and economic organizations of the Chinese government. For the biggest part of his career, he has been committed to corporate management and the reform of state-owned enterprises in China. He previously held posts such as Deputy Director of the Legal Department of the Bureau of Petrochemical, Director of the Bureau of Policies, Laws and Regulations of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of China (SASAC), Deputy Secretary General of SASAC, etc. With profound experience in SOEs reform and deep expertise in the economic arena, he was appointed head of the China Reform Holdings Corporation, a pilot SOE for state capital operation in 2018.

Hala Zeine is the President of Digital Supply Chain and is responsible for running a global Line of Business
(LoB), comprising of development and go-to-market for SAP. This team provides innovative Digital Supply
Chain and Manufacturing solutions, including co-innovation, product design and go-to-market for all products
within the LoB including manufacturing, logistics, start-up programs and an eco-system of partners.
Hala has extensive expertise of IT industry, technology and the supply chain business, and is passionate
about making a real difference in solving customer’s business problems and helping them to implement digital
solutions that enhance and support their mission critical business processes.
Previously Hala was the chief business development officer at SAP, responsible for defining the portfolio
investment strategy, commercialization direction and digital transformation for SAP. In this role, she led SAP’s
portfolio, pricing and commercialization; market introduction; and SAP Digital.
Hala serves as a member of the leadership teams of SAP’s executive board areas for Product & Innovation,
Cloud Business, and Global Customer Operations. With SAP since 2001, Hala held previous senior
leadership roles in Development, Solution Management, Marketing, and Consulting.
She has a BASc in Marketing as is currently based in Walldorf Germany

Mr. Yu Zenggang is the Executive Vice President and Party Committee Member of China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited. He started his career in August 1984, and served as the Chief Representative of the Japan Representative Office of Shanghai Shipping Bureau, Director and General Manager of Shanghai Haixing Shipping (Japan) Co., Ltd., Deputy General Manager, General Manager of the Development Division of China Shipping (Group) Company, Executive Vice President of China Shipping (North America) Holding Co., Ltd., President of China Shipping (Europe) Holding GmbH, General Manager of the President Office of China Shipping (Group) Company, Director of BOD Office and General Office, Executive Vice President and BOD Secretary of China Shipping (Group) Company. He has over 30 years of work experience in the shipping industry, and has abundant expertise in corporate management, corporate governance, overseas industry development, international operation, and listed company management. He has held his current position since January, 2016. Mr. Yu graduated from Wuhan University of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree of engineering science in 1984 and obtained a Master’s Degree in 2012 from CEIBS (China Europe International Business School). He is a senior engineer.

Mengda Zhao, Chief Strategy Investment Officer (CSIO) of Tuya Smart, who has over 10 years investment experience in PE/VC, is specialized in TMT and Energy sectors.

Prior to joining Tuya Smart, Mengda Zhao was the managing director of HNA Innovation Finance Group, executive director of San Shan Capital and Wind Media Investment, portfolio manager of Barclays Wealth Management. Mengda Zhao has a Bachelors degree in Mathematics and a Masters degree in Risk Management and Financial Engineering from Imperial College London.

Mengda Zhao’s previous investment experience covers IoT and AI projects, from DJI to Moviebook and NCF Holdings, etc. By observing the trends and gaining the market insights from domestic and global economy, Mengda Zhao’s experience in investment has received proven success with over 5 enterprises having become “unicorn” enterprises.

Li Zheng has built a successful track record in the semiconductor industry for 25 years. Prior to joining NXP in March 2014, Li held a variety of management positions including Chairman & CEO of Renesas Electronics, Greater China and most recently, Senior Vice President of worldwide marketing for SMIC Corp.
Li holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Administration Engineering from China’s Tianjin University and a master’s degree in Economics from Tokyo University. He served as a Director of the Chinese American Semiconductor Professional Association (CASPA) and the President of the Shanghai branch, while working in Silicon Valley in the United States.
NXP Semiconductors is the world’s leading IC design and manufacturing company, ranking first globally in automotive electronics, information security and high-power RF. Extensive collaborations have been formed between NXP and industry players in China, especially in the fields of automobile intellectualization, electrification and AI-IoT.