Hans Dietmar Schweisgut joined the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs after obtaining his doctorate in law at the University of Innsbruck and post-graduate studies in the US and the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. After serving at the Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations, he went on to hold key posts in the Austrian Federal Chancellery and later as Director General at the Austrian Ministry of Finance. He was Ambassador of Austria to Japan and served as Austria's Ambassador to the People's Republic of China. Following this he held the post of Permanent Representative of Austria to the European Union in Brussels. He was the EU Ambassador to Japan before being appointed to his current position as EU Ambassador to the People's Republic of China and Mongolia in September 2014.

Mr. Jin Liqun was selected as President-designate of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on August 24, 2015 at the 6th Meeting of the Chief Negotiators of the Bank’s Prospective Founding Members in Tbilisi, Georgia. The term of the President-designate starts September 1, 2015. Mr. Jin has been a leader of public and private financial institutions in Asia and deeply involved in international development and financial cooperation for over 30 years.

Mr. Jin has served as Secretary General of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat since its establishment on October 24, 2014 at a Special Ministerial Meeting of the Prospective Founding Members (PFMs) of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. In this capacity, under the guidance of the Chief Negotiators representing the PFMs, Mr. Jin has led the Secretariat in preparing the legal, policy and administrative frameworks and undertaking other preparatory work required for the establishment of the Bank. He is committed to ensuring that AIIB will provide a multilateral regional financing and investment platform for infrastructure development and improvement in Asia that emphasizes efficiency, sustainability and transparency. Throughout his career, Mr. Jin has worked in close cooperation with the existing multilateral development banks.

Jörg Wuttke is Vice President and Chief Representative of BASF China, based in Beijing. Since joining BASF in 1997, Mr. Wuttke has been responsible for helping guide the company’s investment strategies for China, negotiation of large projects and government relations. (BASF Greater China’s sales in 2014 were €5.5 billion)

Previous to joining BASF, Mr. Wuttke worked with ABB for 11 years. In 1990, he returned to Germany as Sales Manager of ABB Power Plants Division, responsible for gas turbine sales to Africa and Russia. In 1993, he became Chief Representative ABB China in Shanghai and in 1994 moved to the President's Office of ABB China in Beijing, where he was responsible for the development and financing of large projects.

From 2001 to 2004 Mr. Wuttke was the Chairman of the German Chamber of Commerce in China. From 2007 to 2010, and again since April 2014 he is the President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. In January 2011 the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC), a Paris based body of major business associations that lobbies the OECD, named Mr. Wuttke to become Chairman of the BIAC China Task Force. Since its establishment in 2013, Mr. Wuttke is member of the Advisory Board of Germany’s foremost Think Tank on China, Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), in Berlin. Since July 2013, Mr. Wuttke is Vice Chairman of the CPCIF International Cooperation Committee, a group representing Multinational Companies in China’s Chemical Association.

Mr. Weiss is an Austrian national. He holds a doctoral degree in economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. Prior to being seconded to the EU delegation in China he worked in various assignments as senior adviser, acting director and division head at the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission. Between 2011 and 2014, he was Deputy Mission Chief of the European Commission for the Financial Adjustment Programme of Portugal. In 2010-2011 he was Resident Representative of the European Commission in Athens for the Financial Adjustment Programme of Greece. Before joining the European Commission he worked at the OECD Secretariat in Paris, the European Free Trade Association in Geneva and as assistant professor of economics at the University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna. He has authored and co-authored various journal articles and book contributions in the area of labour market economics, international trade and business cycles.

Alfred Schipke, is the IMF Senior Resident Representative for China. Previously, he was a division chief in the Asia and Pacific Department, where he coordinated the work on fast growing low income countries in South-East Asia (Frontier Economies) and led missions to Vietnam. He was a division chief in the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department in charge of the Latin Caribbean and Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) divisions. Among others, he negotiated a high access Stand-by Arrangement, which included a debt restructuring and a debt-equity swap for one of the countries in the ECCU, as well as an $800 million precautionary Stand-By Arrangement for El Salvador. Also, he was the Regional Resident Representative for Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic and worked in the IMF European Department. He teaches international trade and finance at Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government and has authored and edited a number of books and articles, including a recently published handbook on the ECCU. His research has focused on economic integration and the linkages between macroeconomics and finance.

He Fan is chief economist and managing director of Caixin Insight Group. Caixin is a leading media and data company in China and Dr. He heads the research department of Caixin, which focuses on public policy research and strategic planning. He is also a Senior Economics Fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking in New York. Before joining Caixin, Dr. He was the deputy director of Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Dr. He is one of the most active young economists in China. His fields of interest include Chinese macro-economy, international finance, and international political economy. He is the author or editor of 10 books and more than 100 papers in professional economics journals. Dr. He has worked on a broad range of issues like RMB exchange rate policy, China’s foreign trade and FDI policy, and financial system reform. He is a consultant for Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, People’s Bank of China, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is deeply involved in many policy discussions. Dr. He is also a member of the Bellagio group of central bankers and academics (Group Thirty). He was a visiting fellow at Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University in 2014.

Jurgen CONRAD is a financial industry professional with 24 years experience in private and public sector financial institutions. He started his career at Germany’s top economic research think tank, the CES ifo Institute for Economic Research, before joining Deutsche Bank as Head of Eastern European Economic Research to cover transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East. After joining Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2002, he worked mainly as mission leader for policy-based lending programs and technical assistance projects supporting financial and private sector development, and public-private partnerships in Central, West, and South Asia, while sustaining his research activities with focus on financial and private sector development. In 2009-2011, Mr. Conrad took leave from ADB to work as Senior Advisor for Japan Bank for International Development in Tokyo, from where he covered emerging markets worldwide. Since early 2013, he heads ADB’s economics team in Beijing, which focuses on economic surveillance and policy dialogue on key structural reforms.

Mr. Liu is currently the Roland Berger Supervisory Board Member and Global Senior Partner. Mr. Liu is also the Independent Board Director of BaoSteel Co., Ltd. Mr. Liu has more than 20 years of professional consulting and industry management experience in Greater China, U.K. and U.S. Prior to joining Roland Berger, Mr. Liu worked for two leading US-based management consulting firms.

Mr. Liu is leading the Energy & Utilities, Chemicals, EPHT (Engineering Products & High Tech), Operations practices of Roland Berger Greater China. Mr. Liu has deep knowledge and project experiences in Energy (Oil & Gas, Coal, Electricity, New Energy etc.), Utilities (Water, Waste Treatment, Environmental Protection etc.), Chemicals (Petro-Chemicals, Coal-Chemicals, Speciality Chemicals etc.), Advanced Manufacturing, Transmission & Distribution Equipment and Steel.

Mr. Liu has rich consulting experiences serving leading Chinese state-owned enterprises, private companies and multinational companies. Mr. Liu also has in-depth expertise in the functional areas of Corporate Strategy, Globalization Strategy & International M&As, Sales & Marketing, Organization Transformation, Post Merger Integration, Performance Management, Operations Improvement (R&D, Sourcing, Manufacturing) and Supply Chain Management.

James Zimmerman is the managing partner for the Beijing office of the international law firm of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, and is the author of several publications concerning trade and China related issues, including the well-recognized China Law Deskbook, a publication of the American Bar Association (now in its 4th edition).

Mr. Zimmerman is recognized as one of Asia’s leading business lawyers in the AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers Survey and is listed as a Leading Individual in the category of Corporate/M&A for foreign law firms in China of the AsiaPacific Legal 500: The Guide to Asia's Commercial Law Firms.

Mr. Zimmerman serves on a number of non-profit boards focused on child health and education issues in China and is active as a fundraiser for charitable organizations. He has lived and worked in Beijing since 1998. Zimmerman previously served as the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce China in 2007 and 2008 and as a vice chairman in 2005 and 2006, and also has served on various AmCham committees for over 15 years.

Based in China since 1986, Jonathan has been instrumental in establishing and growing McKinsey’s presence in China. In addition to his work helping Chinese and other Asian businesses prepare for global growth, Jonathan is responsible for convening the Firm's work with city and regional authorities in more than 40 geographies around the world. He leads McKinsey’s Cities Special Initiative and co-chairs the non-profit think tank Urban China Initiative—a collaborative project of Columbia University, Tsinghua University, and McKinsey & Company—that aims to develop and implement solutions to China’s urbanization challenge.

An expert on energy, sustainability, and economic master planning, Jonathan’s public sector work is extensive. He has advised national governments in Asia on improving the environment for foreign investors, supported the development and drafting of national energy policy, and advised national and local government authorities on economic development. He has conducted more than 60 projects for local governments throughout China to support economic development and transformation. He actively serves urban authorities in the Middle East, Russia and North America on economic master planning and performance improvement.

Jonathan works in the private sector as well, most often on topics related to corporate strategy, operations, and organization. He has served clients in industries such as energy, metals and mining, healthcare, telecommunications, and transportation. He has also worked extensively in real estate – specifically, on commercial revitalization – and advised on energy investment strategies and energy productivity opportunities among other topics. He supported the largest company in China in a fundamental restructuring that led to the then-largest foreign listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Logan Wright is a Director at RHG and leads the firm’s China Markets Research (CMR) work. Previously, Logan was head of China research for Medley Global Advisors and a China analyst with Stone & McCarthy Research Associates in Beijing.

Logan’s focus includes the impact of credit expansion on the Chinese financial system, China’s exchange rate policies, and the influence of the country on global currency and capital markets. He is well known for his views on China’s foreign assets and macroeconomic data. With more than a decade of professional experience, Logan monitors official institutions and real-time data closely to gauge implications for the banking system, real economy activity and future policy directions.

Logan holds a Ph.D. from the George Washington University, where his dissertation concerned the political factors shaping the reform of China’s exchange rate regime. He graduated with a Master’s in Security Studies and a Bachelor’s in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He is based in Hong Kong, after living and working in Beijing for fourteen years.

Ph.D. in Economics of Peking University, Cyrus is currently the Vice President of SGS China. He has over twenty years' Working experiences with China government. Cyrus used to work for Administration of Customs, Ministry of Foreign Trade, Foreign Embassy and consulate, and worked as the delegate in United Nations. He also worked as senior management in listed companies in United States and France, and also multi-national companies in China.

Since 1984, he started working in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) observation group as observer and participated in China's WTO accession negotiations for a long time. Since the 1990s, he has been involved in the Sino-US economic and trade issues of all the major bilateral negotiations. As China's macroeconomic and policy researcher, Cyrus used to work for Peking University China Center for Future Research (CCFR) as Executive Director. In 2003 he established the Academy for World Watch for proving the research support to local government and enterprises.

Maggie MA is the vice Chairwoman of the Greater China Region, Nokia Corporation. She is serving as the member of Nokia CMO leadership team, and the member of regional leadership team of Greater China.

Joined Nokia Siemens Networks in April 2007 as Head of Communications for Greater China, Maggie was responsible for establishing the brand awareness, managing change communications related to merger and set up of the new Company, such as organization change, product consolidation, creation and formulation of culture and values, and ultimately to build trust and engagement from customers and employees in the process of change and creation of the company in China.

As of May 2009, Maggie’s responsibilities expanded to lead the regional Marketing and Corporate Affairs to ensure that Nokia Marketing plans, Communications, and Government Relations and Policy strategy are well positioned and implemented in the market.

As one of the earliest communications professional in China, Maggie experienced Corporate Marketing, Communication and Government Relations in Healthcare, Manufacturing, Hospitality and Telecommunications industry in China and APAC area for the past 20 years.

Andrew Polk is the resident economist at The Conference Board China Center for Economics and Business in Beijing. Previously, Polk worked at the Institute of International Finance, where he conducted macroeconomic analysis on emerging markets in the Asia/Pacific region. His research focus has included monetary policy, capital flows, and financial market development throughout East and Southeast Asia, with a particular emphasis on China. He has also conducted growth and inflation forecasting and country risk analysis for the region. Polk has held research positions at the East Asia Desk of the U.S. Treasury Department, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Foreign Policy magazine.

Dr. Liu is a leading economist in China known for his focus on China's economic reform. On 15 July 2014, Chinese Premier LI Keqiang invited six economists to the State Council for a policy-consultation meeting, and Dr Liu is one of the six economists.

His work has been published in Harvard Business Review (China), Asian Case Research Journal, CEIBS Business Review, Securities Market Herald, and others.

He authored the following books: Next Decade of China; Who Cuts Into Your Happiness: Predicament, Loss and Injustice in a Time of Change; Management of Power: Institutional Solutions to China’s Economic Challenges; The Globalization of Chinese Companies: Strategies for Conquering International Markets; China CEO: A Case Guide for Business Leaders in China; Flowers & Thorns: Globalisation of Chinese Enterprise; and Selected Cases of CEIBS. He is also the author and co-author of a number of teaching cases. Dr. Liu has written more than 70 columns for leading media such as HBR.org, Global Times, Southern Weekend, China Business News, 21st Century Business Herald, Economic Observer, Shanghai Securities News, as well as magazines including Hong Kong & Shanghai and Nan Feng Chuang.