ASIA HOUSE ADVISORY BOARD

The Asia House Advisory Board includes global business leaders and former senior representatives from governments and multilateral organisations. They play a key role in supporting Asia House’s advisory practice (Asia House Advisory) as well as contributing to the wider Asia House programme.

MEMBERS

Lord Stephen Green
Chairman of Asia House, former Chairman of HSBC and UK Trade Minister (2011-2013)

Lord Green was appointed Chairman of Asia House in January 2017, bringing with him extensive international business and governmental experience. He was Minister of State for Trade and Investment from 2011 to 2013, responsible for all matters relating to trade and investment in both the former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Prior to entering government, Lord Green was Group Chairman of HSBC from 2006 until 2010. Lord Green is a respected commentator on world trade and Asian affairs, and regularly writes on these issues. He is also Chairman of the Natural History Museum Board of Trustees. He was made a life peer on 16 November 2010 as Baron Green of Hurstpierpoint.

Scott Beaumont
President, Google Asia Pacific 

The digital revolution is driving profound change across Asia, transforming societies and creating new opportunities for business and innovation. As President of Google Asia Pacific, Scott Beaumont is central to these developments, and brings a wealth of knowledge and insights on Asia’s tech trends to the Advisory Board.

Beaumont has worked at Google for 11 years, previously serving as Google President for Greater China and Korea. Before joining Google, Beaumont ran his own tech start up, Refresh Mobile, having previously worked for T-Mobile as Executive Vice President for Business Development.

Dr Xiang Bing
Founding Dean and Professor of China Business and Globalization at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)

Dr Xiang Bing is the Founding Dean and Professor of China Business and Globalization at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). Prior to joining CKGSB, Dr Xiang was a Professor at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, where he pioneered the school’s Executive MBA program. He was also one of the seven founding faculty members of China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. Previously, Dr Xiang served on the faculty of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He has served as an independent board member of a number of companies (including two Fortune Global 500) listed in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the United States. He is a member of the International Advisory Council of Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC, a top-ranked business school in Brazil), and a Counselor for One Young World Summit in Dublin. He also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for United Way Worldwide (US) from 2011-2017, the largest private charitable organisation in the world.

Dr. Xiang’s research interests include the reform of state-owned enterprises, innovation and the role of the private sector in China. He is a leading authority on China business, innovations in China, globalisation of Chinese companies, China’s development models and global implications of China’s transformation, social innovations and global economic disruptions, China-US relations, global trade and investment systems and global governance. His writings and cases on these subjects are considered among the most influential in China.

Lord John Browne
Founder and Chairman of BeyondNetZero and Former Chief Executive of BP

Lord Browne is a former Partner at Riverstone Holdings LLC, having served from 2007 to 2015. In 1966 he joined BP, becoming a member of the Board in 1992 and was Group Chief Executive from 1995 until 2007.

Lord Browne has served on the Boards of Intel, DaimlerChrysler AG, Goldman Sachs and SmithKline Beecham. He now sits on a variety of other Advisory Boards.

Fabrice Brégier
President of Palantir France and former President and COO of Airbus

Fabrice Brégier was appointed President of Chief Operating Officer of Airbus in January 2017. In October 2018, he became President of Palantir France.

Victor Chu
Chairman  and CEO of First Eastern Investment Group

Victor Chu is Chairman and CEO of First Eastern Investment Group, a leading Hong Kong-based international investment firm and a pioneer of private equity investments in China. He is also Co-Founder and Director of Peach Aviation in Japan, as well as a Board Member of Airbus SE.

Over the last 30 years, Chu has served as Director and Council Member of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Member of the Hong Kong Takeovers and Mergers Panel, Advisory Committee Member of the Securities and Future Commission, and part-time member of the Hong Kong Government’s Central Policy Unit. He has also served as a Foundation Board Member of the World Economic Forum from 2003 to 2015 and is currently Co-Chair of the Forum’s International Business Council. He is Chairman of the Hong Kong-Europe Business Council.

Sir Douglas Flint
Chairman of Standard Life Aberdeen and former Chairman of HSBC

Sir Douglas Flint is the former Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings, having served from 2010 to 2017. For fifteen years prior to this, he was HSBC’s Group Finance Director, joining from KPMG where he was a Partner. In December 2017, he was appointed by the Chancellor as a Special Envoy to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Between 2005 and 2011, he also served as a Non-Executive Director of BP Plc.

He assumed the role of Chairman at Standard Life Aberdeen in January 2019. He is also the Chairman of IP Group, Non-Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Studies and Member of the Global Advisory Council of Motive Partners. Additionally, he is Chairman of the Just Finance Foundation, the Corporate Board of Cancer Research UK and Trustee of the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

Stuart Gulliver
Non-Executive Director of Jardine Matheson Holdings and former Group CEO of HSBC

Stuart Gulliver joined the boards of Jardine Matheson Holdings and Hong Kong Airport Authority as a non-executive director with effect from 1 January 2019 and June 2019 respectively. He was appointed as a member of the CE of the Hong Kong SAR’s Council of Advisers on Innovation and Strategic Development in March 2018 and a member of the HKEX International Advisory Council in February 2019. He is also on the board of Maggie’s Cancer Charity.

Gulliver was Group CEO of HSBC Holdings Plc from 2011 to 2018 and an Executive Director from 2008 to 2018. He also served as Chairman of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited from 2011 to 2018 and an Executive Director of that entity from 2006 to 2018.

Anne Ruth Herkes
Non Executive Director, Quintet Private Bank S.A. Luxembourg, and Brookfields Business Partners LP, Toronto

Anne Ruth Herkes has over 30 years of professional experience across Europe, the US, Japan and the Middle East. Her background includes senior positions in European economic affairs, politics and diplomacy, as well as senior executive management roles in the private sector. She served as the first female Secretary of State at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy where she was in charge of Germany‘s global trade interests and responsible for EU and WTO negotiations on behalf of the German government. She was further head of digital policies, as well as overseeing the defense and space sectors. As part of her diplomatic career she also served as Ambassador to Qatar and held assignments in Washington D.C. and London. Ms. Herkes corporate appointments included positions as member of the Executive Management of BP Biofuels plc London, as well as advising tech and space startups in Germany. Her previous board appointments include Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau /KFW, and Merck Finck Privatbank. She currently serves on the board of the Canadian PE firm Brookfield Business Partners L.P.  and Quintet (Europe) Private Bank S.A. in Luxemburg. Her non-profit roles included Deutsche Bank‘s Alfred Herrhausen International Forum.

She is committed to adding value in the foreign policy area in Europe and beyond, for instance through her role with the Vienna School of International Studies, the world‘s oldest professional school. She graduated from Free University Berlin, following an undergraduate education at London School of Economics and Institut d‘Etudes Politiques Paris (Sciences Po).

Gregory Hodkinson
Senior Advisor and former Chairman of Arup Group

Gregory Hodkinson was the Chairman of Arup Group from 2014 to 2019, having previously served as Director of Europe Division and Chairman of the Americas Region Board. He has 40 years of experience in civil infrastructure, particularly in transportation projects worldwide. This includes large-scale projects such as JetBlue, British Airways and Delta Airlines terminals at JFK International in New York, New Terminal Development for Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, Fulton Street Transit Center, and Second Avenue Subway in New York.

Having joined Arup in 1972, Hodkinson worked on major urban development and transport projects in Australia and the UK, before going on to lead the firm’s expansion in the US in 1988. In 2011, he moved to Milan to lead the firm’s European business.

Naina Lal Kidwai
Former Chairman of HSBC India

Naina Lal Kidwai retired as Chairman of HSBC India and Executive Director of the board of HSBC Asia Pacific in December 2015. She is the recipient of awards and honours in India, including the Padma Shri from the Government of India for her contribution to trade and industry.

Kidwai is now Chairman of Altico Capital India Ltd and Chairman of the Advent Private Equity India Advisory Board. She is also a Non-Executive Director on the boards of HolcimLafarge Ltd, Max Financial Services, CIPLA, Nayara Energy and Larsen and Tubro. She is the former President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry and previously served on the global board of Nestle.

Dr Kai-Fu Lee
Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures

Dr Kai-Fu Lee is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, a leading investment firm focusing on developing the next generation of Chinese high-tech companies. He is also President of Sinovation Ventures’ Artificial Intelligence Institute, and a premier thought leader on AI and its economic and social impact. His book, AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley and the New World Order, was published in 2018 to wide acclaim.

Prior to founding Sinovation Ventures in 2009, he was the Vice President of Google and President of Google China. He has also held executive positions at Microsoft, SGI, and Apple. Dr Lee was named among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2013. He has authored ten US patents, over 100 journal and conference papers, seven top-selling books in Chinese, and has more than 50 million followers on social media.

Paul Manduca
Former Chairman of Prudential Plc

Paul Manduca was Chairman of the Board at Prudential Plc from July 2012 to December 2020, having initially joined the Board in October 2010 as the Senior Independent Director and member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees. On becoming Chairman, Manduca was also appointed Chair of the Nomination & Governance Committee, having been a member of the Committee since January 2011.

Manduca brings with him extensive experience in leadership roles, with notable appointments including Chairman of the Association of Investment Companies (1991-1993), Founding CEO of Threadneedle Asset Management Limited (1994-1999), Global CEO of Rothschild Asset Management (1999-2002), directorships of Eagle Star and Allied Dunbar, European CEO of Deutsche Asset Management (2002-2005), Chairman of Bridgewell Group Plc, a Director of Henderson Smaller Companies Investment Trust Plc, and Chairman of Aon UK Limited and JPM European Smaller Companies Investment Trust Plc.

Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak
Chairman of Ikhlas Capital and former Chairman of CIMB Group

Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak is Chairman of Ikhlas Capital, an ASEAN private equity firm established in April 2019. In October 2018 he retired from CIMB Group after 29 years, where he served in various capacities before becoming Group CEO in 1999 and then Chairman in 2014. Dato’ Sri Nazir spearheaded the Group’s transformation from a mid-sized Malaysian merchant bank into the 5th largest ASEAN universal bank.

He was the youngest recipient of Finance Asia’s ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ in 2009 and was awarded Euromoney’s ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ in 2012. In 2015, he was the winner of the ‘Asia House Asian Business Leaders Award’.

A strong advocate of the ASEAN economic integration, he was the inaugural Chairman of the World Economic Forum ASEAN Regional Strategy Group. He also led the establishment of the ASEAN Business Club and the CIMB ASEAN Research Institute.

Lord Peter Ricketts
Former UK Ambassador to France and former National Security Advisor

Lord Ricketts was a British diplomat for 40 years. Earlier in his public service, Lord Ricketts had experience of Asian issues when serving in Singapore in the 1970s, as a Private Secretary to Sir Geoffrey Howe dealing with the negotiations with China over Hong Kong (1982-1984), and as Head of the FCO Hong Kong Department in the 1990s supporting Governor Chris Patten.

His other career specialisation has been in security and crisis management issues. He was Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, and Political Director in the Foreign Office from 2001-3, dealing with policy on the Afghanistan and Iraq interventions, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He then served as UK Permanent Representative to NATO (2003-2006). In the final stage of his career, Peter served as Permanent Under Secretary at the FCO (2006-2010), and as Britain’s first National Security Adviser (2010-2012). In that capacity he established the National Security Council, and oversaw the 2010 National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review. He was Ambassador to France (2012-2016).

After retirement, he was appointed a cross-bench member of the House of Lords (non-political) and divides his time between business activities (including as a Strategic Adviser to Lockheed Martin UK) and public policy work.

Dr Norbert Röttgen
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag

Dr Norbert Röttgen has been the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German Bundestag since 2014. From 2009 to 2012, he served as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. He has been a Member of the German Parliament since 1994 and has fulfilled key functions within the Christian Democratic Party.

Dr Röttgen is also the Co-Chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations and Board Member of various institutions, including the Atlantik-Brücke, the Hertie School of Governance Berlin and the German Council on Foreign Relations. In 2009, he published his book, ‘Deutschlands beste Jahre kommen noch’, in which he called for a strategic and thought-through German political agenda that exercises a formative influence on globalisation, rather than being at its mercy.

Miriam Sapiro
Managing Director at Sard Verbinnen & Co; Former Acting and Deputy US Trade Representative

Miriam Sapiro served as the Deputy US Trade Representative and Acting US Trade Representative under President Obama, as well as the State Department and the National Security Council under Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton. She is now the Managing Director and Vice Chair of SVC Public Affairs, where she focuses on public affairs and strategic communications with respect to cross-border transactions, litigation and regulatory issues. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience in government and the private sector, she has helped to navigate high-stakes crises and provided strategic advice to companies and organisations on a range of US and international policy and regulatory challenges.

Sapiro also serves on the Supervisory Board of the Lufthansa Group, the Board of Project HOPE, the Panel of Conciliators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes at the World Bank and the Department of State’s Advisory Committee on Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy.

Sir Martin Sorrell
Executive Chairman of S4 Capital and Founder of WPP

Sir Martin Sorrell is Executive Chairman of S4 Capital, which is building a new age, new era, digital advertising and marketing services platform for clients. He was the CEO of WPP for 33 years, building it from a £1 million “shell” company in 1985 into the world’s largest advertising and marketing services company, with a market capitalisation of over £16 billion, revenues of over £15 billion, profits of approximately £2 billion and over 200,000 people in 113 countries.

Prior to that, Sir Martin was Group Financial Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Company plc for 9 years and worked for James Gulliver, Mark McCormack and Glendinning Associates before that. S4 Capital Plc was recently merged with MediaMonks and MightHive, and is listed at the London Stock Exchange under SFOR.