| Officers - 2008 | ||
| Andy Dubosky | President and Chairman | |
| Steven Drake | Vice President | |
| David A. Rice | Treasurer | |
| Michael F. Violette | Secretary | |
| Stephen J. Hammalian, Ph.D. | Chairman Emeritus | |
| Clay E. Hickson | Chairman Emeritus | |
| Committee Chairs - 2008 | ||
| Program Committee | ||
| Gerald Solomon | Chair | |
| Membership Committee | ||
| Kristin Mowry | Chair | |
| Communications Committee | ||
| Stephen Drake | Chair | |
| Liaison Committee | ||
| Bo Xuan | Co-Chair | |
| Board of Directors - 2008 | ||
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Senior Vice President & Manager |
Allfirst Bank (Retired) |
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Senior Partner |
Corvusys, Inc. |
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Principal |
Stephen Drake Associates, LLC |
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| Andy
Dubosky |
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Special Assistant to the Secretary of Higher Education |
Maryland Higher Education Commission |
|
|
Director, International Management Program |
Graduate School of Management and Technology, University of Maryland University College |
|
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Director |
TowsonGlobal |
|
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Quality Assurance Director, Asia Pacific |
McCormick & Company, Inc. |
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| Roger T. Lawrence | Vice President, Quality Assurance | McCormick & Company, Inc. |
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Manager, Global Product Marketing and Business Development |
Baltimore Air Coil |
|
|
President |
Mowry International Group, LLC |
|
| Mi Puyang | Managing Partner | Puyang & Associates |
|
President and CEO |
Dartrans, Inc. |
|
|
Vice President, International Trade Finance Group |
M&T Bank |
|
|
President and Founder |
Washington Laboratories, Ltd. |
|
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President |
Kai Tai Comprehensive Technologies |
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Chairmen Emeritus
Stephen
J. Hammalian, Ph.D.
President, SJH Consultants, Inc.; (Founding) Chairman Emeritus, Maryland-China
Business Council
Dr. Hammalian has had a varied career in academia, industry, and as an
entrepreneur. He currently is president of SJH Consultants, Inc., based
in Gambrills, MD, and is co-owner of a retail jewelry store, Little Treasury
Jewelers, with his wife, Linda. Previously he was a senior executive in
a national environmental consulting and engineering firm for more than
20 years. He also has worked in the publishing industry as an editor/writer
for trade, business, and technical books for both Prentice-Hall, Inc.
and World Publishing Company and taught linguistics at the undergraduate
and graduate levels at the University of Toledo. He has served on the
boards of the Greater Baltimore Technology Council and the Chinese Professional
Forum. In 1994 he became the first president and chairman of MCBC and
acted in that capacity for unitl 1999. Dr. Hammalian continuted serving
on MCBC's board for an additional three years. He has a BA in American
Literature from Brown University and an MA and Ph.D. in Linguistics from
New York University.
Clay E. Hickson
Director, TowsonGlobal, Business Globalization Center, Towson University
Mr. Hickson leads TowsonGlobal, the Business Globalization Center, Towson University's international incubator for early-stage companies. It is a place where entrepreneurial enterprises can grow and learn how to compete in the global economy. It is a gateway to international markets for domestic companies that want to sell their products and services abroad and is a magnet for foreign companies looking to market their products and services in the mid-Atlantic region. Previously, Mr. Hickson was managing Director of Rhôton Hill Group, a management consulting firm providing international marketing, corporate communications, strategic planning and cross-cultural communications services. He also was Director International Business Services/China Programs for International Technology and Trade Associates, Director of International Programs for the World Trade Center Boston, and Account Director with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Taiwan). He worked with the 1993 Seattle Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Burson-Marsteller, the National Crime Prevention Council, Overseas Private Investment Corporation and US-Philippine Business Committee. Mr. Hickson is Chairman Emeritus of the Maryland-China Business Council and served as the Council's Chairman and President for nine years. He also sits on the board of directors and serves as Secretary of the Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Hickson has developed
and taught training programs, seminars and college courses that have prepared
executives for doing business in international environments. He has taught
graduate and undergraduate economics courses for the University of Phoenix
Online. He also has served as a consultant/trainer for the Diversity Management
Institute at Montgomery College and earlier acted as the institute's Interim
Director. He was a regular contributor to China Business & Investment.
Other current and past affiliations include the US Chamber of Commerce-Asia
Task Force, Asia Society, Maryland-Anhui Sister State Committee, International
Society and BYU Management Society. Mr. Hickson received his MA in International
Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns
Hopkins University, received his BA in International Relations from The
George Washington University, and studied Chinese language at Columbia
University.
William
Fontaine Bell
Senior Vice President & Manager-International Banking Group, Allfirst
Bank (Retired); Director and Membership Committee Co-chair, Maryland-China
Business Council
Mr. Bell retired as Senior Vice President and Manager of Allfirst Bank's
(formerly First National Bank of Maryland and now M&T Bank) International
Banking Group in December 2002, a position he had held since 1999. He
managed the Allfirst Bank/First National Bank of Maryland Trade Finance
& International Operations Divisions from 1986 to 1999 and the Asia-Pacific
Division from 1980 to 1986. From 1976 to 1980 he was a corporate lending
officer in the bank's National Division. Prior to joining First National
Bank of Maryland, Mr. Bell held various international lending/management
positions with European American Bank in New York (1972 to 1976) and with
Citibank in the Middle East and North Africa (1969 to 1971). From 1962
through 1968 he served in Southeast Asia as a US Marine Corps infantry
officer and foreign military advisor.
In addition to the Maryland-China Business Council, where he has been
a director since 2000, Mr. Bell continues to be active professionally
as Chairman of the Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee and as a member
of the Maryland/Washington DC District Export Council, Inc. where he was
also Chairman from 2003 through 2005. He is a graduate of Norwich University
(BA in Government) and New York University (MA in Politics and Asian Studies).
He is proficient in French and Mandarin Chinese. Mr. Bell resides in Ellicott
City, Maryland with his wife, Ellen. They have two grown sons.
Winston
Chan, Ph.D.
President, Multimax, Inc.; Director and Liaison Committee Co-chair, Maryland-China
Business Council
Dr. Chan is a private equity investor who founded Multimax, Inc. in
1988 to provide ADP system integration, telecommunications, information
systems, and research and development services to the government. He has
subsequently sold all equities with Multimax in 2006. He pioneered the
first joint venture business in Anhui, China in 1994 by a Maryland company
and has maintained a very prosperous operation there since then. He has
been investing in various start-ups and incubators in China. He also belongs
to the Maryland-Anhui Sisters State Committee.
Dr. Chan obtained
his bachelor degree from Columbia University and master and doctorate
degrees from Saint Louis University, all in geophysics. As a Carnegie
Fellow, Dr. Chan studied the dynamics of the interior of the Earth at
the Carnegie Institute of Washington. He received the Alumni Merit Award
from Saint Louis University in 1998.
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Mr. Drake draws on his more than 20 years of experience developing and leading strategic, global communications programs for some of the world's most recognizable and influential organizations to provide a range of services designed to help clients effectively communicate with audiences most important to their success, influence or reinforce perceptions and opinions, and achieve their organizational objectives. His current and recent clients include Educate, Inc., Laureate Education, Inc., Education Industry Association, Graduate Management Admission Council, Bluefire Security Technologies, Vimicro, and Duke Realty.
Before launching Steven Drake Associates, Mr. Drake held senior executive positions in the corporate and public relations agency sectors. As vice president, communications with Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc. Mr. Drake built and managed the first comprehensive corporate communications function for the $1 billion publicly traded global provider of education services to K-12 and post-secondary markets. He also led a comprehensive branding and re-naming initiative for the company when it changed its name to Laureate Education, Inc. to signal its transformation into an exclusively post-secondary education organization.
Before that, Mr. Drake
held positions of increasing responsibility with Fleishman-Hillard, Inc.,
one of the world's largest and most-recognized public relations firms.
There, Mr. Drake launched and managed the agency's presence in China,
opening offices and serving clients in Beijing and Shanghai from 1993
to 1998. He has also held management positions with two small high technology
marketing communications firms, and an account position with Ogilvy &
Mather Public Relations. He holds both a Master's and Bachelor's degree
in journalism from the University of Maryland, where he serves as an adjunct
member of the faculty of the Department of Communication.
Dr. Esslinger has
40 years of experience as a university professor and administrator at
Towson University. A Professor of History at Towson, he also served as
Associate Vice President for International Programs, and as Associate
Dean of Faculty Development and Research. He chaired the University Senate
for several terms and was awarded the President's Award for Distinguished
Service to the University. Since his retirement in 2007 he has continued
to serve the University in a part-time role.
Dr. Esslinger's involvement in the local and international community includes
service as President of the Maryland International Education Association,
chair of the Maryland Sister State Program Board of Directors, Executive
Committee of the Maryland-Anhui China Sister State Committee, and as chair
of the China Subcommittee for Education. Past affiliations include Chair
of the Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee, Secretary of the Maryland-Kyongsangnam-do
Korea Sister State Committee, Chair of the Education Subcommittee of the
Maryland-St. Petersburg Russia Sister State Committee, and Symposium Task
Force for NAFSA: International Educators Association. Dr. Esslinger received
both a Ph.D. and an M.A. in History from the University of Notre Dame.
He received a B.A. in History from the University of Kansas. He is the
author of four books, including Immigrants and the City, published by
Kennikat Press.
Mr. Goodwin is a Professor and Executive Director of the MBA Program at the Graduate School of Management and Technology, University of Maryland University College. Prior to assuming this position in April of 2007 he was the Director of the International Management Program at UMUC. He joined UMUC full time in September of 2005, having served as an adjunct instructor for many years. From 1992 to 2005 he served as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel and a Director of Chindex International, Inc., a NASDAQ listed company which is the largest independent American distributor of healthcare products and services to the Chinese marketplace and which owns and operates two international-standard hospitals in China. Professor Goodwin still consults regularly with Chindex.
Prior to his role at Chindex, Mr. Goodwin was engaged in the private practice of law in Washington, D.C. representing companies engaged in international business. He also served for ten years in several senior legal positions in the U.S. Government, where he handled matters ranging from the drafting of international trade statutes to representing the U.S. Government in international negotiations. His last position prior to leaving Government was as the Assistant General Counsel for International Trade and Emergency Preparedness of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Mr. Goodwin is a graduate
of the Georgetown University Law Center where he served as Editor-in Chief
of the school's international law journal. He has testified before the
U.S. Congress on Chinese legal developments, has written numerous professional
articles on the subject, and lectures regularly on international business
issues. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Thailand prior to
attending law school. Mr. Goodwin's biography is listed in the current
edition of Who's Who in America.
Seth Harlem works with Chinese businesses to find global investment and partnership opportunities, as well as U.S. businesses to offer their products and services in China. He publishes the Touwai China Newsletter, which presents developments in China-Global business.
A recent consulting engagement found Harlem working with CITIC Capital Partners, the private equity affiliate of CITIC Group, in New York. Before that, he offered his services to General Motors China Group's Business Development department in Shanghai.
Mr. Harlem graduated from Trinity College where he earned a BA in International Studies. He has also completed studies at Fudan University in Shanghai and at Duke University's Asian/Pacific Studies Institute at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.
Harlem sits on the
Asia Society Young Professionals Steering Committee and was recently appointed
to the Asia Society Washington Center Advisory Council.
Mr. Hickson leads TowsonGlobal, the Business Globalization Center, Towson University's international incubator for early-stage companies. It is a place where entrepreneurial enterprises can grow and learn how to compete in the global economy. It is a gateway to international markets for domestic companies that want to sell their products and services abroad and is a magnet for foreign companies looking to market their products and services in the mid-Atlantic region. Previously, Mr. Hickson was managing Director of Rhôton Hill Group, a management consulting firm providing international marketing, corporate communications, strategic planning and cross-cultural communications services. He also was Director International Business Services/China Programs for International Technology and Trade Associates, Director of International Programs for the World Trade Center Boston, and Account Director with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Taiwan). He worked with the 1993 Seattle Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Burson-Marsteller, the National Crime Prevention Council, Overseas Private Investment Corporation and US-Philippine Business Committee. Mr. Hickson is Chairman Emeritus of the Maryland-China Business Council and served as the Council's Chairman and President for nine years. He also sits on the board of directors and serves as Secretary of the Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Hickson has developed
and taught training programs, seminars and college courses that have prepared
executives for doing business in international environments. He has taught
graduate and undergraduate economics courses for the University of Phoenix
Online. He also has served as a consultant/trainer for the Diversity Management
Institute at Montgomery College and earlier acted as the institute's Interim
Director. He was a regular contributor to China Business & Investment.
Other current and past affiliations include the US Chamber of Commerce-Asia
Task Force, Asia Society, Maryland-Anhui Sister State Committee, International
Society and BYU Management Society. Mr. Hickson received his MA in International
Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns
Hopkins University, received his BA in International Relations from The
George Washington University, and studied Chinese language at Columbia
University.
Dr. Huang has worked since 1991 for McCormick & Company, Inc. - the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of spices, seasonings, and flavorings. She is responsible for the Quality Assurance systems and programs of McCormick's operations in Asia Pacific. She travels frequently to China and Asia-Pacific to provide operational guidance to several subsidiaries and joint ventures in the region, including manufacturing facilities in Guangzhou and Shanghai, China. These locations supply the company's rapidly growing China business with a broad portfolio of quality consumer, food service and industrial dry and liquid products. She was stationed in China as an expatriate for four years between 1995 and 1998 and provided technical leadership in the construction and starting up of McCormick's solely owned manufacturing plant in Guangzhou. She has traveled extensively in China and worked on numerous raw material localization projects during her tenure in Guangzhou.
Prior to joining McCormick
& Company, Inc., she had 11 years experience in R&D and Operations
at the Quaker Oats Company in Chicago. Dr. Huang was born in Taipei, Taiwan,
and came to America for her graduate studies after college. She has a
Bachelor of Science degree in Food Processing from the National Taiwan
University, a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Kentucky,
and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Lake Forest School
of Management in Illinois.
Mr. Lawrence has served since 1998 as the Vice President, and Chief Quality Assurance and Regulatory Officer for McCormick & Company, Inc.-the world's largest manufacturer, marketer and distributor of spices, seasonings, and flavorings. As such, he is responsible for the Quality Assurance/Regulatory Systems and Programs throughout McCormick's worldwide operations. In his current role, he and members of his staff travel frequently to China and Asia-Pacific to provide operational guidance and strategic direction to several subsidiaries and joint ventures in the region, including manufacturing facilities in Guangzhou and Shanghai, China which supply the company's rapidly growing business in the country with a broad portfolio of quality consumer, food service and industrial dry and liquid products. Mr. Lawrence serves on the Board of Directors of Shanghai McCormick Food Company, Limited in China, and McCormick-Lion Limited in Japan. Mr. Lawrence is active in the IFT (Institute of Food Technologists), ASQ (American Society for Quality) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is a member of the Board of Directors and serves as the Chair of the Scientific and Regulatory Council of GMA - FPA (Grocery Manufacturers of America and Food Products Association).
Mr. Lawrence came
to McCormick and Company in 1976 following nine years of plant and headquarters
experience with Quaker Oats Company. Prior to his current assignment,
he has held positions as Corporate Vice President of Quality Assurance,
Vice President, Operations and Technology for the
Asia-Pacific Zone, Vice President of Technical Services for the US Consumer
Products Division, Director of Product Development and Quality Assurance
for the International Group and Director of Technical Services for Europe
located in the United Kingdom for three years. Mr. Lawrence was involved
from the beginning in the creation and development of McCormick and Company's
current business in China, including the search for a joint venture partner,
and the building and deployment of the initial manufacturing operations.
He studied Chemical Engineering at Ohio State University and received
a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from DePaul University
in Chicago, Illinois.
Mr. Morrison works in the Global Product Marketing and Business Development Group at Baltimore Aircoil Company (BAC). Founded in 1938, BAC is one of the world's leading manufacturers of evaporative cooling and thermal energy storage systems for industrial and commercial cooling applications. BAC has manufacturing plants and offices around the world, including extensive sales distribution and manufacturing operations in China.
Mr. Morrison began his career at BAC in the Engineering Department after graduating from Drexel University in Philadelphia with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He has worked in both Product Engineering and Research & Development, as well as managed the R&D Labs and the Design Operations Group. In 2000, Mr. Morrison transferred to Marketing, where he has served in the positions of Closed Circuit Cooling Tower Product Manager and the Manager of Product Marketing before moving to Global Product Marketing. Mr. Morrison recently earned an MBA from Loyola College in Maryland. He holds six patents and has authored various articles and technical papers.
Mr. Morrison is active
in the American Society of Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration
Engineers (ASHRAE). He is a voting member of the ASHRAE SSPC 90.1 Energy
Committee and serves as Membership Chairman of ASHRAE TC 03.06, the technical
committee on water treatment. Mr. Morrison is also a corresponding member
of ASHRAE TC 08.06, the technical committee on cooling towers and evaporative
condensers. In addition, he serves as the webmaster for both the TC 03.06
and TC 08.06 Committees.
Kristin Heim Mowry is an international trade and market access attorney whose practice consists of providing global business, investment, regulatory and government relations advice to US and international clients. Ms. Mowry has represented corporate and government clients in international trade matters such as unfair trade litigation, WTO issues and disputes, and US export control and economic sanctions laws. Her clients have included trade associations, manufacturers, importers, and US multinationals that source abroad, as well as national and provincial foreign governments. Ms. Mowry has worked extensively with Chinese companies to defend allegations of unfair trade practices and ensure continued and fair access to the US marketplace, as well as with US companies to ensure continuity of supply and competitive pricing.
Ms. Mowry's experience includes over five years of government service in both the US Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration and in the Office of the US Trade Representative, where she specialized in issues of foreign government subsidization of industry and multilateral trade policy. She began her career in government after being selected to the elite Presidential Management Intern Program for outstanding master's and doctoral-level graduates. Ms. Mowry earned her law degree at Georgetown University and also holds a Master's degree in international relations from the University of Chicago. She received her undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Chicago.
Ms. Puyang is the Managing Partner of Puyang & Associates, LLC., a law firm providing legal services to corporations, non-profit organizations, and individuals worldwide. Ms. Puyang represents corporate clients in their business legal matters, including incorporating, providing consultation, and drafting and negotiating contracts and leases. She has extensive experience in representing multinational corporations with corporate executive transferees being brought to work in the United States. Ms. Puyang also represents clients in their domestic legal matters, including guardianship, adoption, separation, divorce, and custody. Previously, she also served as a Research Associate at the US-China Business Council from 1998 to 1999.
As a native Chinese speaker, Ms. Puyang has broad knowledge and profound understanding of Chinese society, politics, legal system, culture, religion, and people. Fluent in both Chinese and English, she has been providing legal and business consultations to corporate and individual clients who are in the process of finding business partners in the US to do business in China. She obtained her Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. She also obtained a Doctor of Philosophy Degree and Master of Arts Degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Mr. Rice is a staunch
supporter of and participant in various international associations including
the local and national chapters of the Customs Broker and Freight Forwarder
Associations, the local and national chapters of the Propeller Club of
the United States, World Net Associates, World Cargo Net Association,
Air-Ocean Partners and of course, the Maryland China Business Council,
where Dartrans is a Contributing Member. He has sponsored a graduate level
training program with the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association
of America and has participated in providing attorneys with Continued
Education Credits at Georgetown University. He received his education
at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Mr. Solomon's international career began with the Export-Import Bank. Over the years, he held many positions there. In the last one, he was responsible for Ex-Im Bank's marketing activities such as trade shows and conducting training seminars. His specialty was marketing the Bank's Working Capital Guarantee Program to banks and asset-based lenders. He also conducted and designed the delegated authority training for that program.
Previously, Mr. Solomon was the Manager of Training, Outreach and Publications in Business Development Group. He created and designed many of the Bank's publications including the User's Guide, Map of Programs, country fact sheets, and policy/program fact sheets.
Mr. Solomon has a
BBA from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA from New York University.
He is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
Michael F. Violette founded Washington Laboratories in 1989 and is responsible for corporate management, planning and operations of the electronics testing and engineering laboratory. Mr. Violette has developed testing disciplines in electromagnetic compatibility, product safety, telecommunications, environmental stress, and onsite evaluations. He has established necessary accreditations of corporate operations and quality systems to serve clients with domestic and international regulatory certification needs for a wide variety of international standards. Mr. Violette has developed engineering and administrative capabilities in the fields of product certification for FCC, Underwriters Laboratories (UL), Canadian Standards Association, TUV Certifications, CE Marking for European Union compliance, Japanese VCCI, and Bellcore regulatory requirements. He has developed liaisons with European competent and regulatory authorities in France, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Mr. Violette also
is founder and director of AmericanTCB, a wireless certification body
authorized by National Institute of Standards and designated by the Federal
Communications Commission. He has been responsible for development of
AmericanTCB operations and expansion to Asia, including office and personnel
deployment in Taiwan and China. Mr. Violette's affiliations include the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE), Washington
Section IEEE EMC Society, National Radio and Telecommunications Engineer
Board of Directors, American Council of Independent Laboratories, and
ACIL Representative ANSI C63 Committee. He received a BSEE from Virginia
Tech. with a concentration in communications, radio frequency engineering
and electromagnetics.
Dr. Xuan has been the president of KaiTai Comprehensive Technologies since 2002 when it was founded. KaiTai is an electronic engineering and life sciences firm with projects in both the United States and China. It has state-of-the-art proprietary digital signal processing and compression technology in the area of electronic engineering. From 1996 to 1998, Dr. Xuan was employed at Cybernetics InfoTech in Gaithersburg, Maryland, as a project manager, where he did research on both narrow band and broad band audio and speech coding, and where he developed and implemented several algorithms in signal processing and compression at low bit-rate for speech coders and audio coders. From 1998 to 2001, Dr. Xuan worked for Hughes Network Systems in Germantown, Maryland, as a senior member of the technical staff, researching design issues related to incorporating a speech coder with STM framework, performing Ground-UT system integration voice testing, providing voice related field support, etc.
Dr. Xuan is a member of numerous organizations, such as The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the IEEE Signal Processing Society, and Burller Group Fund. In 1992, he was listed on the International WHO'S WHO. He received a Bachelor's of Engineering degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1987. He later attended Washington State University and graduated with a Master's of Science degree and doctorate degree in 1992 and 1996 respectively, both in electrical and computer engineering.