Our board
Chair

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles KCMG LVO, Group Head of Public Affairs
HSBC Holdings Plc
Sherard has been at HSBC since 2013, working as Senior Adviser to the Group Chairman and Group Chief Executive, and more recently heading the Group’s global government and public affairs functions. He also chairs HSBC Bank Oman. Earlier he spent over 30 years in the British Diplomatic Service, including spending working on Hong Kong in the three and a half years up to the handover to China in 1997, and finishing his career as Ambassador to Israel, Saudi Arabia and then Afghanistan.
Sherard is Chair of the China-Britain Business Council; Chairman of the Omani British Business Council; honorary Vice President and immediate past Chairman of the UK Financial Inclusion Commission; an Ambassador for the Money Advice Trust, and for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust; a Committee Member of The Hong Kong Association; a Board Member of Asia House and the Saudi British Business Council. He is Chair of Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery Trust, and sat on the International Engagement Committee of the British Academy for six years from 2014. He is the author of two books: Cables from Kabul and Ever the Diplomat.
Sherard has been at HSBC since 2013, working as Senior Adviser to the Group Chairman and Group Chief Executive, and more recently heading the Group’s global government and public affairs functions. He also chairs HSBC Bank Oman. Earlier he spent over 30 years in the British Diplomatic Service, including spending working on Hong Kong in the three and a half years up to the handover to China in 1997, and finishing his career as Ambassador to Israel, Saudi Arabia and then Afghanistan.
Sherard is Chair of the China-Britain Business Council; Chairman of the Omani British Business Council; honorary Vice President and immediate past Chairman of the UK Financial Inclusion Commission; an Ambassador for the Money Advice Trust, and for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust; a Committee Member of The Hong Kong Association; a Board Member of Asia House and the Saudi British Business Council. He is Chair of Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery Trust, and sat on the International Engagement Committee of the British Academy for six years from 2014. He is the author of two books: Cables from Kabul and Ever the Diplomat.
Vice Chairs
Mr Duncan Clark OBE, Chairman
BDA (China) Ltd
Mr Gordon Orr, Non-Executive Board Member
John Swire and Sons Ltd

Mr Kenneth Macpherson, Chief Executive Officer
Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
Chief Executive
Mr Andrew Seaton, Chief Executive
Board Members
Dr David Pilsbury, Chief Development Officer, Oxford International Education Group
Mr David King, Co-Founder, Spark International Ltd
Mr David Roth, CEO of The Store, EMEA and Asia (the WPP Global Retail Practice) and Chairman BAV Group
Mr Ed Salt, Managing Director, Delamere Dairy
Mr Jonathan Bewes, Vice Chairman, Corporate and Institutional Banking, Standard Chartered Bank
Mr Neil Sampson, Head of International Business & Partner, Rosenblatt
Mr Sebastian Wood, Chairman China, Schroders plc
Mr Simon Yang, China President & Senior Vice President, bp
Mr Wilson Del Socorro, Asia Pacific Corporate Relations Director, Diageo
Ms Sharon Cheng, Investment Director, Clyde Blowers Capital IM LLP
Ms Suwin Lee, EMEIA EY Private Leader; Partner, International Tax and Transaction
Sir Charles Bowman, Senior Partner & Chairman of China Business Group, PwC
Co-Opted Members
Ms Nicole Chen, Managing Director, D&A China, London Stock Exchange Group
Appointed Observers
Mr Julian MacCormac, Chairman, British Chamber of Commerce in China
Mr Andrew Pittam, Head of China Department (Bilateral and Strategy), Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Mr Fang Wenjian, Chairman, China Chamber of Commerce in the UK
Mr Guy Dru Drury MBE, China Chief Representative, Confederation of British Industry
Mr John Edwards, HM Trade Commissioner for China, Department for International Trade
Our Honorary President and Vice-Presidents
Honorary President and Vice-Presidents
Lord Sassoon, Kt, President
Lord Sassoon is President of the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC). He was formerly Chairman of CBBC (2013-19) and President of the EU-China Business Association (2013-17).
James began his career at KPMG, before joining S.G. Warburg in 1985, becoming a Managing Director.
He was a Managing Director in HM Treasury from 2002 with responsibility for Financial Services and Enterprise Policy. In 2007-8 he chaired the Financial Action Task Force. From 2010 to 2013, he was the first Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, and the Government’s Treasury Minister in the House of Lords.
During his career, he has had a consistent focus on business relating to Asia; he participated in each round of the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue from 2002.
From 2013 to 2020 he was a Director of Jardine Matheson Holdings. He is a member of the International Advisory Council of the China Investment Corporation (CIC) and of the Global Advisory Board of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
James was knighted in 2007 and joined the House of Lords in 2010.
He was born in 1955 and educated at Eton and Oxford. He is a trustee emeritus (formerly deputy Chair) of the British Museum and a former trustee of the National Gallery Trust.
James began his career at KPMG, before joining S.G. Warburg in 1985, becoming a Managing Director.
He was a Managing Director in HM Treasury from 2002 with responsibility for Financial Services and Enterprise Policy. In 2007-8 he chaired the Financial Action Task Force. From 2010 to 2013, he was the first Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, and the Government’s Treasury Minister in the House of Lords.
During his career, he has had a consistent focus on business relating to Asia; he participated in each round of the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue from 2002.
From 2013 to 2020 he was a Director of Jardine Matheson Holdings. He is a member of the International Advisory Council of the China Investment Corporation (CIC) and of the Global Advisory Board of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
James was knighted in 2007 and joined the House of Lords in 2010.
He was born in 1955 and educated at Eton and Oxford. He is a trustee emeritus (formerly deputy Chair) of the British Museum and a former trustee of the National Gallery Trust.
Mr Peter Batey, CMG, OBE, Vice-President
Peter Batey CMG, OBE co-founded Vermilion Partners in 2004. Batey moved to Beijing in 1986 as a representative of Arthur Andersen, subsequently becoming Chief Representative for China. In 1989 he co-founded Batey Burn, a China-focused investment advisory and government relations business. He was a director of Shuijingfang a public company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange as a nominee of Diageo Plc from 2007-2013, and served as board director of a number of Chinese and joint venture companies. He was Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China from 1994 to 1996 and successively Vice President and President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China 2000-2002. He served as Chairman of the Great Britain China Centre from 2004 to 2014.