Speakers:
Torsten Weller, China Policy Analyst, CBBC
Torsten Weller is Policy Analyst at the China-Britain Business Council and has worked on Chinese regulatory policies for more than five years. Prior to working for the CBBC, he was a consultant for an international law firm in Beijing and has worked as a policy analyst at the EU Delegation to China and Mongolia. He holds a M.L. in International Relations and Chinese Politics from Tsinghua University as well as an M.A. in Geopolitics from the French Institute of Geopolitics (IFG) in Paris.
Desiree Wong, Senior E-commerce Consultant, Pattern
Desiree Wong serves as Senior Ecommerce Consultant, Asia at Pattern and is based in London, supporting the company’s Western clients and brand partners who want to grow their business in China. She developed her career with Pattern in Hong Kong, before relocating to London in early 2020. She has significant experience trading and marketing brands selling on marketplaces in China, as well as in D2C ecommerce.
James Hebbert, Managing Director Hylink UK
James has 18 years of international marketing experience. His career began at WPP’s global network and within six years from starting the Ogilvy Marketing Fellowship he was promoted from graduate trainee in London to Chief of Staff for the Global CEO Ogilvy & Mather based in New York, working across a variety of blue chip international brands such as British Airways, SAP, and Unilever. In China, James spent five years launching and marketing UK luxury brands. James sits on the judging panel for the British Fashion Council and GQ Magazine Menswear Fund, aimed at promoting the next generation of talented British designers to the China market.
Antoaneta Becker, Director, Consumer Economy, CBBC
Antoaneta has lived and worked in China for more than 20 years. In her most recent role as a Director, Consumer Economy for the China Britain Business Council, she has supported numerous British consumer companies entering and expanding into the Chinese market.
Prior to joining CBBC, she worked as a Beijing-based reporter for several international media publications including the Economist Intelligence Unit and USA Today, covering China’s economic and social affairs. She has reported on some of the main trends and policies that have defined China’s economic trajectory over the years 2000-2010 including China’s state-owned enterprises reforms, the emergence of free trade zones, the rise of digital economy and ascendence of Chinese consumer.
Antoaneta is a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker. She holds a Bachelor’s in Chinese Language and Literature and a Master’s in Chinese Contemporary Literature & Film from Peking’s University.
Celine Tang, Retail & E-commerce Sector Lead, CBBC
Celine Tang has been based in the UK for the last 4 years and for most of this time she has been working as a freelance Consumer Consultant across the Beauty, Fashion, Lifestyle, Food and Drink sectors. Between 2013 - 2017, Celine worked in the New Zealand Consulate General in Shanghai, prior to which she gained an MSc in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics.