UK-Greater Bay Area Conference Speakers

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.

Sarah Mann took up her post as Consul-General Guangzhou in June 2023. She leads the UK Government’s engagement in the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan and Jiangxi in South China. 

Sarah joined the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in 2008 and has worked on a range of countries and issues including the UN, energy security and human rights. Her first posting was as Second Secretary in Colombo, Sri Lanka after which she returned to London as Secretary to the FCDO Board of Management in the office of the Permanent Under Secretary. Most recently Sarah served as British Deputy High Commissioner to Uganda from 2017-2020. She has also served in the British High Commission in Fiji and the UK’s Mission to the UN in New York. 

Sarah has an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Victoria, British Colombia, and a Masters degree in International Law from School of Oriental and African Studies. She is accompanied in Guangzhou by her husband Andrew and their two children. 

Janet leads the business activity for London & Partners promoting London as a hub of diversity and a great place to innovate, invest and scale a business.  She is passionate about supporting businesses to connect with international markets and has a particular focus on driving economic growth that is sustainable, resilient and inclusive. 

Janet has led several Female Founder Trade Missions to Silicon Valley and continues to champion underrepresented entrepreneurs. She was in the Computer Weekly Top 20 list of most influential women in tech in 2020 and named as one of the UK's 50 Leading Lights in Kindness in Leadership in 2019.
 
Janet was previously a diplomat for the UK Government, serving in several posts including San Francisco, Capetown and Prague and ran London's business hosting programme during the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. Janet was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Honours list in 2022 for services to the economy. 

Mr Sunny Chau is responsible for attracting technology companies, R&D institutions and technology ecosystem partners globally to the new development area which both Hong Kong and Shenzhen has a stake – the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park. The Park is 87 hectares in size, and is an important vehicle for Hong Kong’s economic transformation, as well as a platform for innovation and technology development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, or GBA.  

Before joining the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park, he was the Assistant Director for Commercial and Market Development, Greater Bay Area Department at Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, where he was responsible for bringing Hong Kong’s tech companies to expand to Hong Kong Science Park Shenzhen Branch, and helping them to expand business in GBA and ASEAN.  

Mr Chau was the Director of Thailand and South Asia at Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) before coming back to Hong Kong in 2020 from Bangkok. He was responsible for developing two-way trade and investment between Hong Kong and various markets including Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, among others.  

Mr Chau is currently enrolled in Tsinghua University’s Executive Master of Public Administration, and he previously graduated from Chinese University of Hong Kong with an LLM Chinese Business Law degree, and Warwick University of the UK with a BSc Management Science degree. 

Mr Danny Chau is an experienced management executive and company partner, and is currently taking up the responsibilities for the following companies:

• Director & Co-Founder of GoldChess Asia Consulting Ltd.
• Director of Hua Chuang Group Ltd.
• Director of Hua Chuang Sino-Luso Industry Development Co. Ltd.
• Director of Macau Sino-Luso Sports Industry Co. Ltd.
• Director of AS king Medical Products Ltd.
• Chairman of Macau Marketing Institute (MMI)

He is the Fellow of three UK royal chartered institutes and honored being the first Macau citizen for Fellow by
LIBF & CIM. Engaged as Sr. Alumni Fellow of CKL College of University of Macau. He participated risk & safety
courses of IATA Airside Safety Certificate, ISAGO Audit Training Certificate (Aircraft Ground Movement).

• LIBF London Institute of Banking & Finance, Fellow
• CMI Chartered Management Institute, Fellow
• CIM Chartered Institute of Marketing, Fellow & Macau Ambassador
• 2021 GD-HK-Macao Bay Area Entrepreneur Union – Outstanding Youth Entrepreneur Award
• 2023 Harvard Model United Nations – Principal Consultant of Macao Area
• Liège Université (HEC Liège Mgt School), Executive Master in Advanced Management
• Stanford University (Advanced Project Mgt Program), Stanford Certified Project Manager
• University of Macau (Faculty of Business Administration), BBA(Marketing)

Danny worked with the expertise in financial industry & commerce about 20 years. Since 2014 started up his own companies (financial consulting, M&A consulting, medical products trading, etc), and is also the corporate consultant of real estate developer and law office. The Macau & Sino-Luso trading is one of his recent key services. He served as Deputy General Manager of Macau Insurance Company Ltd and supervised the retail business channel, including bancassurance department, life underwriting department & re-insurance. He was engaged as Manager of Agency Management Department of AXA Macau for supervising sales business of Macau region. The former Co-Founder of Macau Insurance Brokers Ltd.

Currently he is engaged as: Chairman of Macau Marketing Institute, Vice-Chairman of Alumni Association of University of Macau, Youth Committee Member of Macau General Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Hon. President of Association of Legal & Political Research of Macau Public Servants, Advisor of UM Centre of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Advisor of Macau Youth Entrepreneurship Incubation Centre, Advisor of China FoShan Entrepreneurship Centre, CCPIT Recognized Mediator, CCPIT CSC Standardization Committees Members, China GD HR Standardization Committee, Vice President of China National Modern Vocational Education Group, Fellow of Institute of Marketing Malaysia, Board of Asia Marketing Federation etc.

He was Former Member of China Hebei Province Youth Federation (9th, 10th, 11th), and had been invited as the key drafter of CCPITCSC Guideline for training & assessment of marketer, mentor of University of Macau Alumni Mentorship Program, speaker of Honours Forum of Honours College of University of Macau, The 7th World Business Ethics Forum, 2020 AMF Asia Marketing Day, BOC Macau Regional Entrepreneurship Competition etc

Bingbing Zhao was appointed as London & Partners’ Chief Representative for Greater China in July 2011. London & Partners (londonandpartners.com) is London's business growth and destination agency. Bingbing leads the business activities for London & Partners in Greater China promoting London as a hub of diversity and a great place to innovate, invest and scale a business.  Since 2011, Bingbing and her team have successfully helped about 400 Chinese companies set up in London.  

Previously a representative of the Mayor of London’s office in Shanghai, Bingbing has engaged with various exchange programmes between China and London, including London’s promotional campaign in 2008 Beijing Olympic and 2010 Shanghai EXPO.  She has also previously worked for the British Council in Shanghai, managing more than 40 projects in arts, cultural and creative industry.  

Tianlu (Lucy) Sun is President at Shenzhen Outbound Alliance, as well as Vice-President, Statistical Society for Foreign Economic Relations and Trade of China, President, Statistical Society for Foreign Economic Relations and Trade of Shenzhen, President, Shenzhen Industry and Manufacturing Association President, Founder, Roadlink GLB, PhD candidate, MBA from University of Illinois, Master of International Economic Law from Shenzhen University.

She is a senior member of the Institute of Public Accountants of Australia and a senior member of the Institute of Financial Accountants of the United Kingdom. She is an international business compliance expert of Shenzhen enterprises, a senior researcher of Shenzhen Belt and Road Economic and Trade Strategy Research Institute, and an off-campus tutor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. She worked in the Hong Kong and mainland offices of the Big Four international accounting firms, international tax consulting companies and international law firms, and has accumulated more than 10 years of practical experience in domestic and foreign legal, tax, business and strategic management consulting, and more than 10 years of experience in the management and service of social organizations and platform operation. She formed and led a professional team to join the ESCAP Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), the first member in China to join the organization as a social organization. She has led her team to work closely with official institutions in over 130 countries and regions around the world and more than 1,000 domestic and international professional organizations, providing professional services to 70,000 Shenzhen enterprises in terms of information sharing, talent services, professional services and international resources, and has served more than 600 science and innovation projects and helped science and innovation enterprises raise more than RMB 3.7 billion in total. She has actively worked to build a global service platform to help private enterprises develop internationally.

Harry is a Managing Director in Hong Kong having joined the firm in 2021. He has over 11 years of investment  banking experience in Asia, Europe and the Middle East and has advised on numerous complex financial  transactions including IPOs, M&A, private fundraisings and debt restructurings. He brings extensive experience  and understanding of capital markets and investor behaviour within both a public and private context. Harry has  advised a range of clients including corporates, private equity firms and governments across a wide variety of sectors such as technology, healthcare, retail, industrials and real estate. 

Harry has worked on over 30 IPOs across the world and been involved in equity capital market transactions  worth over $30bn. His global IPO experience includes working for clients such as Olam Ari, GoTo, Prenetics,  Lanvin Group, Syngenta, Philips, ABN Amro, Bakkavor, Emaar Development and ADNOC Distribution. Prior to joining FGS, Harry was a Director at Rothschild & Co in the Global Advisory division in Hong Kong having also worked in the Dubai and London offices. He began his career in the corporate finance department at Peel Hunt in London. 

Harry has a MChem in Chemistry from Durham University, UK.

Headquartered in London, RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers with business segments in scientific, technical, medial; risk and business analytics, legal and exhibitions. 

As Senior Vice President, Hugo is responsible for the government and public affairs of the four business segments of RELX China. Before this position, Hugo used to be the managing director for Elsevier China, and co-CEO of Risk Solutions China. 

Hugo has extensive experiences in publishing, information technology and big data industries and used to work for the central government of China for 12 years. In 2010, Hugo founded the International Publishers Coalition in China and has been selected to be the Chair for the Coalition for 12 years. In 2022, together with CBBC, Hugo established the CBBC Digital Economy Working Group and has been working as the Chair. The Working Group is a cross-industry alliance that consists of leading MNCs from various industries including banking, automobile, healthcare, professional services etc with the aim to promote the communication and development between UK and China on data and digital economy development.

Hugo was a visiting scholar as part of the Canada-China Scholars' Exchange Program.

Michael is the Managing Director of Assurance stream for APAC that covers 13 countries and territories including Australia, New Zealand, China Mainland, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and 6 ASEAN countries.

Michael joint BSI in June 2015 and started as a Country MD for the greater China businesses that cover full BSI product lines including System Certification, Training, Kite Mark Product Certification and Medical Device CE services.

Michael begun his career in TIC (Testing Inspection and Certification) industry in September 1989, he started as food technologist with SGS Hong Kong Ltd., where he pioneered in developing inspection, training and testing capabilities covering full spectrum of consumer products in China. Over the 13 years of tenure with SGS Group, Michael was appointed for number of leadership positions ranging from Operations Manager, Deputy Director of E- Commerce, and Deputy Director of Electrical/Electronic and Food sectors. Prior to joining BSI in June 2015, Michael worked for Bureau Veritas Group as Vice President, Consumer Products Division for Greater China, he was responsible for Inspection, Audit, Consultancy business lines and Household, Cosmetics, Hygiene and Food sectors.

Apart from working for the TIC industry, Michael worked for a US based sourcing company - ThreeSixty Sourcing Group as Senior Vice President, Asia, for 12 years. Products he sourced ranged from simple household products, sporting goods, to sophisticated electric bikes, digital cameras and complex cosmetics.

Michael is a Food Manufacturing Engineer by education and he holds a MBA degree from Washington University in St. Louis. USA.

Tommy joined Prudential in 2019 and has been leading the group’s public policy advocacy and stakeholder engagement activity in the region. He is responsible for regional projects involving the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

He also serves as Chair of the China Committee at the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Vice Chair of the Insurance Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. 

Prior to Prudential, Tommy held several senior roles at Bupa in public affairs and strategic planning for four years, including China Chief Representative. Prior to Bupa, Tommy was the public affairs lead for Pernod Ricard Asia with extensive coverage of issues related to international trade, tariff and tax, and technical regulations across over 18 markets.

Tommy holds a master’s degree in economics from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, USA. He is based in Hong Kong and previously lived in China, the US and Canada. 

In 1990, Jeremy graduated from Leeds University with a degree in Chinese.  Jeremy returned to Guangzhou in 1998 as a newly qualified lawyer to assist a major London-based international law firm open its first Mainland China office.  Jeremy was instrumental in building up the firm’s China practice, assisting clients from across the world with many of the legal aspects of establishing and operating business in China.  

In 2009, Jeremy opened his first gastro bar concept, The Happy Monk, near the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou.  The Happy Monk has since grown to five locations across Guangzhou and one new location in Haikou. The Happy Monk Shenzhen will also be opening shortly.  

Jeremy is currently Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce Guangdong, a member of the Beachhead Advisory Board of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and Honorary Legal Advisor to the British Consulate General Guangzhou.   Jeremy advocates on-going learning and recently completed an Executive MBA under a joint programme offered by Columbia University, London Business School and Hong Kong University. 

Jeremy has been recognized for his work in China.  In 2011 Jeremy was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition to his services on behalf of British businesses and legal services in China.  

Suwei is the Lead Partner of the China & Southeast Asia Business Group within Strategic International Markets in PwC UK. She also leads the PwC China Business Network across Europe. Suwei is a Freeman of the City of London. 

Suwei is an audit and deals partner by background and has been dealing with all aspects of China and ASEAN inbound and outbound businesses in different sectors across the UK and Europe for the past 17 years. 

Suwei is an experienced practitioner in delivering market access, M&A and capital markets transactions, financing projects, and advisory engagements for private and public sector clients both in the UK, in China and Southeast Asia. Suwei has a wide network of senior stakeholders, including business communities, trade, governmental and regulatory bodies. She regularly advises the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) on a range of projects in the region, and has been advising the Lord Mayor of City of London regarding their China strategy. 

Suwei was the first equity partner in a UK Big 4 firm with a mainland Chinese background, and is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants (FCA) with the ICAEW. She sits on the Advisory Board of the Confucius Institute for Business at the London School of Economics. Suwei was also a mentor at the 30% Club, a cross company female leadership development forum, and a former Council Member and member of the International Advisory Panel at ICAEW.

Suwei was born and brought up in China. She has an MBA in International Business with Distinction from Bristol University. Suwei is a fluent English and Mandarin speaker. 

Michelle Liu is is originally from Shanghai, China. She joined Tate & Lyle in April 2020 as Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Asia Pacific, reporting directly to the top leadership team at Tate & Lyle’s head office in the UK. She is a core member of the Group's global leadership team and is in overall charge of the Group's corporate affairs in China and Asia Pacific, including Government Affairs, Corporate Communications, CSR and Sustainability, M&A and integration etc. She is a key senior leader of Tate & Lyle Group's strategic development in Asia Pacific, and is also involved in and leading the acquisition of SGF Global and the integration of Anji base in 2020, and the acquisition of Quantum Hi-Tech and the integration of the company in 2022. 

Prior to joining Tate & Lyle, Michelle Liu worked as a senior executive in China for Starbucks, Kraft Heinz, McCormick, Ogilvy and other Fortune 500 multinationals and international consulting firms, where she was involved in and led a number of acquisitions and integrations, and was responsible for government affairs, corporate communications, brand reputation, CSR and sustainability. She has made outstanding achievements and contributions in government affairs, corporate communications, brand reputation, CSR and sustainability, M&A and integration, crisis management, consumer experience, food safety, intellectual property protection, digital innovation and change, and team management. Earlier in her career, Michelle Liu worked as a reporter for China's national news agency and China's largest financial news group, travelling to many countries to interview political and business leaders. She has received numerous awards and honours for her work in corporate leadership management, best global corporate PR & strategy and Good News Awards in China. 

Paul McComb is the Executive Director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.  He was until recently the Director of UK Exports at the UK Department for International Trade, responsible for developing and delivering the UK’s strategy to achieve £1 trillion in exports by 2030. He has led the UK governments response to help British exporters adjust to the new trading relationship with Europe and recover from the impact of the global pandemic. 

Paul set up the UK Department for International Trade following Brexit in 2016 and followed this with a four-year tour in Hong Kong as Director-General for Trade and Investment. In Hong Kong, Paul was responsible for the GREAT Festival of Innovation in 2018. This helped to rekindle the strong historical, political and commercial relationship between the UK and Hong Kong and secured £360m of increased exports as a direct consequence. The festival created a strong impetus to secure an agreement between the UK and HKSAR Government to promote innovation in smart cities, FinTech, healthcare, AI and robotics. Paul personally championed the creative sector winning UK as partner country for Hong Kong’s Business of Design Week. 

Wang Xiaoshen, the Managing Director of Thoughtworks China Advanced Manufacturing, is also a member of the core management team at Thoughtworks China. She has previously held positions as the Chief Operating Officer and South China General Manager at Thoughtworks China.

She is a trailblazer in the Thoughtworks China South region and the manufacturing business, leading her team in the in-depth digital transformation of advanced manufacturing indus tries. She provides professional services in digital transformation consulting, digital business innovation and management, customer experience management and operations, architecture design, and cutting-edge technology applications for manufacturing enterprises. These services help manufacturing businesses leverage digital tools to address rapidly changing market challenges and seize business opportunities. 

Simultaneously, she actively promotes the development of women in technology careers and workplace equality. She has collaborated with various organizations and media outlets, including the United Nations Development Fund for Women, the British Consulate General, and CCTV International Channel, to empower women in the STEM field.

Prior to joining CBBC, Andrew was Executive Director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong from 2015-2020, and also served as an Independent Non Executive Director for Wharf REIC Ltd during this time. He was formerly a member of the UK Diplomatic Service spending much of his career working on UK-China relations, including postings to the Embassy in Beijing, as Head of the China Department in the FCO, and as British Consul General to Hong Kong and Macao. Andrew was educated at the University of Leeds and Beijing University.

Tom is based out of Beijing and leads CBBC’s work in China covering Government Affairs, Policy, Membership & Events, and overseeing the organisations operations across China.

Tom has been at the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) since joining in 2013 as Guangzhou Chief Representative. In 2015, he moved to Beijing to take on the role of Director, Creative Industries & Sports, before becoming Senior Director, Commercial (China) in 2018 with responsibility for CBBC’s eight sector teams.

Tom has previously served as the Chongqing General Manager for the British Chamber of Commerce Southwest China from 2010 to 2011, and General Manager of the British Chamber of Commerce Guangdong from 2011 to 2013 where he was based in Guangzhou.

Tom is originally from Edinburgh and attended Leeds University where he studied Chinese. Before University Tom volunteered for the British charity Project Trust in Xinjiang between 2004 to 2005.

Kiran Patel is the China-Britain Business Council’s senior director for commercial services and is responsible for the work of the organisation’s sector teams across its 9 offices within the mainland.

A former diplomat within the British Embassy’s Cultural & Education Section with the British Council, Kiran has been living in China since 2004 and has extensive knowledge of conducting public affairs, business development, marketing, and strategic communications in and with the country.

An active member of the UK-China business community for two decades, Kiran has also worked in the professional services sector. He is a fluent Mandarin speaker. 

Isabel leads the Education Sector team in China and collaborates with China Market Business Advisors in the UK to ensure the delivery of a quality service to help clients achieve success in China. Isabel works closely with UK Government and educational associations in addressing the needs of the sector and driving market development and commercial outcomes.​

Prior to joining CBBC, Isabel worked for the British Council China for ten years. During this period she was heavily involved in marketing both inward and outward student mobility programmes, managing regional business partnerships, government relations, media relations, and transnational education programmes across China. Recently, Isabel has been assisting British schools with their China branding and advising on investment and acquisition enquiries from China. Isabel has a thorough understanding of the education sector in both the UK and China. She has excellent skills in managing cross-sector intelligence and provides precise consultancy to clients seeking UK-China educational cooperation.

Duncan is a recognized expert on China’s technology sector. An early advisor to China Internet entrepreneurs, Duncan is author of ‘Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built’.  Published in over thirty languages, ‘Alibaba’ was named Book of the Year by The Economist and shortlisted as Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year. 

Duncan is chairman of investment advisory firm BDA China, employing over 130 mainland Chinese professionals in Beijing.  Duncan founded BDA in 1994 after four years as an investment banker with Morgan Stanley in London and Hong Kong.  

A seed investor in technology ventures including AppAnnie and Radish Fiction, Duncan is a global trustee of the Asia Society, founding member of Asia Society Japan, independent director of Bangkok Bank (China), Vice Chair of the China-Britain Business Council and serves on the advisory boards of the Pictet Digital thematic mutual fund and WildAid.org, working to end the trade of illegal wildlife products in our lifetime. 

A Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics, his alma mater, and previously a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, in 2013 Duncan was awarded an OBE for services to UK-China trade. Raised in the UK, US and France, Duncan is fluent in French, Chinese and currently studying Japanese.