An Evening of Insight: Issues for the Board in a World of Turmoil

As the head of BritCham Shanghai, Stuart’s ambition is to drive the continued support and growth of the chamber in line with the members’ needs and evolving business and political environment both in China and at home. Examples of these activities include Government to business round tables, regional East China activities and leading the chamber flagship events including the new British Day, the annual ESG Summit & Awards and the British Business Awards.

Stuart brings to his position over 20 years of UK & international leadership experience covering trade & investment, operations, & project-based experience in world-leading hospitality corporations, as an entrepreneur and in Government.  Prior to taking on this role, Stuart was head of Agriculture, food & drink, trade and investment for the UK Department for International Trade.  His China journey started in 2010, moving to Dubai to join the Shangri-la, Pudong as Assistant Director of Food & Beverage during the World Expo followed by several years as an entrepreneur, starting and operating the Tap House bar & restaurant group.

Stuart holds a Degree in International marketing and communications from Staffordshire University in England and is an active member of many community groups including Heart 2 Heart and lives in Shanghai with his wife Emily, daughter Lilli & two dogs.

Jonathan was appointed Director General of the Institute of Directors in October 2019.Prior to this Jonathan spent 30 years working in the professional services sector, most recently at Grant Thornton International Ltd, responsible for the organisation’s interest in China and previously as a global board member responsible for the brand.

Jonathan has a long-standing connection with the IoD, as Chair of IoD Yorkshire and North East region prior to his appointment as Director General. He is the author of three books on China and in addition to being a Fellow of the IoD he is also a Fellow of theRoyal Geographical Society.

He studied Geography and Archaeology at St. Andrews University, specialising in underwater archaeology. Outside of work, his interests include hill walking and fell running. He was the navigator in a rally team for 20 years and, following two years of training in extreme environments, walked to the North Pole in 2006. He has completed other expeditions in Norway, the Canadian Arctic and the Everest region.

Business Experience

Deborah Morton-Dare is Programme Lead for the IoD’s Finance for Non-Finance Directors course, and also a course leader for the IoD’s flagship governance course, Role of the Director and Board. Alongside her role for the IoD, Deborah continues to be both a company director and a trustee, and advises start-up and early-stage businesses. Her current roles include: Advisory Board member for a global risk and compliance organisation and charity trustee.

Professional credentials and training experience

Deborah’s broad career started with qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with a big four accountancy firm in London, working in corporate finance and gaining wide-ranging experience in a variety of corporates and financial institutions. The next stage in Deborah’s career was to gain experience as a company director, having set up and run several businesses and acted in a number of advisory roles. Deborah is also a professional development partner for the Investor Relations (IR) Society where she is involved in syllabus development, content and course tutor for the professional qualification in IR.

Deborah specialises in financial, governance and investor relations training for all levels of financial background, from beginners to advanced, and to audiences ranging from SMEs to FTSE 100 board level. Deborah’s training experience over many years encompasses a diverse range of organisations including corporate clients, financial institutions as well as public section bodies and charities, both in the UK and internationally. Examples include the Bank of England, LinkedIn, Microgen, Morgan Stanley, IBM, a number of Stock Exchanges and Westminster Council.

Xu Sitao is Chief Economist of Deloitte China, spearheading Deloitte’s economic and industry research. Prior to Deloitte, he was Chief Representative of China and EIU forecasting director at the Economist Group from 2004 to 2014.

Sitao worked for MMS International of Standard and Poor’s Group in Singapore as the Economist for Indonesia, Korea and Thailand in 1995. He joined Standard Chartered Bank as Regional Treasury Economist in 1996. From 2000 to 2002, he was Societe Generale’s Chief Economist for Asia. In 2003, he became the Head of Economics of ICBC (Asia).

Sitao has written for YaleGlobal Online, the Asian Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Caijing, Caixin and 21^st Century Business Herald. He appears regularly on CNBC, Bloomberg, CCTV, and other TV shows as a commentator on China. He is on the Speaker Retainer Program for the Virginia-based CFA Institute, and is often invited by leading MNCs to their board rooms, to present key issues on China.

Sitao holds a B.A. in Economics from Peking University, a M.A. in Economics from the University of Connecticut, and a M.S. in Finance from Boston College. He was a visiting scholar at Hoover Institution at Stanford University in 2012. He is also a guest professor at the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University. He has sit on the board of Forterra, a listed company in Singapore, Valin, a major steel companies which is partially owned by ArcelorMittal, Hisun, a technology company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and a joint venture between Bank of New York Mellon and Western Securities. In Oct 2025, he has rejoined Hisun, as a non executive independent director.

Dr. Ulrike Glueck is Managing Partner and Head of Corporate Practice Area Group and TMC Sector Group of CMS China.

Ulrike has been working on-site in China since 1998 and has over 30 years experience in China-related work. She has advised a large number of companies in various industry sectors in projects relating to M&A, foreign direct investment and restructuring.

Ulrike also led the team in China to win a series of awards from Legal 500, Chambers and Partners, Asian Legal Business, China Business Law Awards etc. Ulrike has been recognised as one of China’s Top Lawyers by China Business Law Journal for 9 years.

Bo Zhengyuan is a founding partner at Plenum Research. At Plenum, he focuses on analyzing the business and financial market implications of China-related trade and geopolitical developments, as well as key domestic industrial policy moves in China.

Previously, Bo worked at APCO, an international public affairs firm in Washington, DC, and with Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch at the US-China Education Trust, where he managed people-to-people exchange programs between the US and China.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University. Bo is also a co-author of COVID-19 and US-China Relations, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2024.

Tina represents the Institute of Directors (IoD) in China and the ASEAN region to deliver its Director Development program to the regions’ C-suite. As a director-level marketing and strategic communications professional with over 20 years of experience, she worked in a wide range of industries including economics, finance, media and luxury from MNCs, SOEs and NGOs, including UNICEF, The Economist Intelligence Unit, China Construction Bank, Blackstone, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, NDRC, UN Foundation… She is speciaslised in strategies, multicultural communications, management, and working with a diverse team.

Tina received an MBA in International Management from Royal Holloway University of London, a postgraduate degree in International Finance (Risk Management) from the University of International Business and Economics in China, and studied law at the China University of Political Science and Law. She is fluent in Mandarin and English and received the IoD(UK) Certificate in Company Direction in 2019 becoming the first Chinese domiciled citizen to achieve this.