East-West Leadership

An expat since age four, a former diplomat and China-based since 2002, he has advised, coached and trained leaders for 100+ clients in 25+ countries. He currently splits his time between his Shanghai base and international jobs, mainly in the Asia-Pacific and Europe.

A member of the China national institute of Management Consulting, Gabor has direct experience of working with foreign multinational organisations operating in China, as well as local private and State-owned enterprises such as Baoshan/Baosteel, Development Zones (such as Luoyang Luolong) and Shanghai Customs.

Gabor is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) in English and Mandarin, certified consultant at the management academies of half a dozen global corporations and licensed in major assessment tools including the Predictive Index, NeuroColor, DISC and MBTI.

Karl has worked in the Logistics industry for 30+ years for both MNC’s, family owned companies and also built his own company later selling to an investor. He has extensive experience of managing teams of 500+ down to teams of 2/3.

Most of his experience has been in the Petrochemicals and Chemicals sector working with house holds names such as Exxon, Shell, Tesco, Huntsman & BASF along with many more. A key skill has been able to adapt to changing cultures within these organisations and recognising how to add value to their supply chains.

He is a qualified coach and mentor and believes in allowing teams to have the space to evolve, plus that one should always employ people clever than yourself so that they can tell you what to do.

Currently Karl is the Regional Director of North Asia for a UK Headquartered Chemical Logistics Company focussed on delivering Life’s Essentials globally; this is his third year in China.

Thilo is the General Manager of SEB Shanghai Branch since January 2019. SEB is a leading Nordic financial services group with a strong belief that entrepreneurial minds and innovative companies are key in creating a better world.
He joined SEB 18 years ago as Director, and has wide experience in heading different teams within the Large Corporates & Financial Institutions division of the bank.

Prior to that Thilo worked at ING in Frankfurt and for Deutsche Bank in Germany and Canada. Thilo speaks German, English, French and basic Mandarin.

Ian is a graduate of Cambridge University with a major in European Languages. He has worked in the chemicals industry since 1978 initially in international sales and marketing positions based in the UK, then moving into general management based in the last 10 years in Germany and China. He has experience of leading up to 1000 people across all major economic regions and has sat on joint-venture Boards in Finland, Saudi Arabia and Egypt

Ian has worked in Shanghai since 2014 leading the Chinese operations of a UK based multinational chemical company with two own factories, two local manufacturing partners and a large import business from Europe, USA and SE Asia. He is the only foreign national in a team of 150. He has significant experience of M&A, both actively pursuing opportunities with Chinese private companies as well as integrating the Chinese subsidiaries of global acquisitions made by the parent company

Ian sees his major challenges beyond the core of profitable growth as enabling and developing greater self-sufficiency in his China team, building bridges of trust and understanding between a dispersed “HQ” and a divergent China and preparing his own succession as he looks forward to his Third Age.