British Business Sentiment Survey 2021/22 – Shanghai Launch

Julian studied Chinese and Management in the UK, and East Asian Studies at Harvard and first came to China in 1994. He joined the UK Civil Service in 2007 and returned to Beijing in 2012. He was Commercial Counsellor for Energy at the British Embassy, focusing on infrastructure, offshore wind and civil-nuclear.

Mattie Bekink is responsible for the Economist Corporate Network’s China strategy, including programme development and client servicing across China. She also provides support to all Economist Corporate Network programmes worldwide with a China component.

Ms Bekink has extensive experience in the public, private and policy sectors. Prior to joining The Economist Group, she was the Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission in the Netherlands. She also ran an eponymous consulting business, advising senior executives from businesses, universities and non-profit organisations on China policy, strategy, public affairs, and corporate social responsibility. Ms Bekink practised law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, has worked with the US-Asia Law Initiative at NYU Law School and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative China Programme, and served in the legal department at General Motors China.

Ms Bekink has a BA in International Relations from Stanford University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Caroline Taylor has been an educator for over 30 years. She started her career in the UK and has taught in both UK state and private schools. Caroline has been in international education for the last 20 years and she has taught in schools in Thailand and China. She has been in school leadership for her entire overseas career. Caroline has held positions as diverse as Whole School Assessment Coordinator, Head of Middle School, Deputy Head Academic and Head of Senior School. She has been working with Dulwich College International for the past 10 years and during that time she has held the positions of Deputy Head Academic, Head of Senior School and now Head of College. She has worked in both Beijing and Shanghai.

Ted is a seasoned corporate executive. He has a diverse industrial and automotive background in his past 20+ years’ experience serving leading global companies including JD Power, Danaher, Stanley Black & Decker and Smiths Group.

Born and brought up in Beijing, Ted and his family have lived in Shanghai for over 12 years.

Professional experience

• Deal sourcing and execution of advisory and transaction support services to capital market and other corporate transactions in the Asia-Pacific region, including IPOs, introductions and reverse acquisitions, as well as private corporate transactions covering fundraisings (start-up to growth capital), acquisitions, disposals and related due diligence and financing
• Transactions cover China, Hong Kong, Europe, US and UK across a broad sector range
• Tim was trained with KPMG China and UK for nine years and was the Corporate Finance Associated Director of BDO UK before joining Mazars in 2011.

Skills

• In depth knowledge of cross-border M&A transactions, corporate restructuring and China outbound investments
• Business oriented approach enabling analysis of targets in a wide range of industries
• Ability to establish strong relationship with corporate functions of the client and other advisors involved (lawyers, consultants, etc.)
• Capability to manage large projects and teams with an international reach and across departments

Main clients include Haier, Fosun, Bel Group, ICICLE, Imerys, Sonepar, Bureau Veritas, Hisense, Alten， etc.

• Steven is now lead partner of ESG advisory business responsible for sustainability strategy and operations for various industries, especially on sustainable value chain topics
• Steven was lead partner of operations and supply chain management business at PwC China/HK Strategy& Consulting with around 20 years of combined strategy consulting and management experience before
• Had rich experience of Aerospace and Automotive, Consumer Market, Real Estate, Utility and Renewable Energy, TMT and PE related industries
• Deep operational experience in the areas of growth strategy and target operating model development, end-to-end process design and optimization, program management, performance improvement and value maximization, channel management, route to market and promotion analysis and sustainability strategy and value creation topics
• Holds Master of Science degree of Manchester Business School, specializing in operations management
• Has completed the SCOR-P and CPIM program by APICS and Six Sigma Black Belt