Nottingham University Business School China Advisory Board
The Nottingham University Business School China Advisory Board is a group of esteemed individuals from various sectors who offer strategic guidance to assist with the School's ongoing development and future initiatives. Members of the board are selected for their leadership and expertise in both private and public enterprises. Their role includes fostering robust connections with the business community and other organisations, which is critical in ensuring that the School's activities remain pertinent and aligned with industry needs and trends.
Peter Handstein - Founder and CEO of Hape Group - established Hape Holding AG in 1986 in Germany. In 1995, Peter established Happy Arts & Crafts (Ningbo) as a logistics and production facility in China and propelled Hape into a phase of rapid growth by introducing advanced German technology and quality standards. Now, Hape has been a leader in designing and manufacturing high-quality educational toys and products made from sustainable materials. Currently, there are more than 40 Hape companies globally with nearly 2,000 employees. Hape toys are sold in over 100 countries and regions.
Peter is also heavily involved in giving back to the community by helping provide better living environments for children in need across the globe. Led by Peter, Hape Group has made donations of more than 24,000,000 RMB (in both products and funds) to people in need. Additionally, as a pioneer of sustainability in the industry, Peter also focused on child-friendly initiatives and has done a lot to achieve sustainability through his efforts. In 2021, Peter launched the Hape Nature Explore Education Base (HNEEB) project, which is a comprehensive space enabling children to learn through play and quality time with their parents. In 2023, the Hape Child-friendly Experiential Learning Centre (also known as Hape Mathematics Museum) was established under the leadership of Peter, creating a more child-friendly space for children.
For decades, Peter has been highly recognised by the industry and received prestigious awards for his great contributions. Peter has been successively honoured with awards such as the Ningbo Camellia Memorial Award, Zhejiang West Lake Friendship Award for Foreign Experts, Ningbo Special Foreign Entrepreneur Award, Ningbo Brand Person of the Year, Honorary Citizen of Ningbo, Ningbo Businessperson for Ten Years Best Social Responsibility Award, Ten Most Touching Charitable Figures in Ningbo, Ningbo Charity Star, Outstanding Foreign Entrepreneur and other accolades. He also received several Social Service Awards from CBME and was recognised as the Most Influential Person by the Ningbo Brand Committee. In 2023, Peter was nominated as a finalist for the United States TOTY's Champion of Sustainability award, which is a true testament to Peter's values.
After graduating from the University of Nottingham Ningbo China with a degree in International Business Management in 2009, Mr Juewen Hu started his career at KPMG and then worked for a private equity fund. He co-founded OHFI Asset Management in 2014, which focuses on hedge fund manager seeding, proprietary trading and FoHF management. In 2019, OHFI became one of nine Asset Allocation License holders in the country, thus expanding the business to the asset allocation sector. In the past three years, the company has contributed more than 1 billion RMB in taxes and has won several outstanding local financial contribution awards.
Mr Joe Wang is a Global Partner of BeautyStreams and Director of ESG of the China Association of Fragrance Flavour and Cosmetics Industries. A former Director of the board and CEO of Shanghai Jahwa United Co., Ltd. and former Chairman of Shanghai Herborist Cosmetics Company, Mr Joe Wang has accumulated rich experience in the consumer goods industries and provided advisory services to a number of entrepreneurs and business leaders. He studied and worked in the United States for many years, and is now a member and Deputy Chair of the Advisory Board of Nottingham University Business School China, as well as an adjunct professor in leading business schools including EAC and Fudan University School of Management. He has published over 20 books, written in Chinese or translated from English into Chinese in the areas of politics, economics, sociology and management. As the translator and editor of Peter Drucker's works on management, he is an active promoter of Drucker's management ideas. He is also a columnist for a number of leading business magazines in China, and holds an MBA degree from St. John's University in New York and a BA degree in Journalism from Fudan University.
Ms April Lin is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science and the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). She is currently a doctoral student at Lyon Business School.
April Lin is also currently the Executive President of Mobi Garden. Starting with only a cold mountain hiking tent in 2003, Mobi Garden is now China's leading camping and hiking brand, committed to providing camping and hiking enthusiasts with high-quality and high-performance products to inspire young people to explore the mountains and find the power of self-growth.
Mr Frank Ma is highly skilled in brand marketing, retail management, internet marketing and e-commerce expansion. From the introduction of multiple brands, market positioning and segmentation, to the innovation and construction of retail models, as well as the architecture of internet marketing and e-commerce systems, product innovation and the enrichment of product lines, along with the improvement of logistics systems and after-sales service networks, he has perfected his practice and achieved remarkable success in the Chinese market.
Recently, a global third-party authoritative market survey report revealed that the top 3 favourite luggage brands for Chinese customers are American Tourister, TUMI and Samsonite, and those are all in the charge of Mr Frank Ma. Samsonite and American Tourister won the accolade of China sales champion on Tmall and JD.com in the last ten years. So far, the Greater China area, which is led by Mr Frank Ma, is one of the most profitable and high-growth markets for Samsonite.
From developing innovative models to introducing diversified brands and implementing multi-channel strategies, Mr Frank Ma has always been committed to maintaining the growth of Samsonite China while practising corporate social responsibility and sustainable development.
Mr Keith Ng is a psychological counsellor, creator of Awakening Psychology, and author of the forthcoming book "Awakening Psychology: A Path to Emotional Liberation". Before transitioning to psychology, Keith built a successful career in the banking sector, holding positions such as CFO and Strategy Director. Despite his professional achievements, Keith once felt lost and overwhelmed by life's challenges. One night, during a moment of self-introspection, he experienced a profound epiphany that alleviated his negative emotions and revealed the root causes of his suffering. He described this transformative moment as having "downloaded source codes" about psychology from an unknown source, an experience he later identified as a spiritual awakening. This life-changing revelation led Keith to pursue psychological counselling, dedicating himself to exploring this powerful secret of the human mind. He eventually developed a counselling method and theoretical framework designed to invoke awakening within the human subconscious, which he named Awakening Psychology.
Dr Kewei Tang is a distinguished FinTech expert and entrepreneur from Hunan, China. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Hunan University in 2001 and subsequently received his PhD from the University of Nottingham in the UK in 2011. Dr Tang served as the Head of Risk at the global headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays Group. Upon his return to China, he took on the role as the Head of Risk for consumer finance and rural finance at Ant Group. Inspired by his professional journey, Dr Tang founded Fullink Technology Co., Ltd. in 2017. This high-tech company specialises in utilising artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies to solve complex financial data analysis problems. Fullink Technology has established collaborations with over 100 financial institutions, completing its Series B funding round and securing a place among Hangzhou's unicorn and pre-unicorn enterprises.
Dr Tang remains actively involved in education and research, holding adjunct positions at prestigious institutions such as Zhejiang University, Renmin University of China, the National Supercomputing Center (Hunan), and Nanhua University as well as others. His expertise and interest lie in artificial intelligence and fintech, and he actively contributes to the digitalisation of government services and the transformation of financial institutions.
Ms Bing Wu was one of the first batch of graduates from Nottingham University Business School China in 2008. She worked in the financial industry in London and Shanghai before returning to her hometown of Ningbo in 2015. She is currently the Executive Director and President of Ningbo Xiecheng Group. She led the Xiecheng Group into becoming a company that is involved in the manufacturing, finance, real estate, tourism and transportation industries, and has achieved outstanding results. Under her leadership philosophy of integrity and innovation, the manufacturing division of Ningbo Xiecheng Group has grown from 350 million RMB in 2016 to 1 billion RMB. She also set up the Group's investment division, and successively invested in Ningbo and Shenzhen to cultivate several enterprises to be listed on the stock market. She is also the recipient of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China's "Alumni of the Year 2018" award, a representative of Ningbo's Municipal People's Congress and a senior economist.
Ms Iris Wu, Director of Institutional Relations, China, CFA Institute has more than 20 years in the financial industry. She is responsible for building strategic partnerships across China with key financial institutions, regulators, associations and universities.
As a CFA charterholder for more than ten years, she teaches the "CFA Program Overview" and "Ethics in the Finance Industry" programmes to leading financial institutions and universities. Iris possesses deep insights into sustainable investment and delivers "ESG Investment" training for BNP Paribas Asset Management Taiwan Branch/Shanghai Branch, Standard Chartered Bank Beijing and Shanghai, and the Social Security Fund of China as well as others.
Prior to CFA Institute, she had a 10-year career at Thompson Reuters in Beijing. Before moving back to Beijing, lris worked in Toronto as a financial analyst in the global equities team at CIBC and consultant for the York Consulting Group.
lris holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Peking University and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto.
Mr Punan Xu is the Chairman of the Board of Safewell Group Holdings Ltd. In response to the call for Zhejiang entrepreneurs to return in 2014, Mr Xu invested USD 110 million and USD 60 million successively to establish the Safewell Global Headquarters Operation Center in Jiashan and the Safewell Asia Pacific Headquarters Park in Ningbo, respectively. The company's Safewell brand, established in 1873, is now an internationally renowned safe brand and has become a leader in the global safe industry.
Under the leadership of Mr Xu Punan, the company adheres to the core corporate values of "safety you can rely on" and the core culture of "gratitude" and "respect". Since 2012, the company has initiated the Safewell Charity Foundation, dedicated to supporting the elderly and education among other public welfare activities, and has donated a total of 90 million RMB to the foundation.
Mr Chun Hung (Kenneth) Yu is a veteran of one of the world's most renowned innovative companies - 3M. He joined 3M in Hong Kong in 1969. In over 44 years, he has completed various leadership assignments in Asia and the home office in St. Paul, Minnesota. Most noticeably, he took over the leadership of 3M Greater China Area in 1993 and led 3M China from a very modest beginning to become 3M's largest subsidiary globally. Before he retired from 3M, he was appointed as a Board Member of MTS, a Nasdaq-listed technology company, and a Consultant for Goldman Sachs' China-US Industrial Cooperation Fund.
Dr Yongping Zhai graduated from the Department of Thermal Engineering at Tsinghua University in 1983. Subsequently, he studied at the Institute of Energy Policy and Economics in Grenoble, France and received his PhD in Energy Economics in 1989.
From 1990-1993, Dr Zhai was an Assistant Professor in the Energy Technology Division at the Asian Institute of Technology. From 1993 to 2000, he served as Senior Energy Economist at the African Development Bank. He joined the Asian Development Bank in September 2000 and served as Chief of the Energy Sector Group, in charge of energy policy formulation and promotion of low-carbon technologies in Asian developing countries.
In July 2021, he joined Tencent as Senior Advisor in the Strategy Development Department, supporting the company's carbon neutrality operations and renewable energy development.
Ms Julie Zhao is a partner at Shanghai Pumeng Asset Management Co., Ltd. Pumeng Asset is a private asset management company practising value investments in China. Before entering into the asset management sector, Ms Zhao was a lawyer at international law firm Baker & McKenzie, helping multinational companies conduct business in China. In addition to her professional life, Ms Zhao is active in social services and charity work. Currently, she serves as a director of the Guangdong Maitian Education Foundation. She founded the charity initiative "Capital for Good", to connect charity projects with people in finance and business. She also serves as a Co-President of the Yale Club of Shanghai.
*The Deputy Chairs and other members of Nottingham University Business School China Advisory Board are listed in alphabetical order of surname.