Rebecca is a global innovation expert, journalist and renown author of three books on technology and investment in emerging markets. Her latest book is Tech Titans of China, published in September 2019. Rebecca is the founder of media and events platform Silicon Dragon Ventures, which she formed in 2010 shortly after her first book Silicon Dragon was published. Her books have received favorable reviews by The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, and translated for multiple markets internationally. Today, she is a correspondent at CNBC.com. Her work has been published in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company and thought leadership reports by multinational corporations. A frequent speaker and media commentator, Rebecca is regularly on CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and BBC, and her views quoted in the Economist and New York Times.

Dr. Benn Steil is senior fellow and director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He is also the founding editor of International Finance, a scholarly economics journal, the lead writer of the Council’s Geo-Graphics economics blog, and creator of three web-based interactives tracking Sovereign Risk, Global Monetary Policy, and Central Bank Currency Swaps. Dr. Steil has written and spoken widely on international finance, monetary policy, financial markets, and economic and diplomatic history. He is also the author of the critically-acclaimed book, The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War, as well as the previous book, The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order.

Frances West is an internationally-recognized thought leader, inspirational speaker, strategy advisor, author, and women in technology trailblazer known for her work in innovation, technology, and business transformation. She is the founder of FrancesWestCo, a global strategy advisory company focused on operationalizing inclusion as a business and technology imperative through her unique Authentic Inclusion™ blueprint. Her insightful and impactful approach comes from her unique personal background as a first-generation, no-English speaking immigrant to her trailblazing professional path as one of the first women in the technology field and her experience as a global executive in sales, marketing, business development, and research as well as her ground-breaking work in accessibility as IBM’s first Chief Accessibility Officer. Frances brings a valuable business perspective to this human rights-based initiative. Because of her expertise, she was invited as the sole IT industry representative to testify before the US Senate on the need to pass the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and she holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in Boston in recognition of her work in accessibility, research, and digital inclusion.

DR. JONATHAN D. T. WARD has been studying the rise of China for more than a decade. From travels with truck caravans in Tibet and across the South China Sea by cargo ship in his early twenties, to accessing Communist Party archives that have now been closed to the world while a PhD candidate at Oxford, to consulting for the U.S. Department of Defense and Fortune 500 organizations, Dr. Ward has brought the experience of a traveler, the discipline of a scholar, and the insight of a strategy consultant to one of the toughest, biggest challenges of our time: what does China want, how will it try to get it, and what should America do? Dr. Ward is the Founder of Atlas Organization, a Washington DC based consultancy focused on the rise of India and China, and US-China global competition. He speaks Russian, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic. A path-breaking work on Chinese global strategy, China’s Vision of Victory brings the reader to a new understanding of China’s grand-scale planning and ambitions. From seabed to space, from Africa to the Antarctic, from subsurface warfare to the rise of China’s global corporations, this book illuminates the greatest challenge of our lifetimes – the Chinese Communist Party’s ambition to end the American-led world and to bring about a century defined by Chinese power.

Shaun Rein is the author of the best-selling book The End of Cheap China: Economic and Cultural Trends That Will Disrupt the World and the managing director of the China Market Research Group. He is one of the preeminent thought leaders on strategy consulting in China. Millions read his regular column in Bloomberg Businessweek. In an engaging and informative presentation, he details the cultural and economic trends that affect doing business in China, the U.S.-China relationship, and the opportunities arising in one of the world’s fastest growing economies.