Board of Directors
Bob Holden
Bob Holden
Bob Holden served as Missouri’s 53rd Governor, 2001-2005. Prior to being elected Governor, Holden served two terms as Missouri State Treasurer and three terms as a Missouri State Representative.
Bob Holden has been in public service his entire adult life. In addition to holding elective office, Holden worked for State Treasurers James I. Spainhower and Mel Carnahan, United States Senator Thomas F. Eagleton, and Congressman Richard A. Gephardt.
During Governor Holden's term in office, he chaired the Midwest Governors Association; opened Missouri’s first trade office in China; created Missouri’s first Hispanic Outreach Committee; moved Missouri from 41st to 5th in terms of women in leadership positions; appointed over 200 African Americans to prominent leadership roles; established the state's first Youth Cabinet; and built the first LEED certified state office building in Missouri.
Bob Holden is currently the Missouri Co-Chair for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, and is an Executive Board member of the Missouri State NAACP Chapter. After leaving office in 2005, Holden founded the Holden Public Policy Forum and was a professor at Webster University for ten years. While at Webster University, he helped bring the first Confucius Institute to Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri.
For over 40 years, Bob Holden has been an active participant in the American Legion Missouri Boys and Girls State Program. He led efforts to bring the first delegations of Chinese students to be participants in this historic program. Since that first delegation to Missouri Boys and Girls State, he has lead the efforts to continue these student delegations of Chinese students to Missouri and Missouri students to China with plans to initiate delegations from other states.
Bob Holden believes that long term economic success for the United States and China must be built on mutual respect, clear understandings and honest dialogue. This can be achieved by expanding our cultural ties, creating more educational partnerships, and creating bridges of opportunities for successful business in both countries.
Gov. Holden was recently inducted into the Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame. Watch his honoree video here.
Galal Walker
Galal Walker
Galal Walker (PhD, Cornell) is a professor of Chinese in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, and the Director of the National East Asian Languages Resource Center, and the Midwest US–China Flagship Program at The Ohio State University.
Galal Walker has been instrumental in the development of Chinese language studies in the United States since the early 1980s. His work as a teacher, department chair, program director, author, and editor has contributed to establishing the “Performed Culture” approach and a field-wide pedagogical infrastructure based in research and publication for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Walker has emphasized training Americans to the advanced levels of Chinese language and culture. Graduates of the Ohio State Chinese Program, including the Flagship Program, work in international business, finance, research, pedagogy, and government service. Walker has mentored hundreds of graduate students, authored volumes on training teachers of less commonly taught languages, championed the application of performance theory to language learning and teaching, and created innovative multimedia programs for learning Chinese from elementary to advanced levels.
Walker has participated in the leadership of national organizations and task forces, including the National Association of Self Instructional Language Programs, the National Council for the Organizations of Less Commonly Taught Languages, the Chinese Language Teachers Association, and the College Board’s Chinese Advanced Placement Language program. He was a member of the Board of Visitors at the Defense Foreign Language Institute, and honorary professor at Beijing Normal University, Guizhou Normal University, Wuhan University, and Sichuan University.
In 2003 he was the first US recipient of the “China Language and Culture Friendship Award,” presented by the People’s Republic of China Ministry of Education. In 2012, Walker was awarded the Walton Lifetime Achievement Award by the Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA) and was also the 2012 recipient of the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages (ADFL) Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession.
James Xue
James Xue
James Xue has over 25 years of experiences in international business promotion, which include investment, technology transfer, business set-up, joint ventures, sales and marketing, public relations, and executive training. His major focus is on the Chinese market and business promotion between the US and China.
James Xue used to be a professor of Renmin University, “Lead Consultant & Coordinator” for China projects at International Business Development (IBD) of Northwestern University and Director for China Affairs at Melamed & Associates. James has successfully conducted numerous joint projects. Through these projects, he has dealt with companies from multinational corps to small and medium size firms in various industries. In this capacity, he built an efficient network of contacts, from high-level government officials to industrial leaders.
James Xue also serves as Deputy Director of Adlai Stevenson Center on Democracy.
Sarah Burkemper
Sarah Burkemper
Sarah (Hartmann) Burkemper is a certified public accountant and a certified financial planner with a practice in Troy, Missouri. She served as the public administrator for Lincoln County (Missouri) for twelve years, retiring from the position in December 2008.
Burkemper was a Pershing Scholar at Truman State University and graduated cum laude with two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree in 1992. She went on to earn a master’s degree in International Affairs from Washington University in 1997.
Burkemper was honored as Truman’s Alumna of the Year in 2006. She served as president of the Truman State University Foundation from 2011-2014 and served as a member of the Truman Board of Governors from March 2001 to June 2007.
Burkemper is a graduate of the CORO Women in Leadership program. She is chair of the Lincoln County Health Foundation Board and chair of Community Opportunities (the County’s Senate Bill 40 Board).
Amos Smith
Amos Smith
Amos L. Smith is a global business and foreign affairs executive from the United States, specializing in international trade and market expansion.
Amos has collaborated with numerous multinational market-leading firms and executive leadership on worldwide projects; including extensive work in trade facilitation, market strategy, government relations, and conflict management.
Amos is currently the president of Walton International, a firm concentrating on connecting companies and their executives to alternative market and investment opportunities, both foreign and domestic.
Amos additionally serves as the Executive Director of the Global Chamber Nashville, assisting regional organizations in expanding global possibilities to foreign markets and connections in Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa.
Previously, Amos served as the International Trade Coordinator at Cargill Cotton in Memphis, Tennessee as well as Global Business Analyst with Tractor Supply Company in Nashville, Tennessee.
Amos holds a Global Masters degree in International Relations from Webster University and a Bachelors degree in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of Mississippi. He has lived, worked or conducted research in: Austria, Belgium, England, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Switzerland, and Thailand.
Amos and his family live in Nashville, Tennessee.
Yawei Liu
Yawei Liu
Yawei Liu is director of the China Program at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and has been a member of numerous Carter Center missions to monitor Chinese village, township, and county people's congress deputy elections since 1997.
Dr. Liu has written extensively on China's political developments and grassroots democracy, including three edited book series: "Rural Election and Governance in Contemporary China" (Northwestern University Press, Xi'an, 2002 and 2004), "The Political Readers" (China Central Translation Bureau Press, Beijing, 2006), and "Elections & Governance" (Northwestern University Press, Xian, 2009). He is the founder and editor of the China elections and governance website www.chinaelections.org. Dr. Liu is also co-author of the popular Chinese book "Obama: The Man Who Will Change America" (October 2008).
Dr. Liu is adjunct professor of political science at Emory University and associate director of the China Research Center in Atlanta.
He earned his bachelor's degree in English literature from Xi'an Foreign Languages Institute (1982), master's degree in recent American history from the University of Hawaii (1989), and doctorate in American political and diplomatic history from Emory University (1996).
Jim Schultz
Jim Schultz
Jim Schultz founded Open Prairie as a private capital management company in 1999. He has led and overseen the management of four private equity funds with investments in innovative technologies spanning agriculture, medical devices, and information systems. Funds invested by Open Prairie have resulted in two successful IPO’s and created over 5,000 jobs across 31 portfolio investments. His current fund strategy is focused on agri-business investments in rural America under a USDA licensed rural business investment program (RBIP).
Jim is a fifth-generation Illinoisan, agribusiness entrepreneur, and private equity executive. Like his ancestors, Jim has continued his family legacy in agribusiness throughout the America’s with investments in ag-tech companies, ag-input companies, rural businesses and farmland. He has owned three proprietary soybean seed companies and three ag- chemical companies along with farmland in the Midwest and Brazil, representing over 17,000 acres. In his hometown of Effingham, Illinois, Jim developed and created in a bean field an office park, Network Centre, that has created over 1,500 professional jobs for college graduates seeking to remain in the east-central Illinois area. He gained extensive leadership experience with growth-stage capital expansion over the years by investing in rural America. Jim has served as the financial expert on mergers and acquisitions for clients in rural America in software development, banking, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and entertainment.
From 2015-2017, Jim served in newly-elected State of Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s cabinet as the Director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity where he oversaw the following departments: foreign direct investment, business development, job training, energy, film, and tourism. He travelled on behalf of Governor Rauner leading Trade Missions to Japan, China, Canada, Germany and France.
Jim is a recognized leader throughout the State of Illinois. He has served as Chairman of the Board for Prime Banc Corporation – a multi-branch rural banking group serving southern and central Illinois – which grew organically from $40 million in assets to over $1 billion in assets…all in rural communities in Illinois. He also has served as Chairman of the Board for the following organizations: Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Southeast Illinois Community Foundation, The Cross Foundation, and Effingham County Community Foundation. Jim also served on the Advisory Board for the Chicago Federal Reserve.
Jim earned his MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Northwestern University, a Juris Doctor Degree in Corporate Finance from DePaul University, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University (cum laude). Jim was born in Teutopolis, Illinois - adjacent to the building which housed his great-great- grandfather’s trading post which supplied wagons heading west on the National Trail. His office in Effingham is located three miles west on the same National Trail. Jim currently lives in Effingham, Illinois, where he and his wife Laura raised their three sons.
Jeff Moseley
Jeff Moseley
Jeff Moseley returned to business consulting last year and is the principal of Moseley Advisors. His work focuses on business development in the areas of trade and transportation.
Jeff is the immediate past President and CEO of the Texas Association of Business (TAB). TAB is the State Chamber of Commerce and also a bipartisan advocacy organization of 2,500 large and small business members with more than 200 statewide chamber partners. For almost 100 years TAB has aggressively advocated for laws and policy that support a pro-jobs philosophy.
Under Jeff’s leadership, TAB instituted a World Trade Division and worked with the White House and US Trade Representative to assist in ratification of the US Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Additionally, upon Jeff’s arrival, TAB reengaged its State and Federal PACs fundraising and endorsement activity. In 2018, TAB enjoyed a greater than 90% candidate endorsement success rate in both PACs.
TAB was very successful in defeating a large number of bad legislation that would have increased regulatory and litigation costs including the defeat of an eminent domain bill that would have been a direct challenge to the oil and gas industry.
Prior to TAB, Jeff served as State Vice President of Government Affairs of Texas Central Partners LLC, a private company developing a $15 billion high-speed rail system between Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth.
In 2012 Governor Rick Perry appointed Jeff to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Commission receiving unanimous Senate confirmation.
As one of TxDOT’s five-member Commission, Jeff had oversight of one of the largest highway agencies in the world with 130,000 lane miles, 11,000 employees and a $12 billion annual operating budget. Commissioner Moseley served as Vice Chairman of the Commission and as the Commission liaison to the 29 Texas ports of entry and their communities during his four year term.
Beginning in 2005, Jeff served seven years as President/CEO of the state’s largest chamber of commerce, the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP). The GHP Board consisted of 130 business leaders representing businesses with revenues of $1.6 trillion annually. As energy capital of the world, Houston oil and gas companies had heavy representation on the GHP Board.
Through a program Jeff introduced, Opportunity Houston, GHP significantly grew its involvement in regional economic development. Opportunity Houston was the largest national recruiting initiative offered by a Chamber or Economic Development Organization. Jeff worked closely with the region’s 30+ economic development allies to incorporate an aggressive five-year, $32 million lead generation program that set ambitious goals of targeting 600,000 new regional jobs and $60 billion in capital investment by end of 2015. Ahead of schedule--Opportunity Houston jobs and capital investment goals were met in 2014.
Under Moseley’s leadership, GHP became nationally recognized as a leader in economic development with Site Selection magazine twice naming GHP as one of the top performing economic development groups in the US. Additionally, GHP earned the distinguished title of Accredited Economic Development Organization (AEDO) from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). GHP was the only economic developer of its size to receive this distinction.
Additionally, as he was building the economic development division, Jeff worked to secure World Bank recognition by selecting GHP as a secretariat for one of three national Private Sector Liaison Officers.
Jeff also served on the Greater Houston Convention Visitors Bureau Board and
was an advisory board member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
In 1999, Jeff served as Executive Director and CEO of economic development for Texas under Governors George W. Bush and Rick Perry. During his six years heading the agency, Moseley was involved in a range of site selection projects including but not limited to: Toyota Tundra Assembly Plant, Samsung’s expansion, Vought, Sematech, Citgo, WalMart Distribution and Huntsman.
Under Governor Rick Perry’s leadership, the Legislature created the largest deal-closing fund in the United States, the $250 million Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF). Jeff was one of the team leads in establishing best practices and oversight of the TEF. Jeff also worked to establish TexasOne, a private-public partnership to market Texas and served as TexasOne’s founding CEO.
As Executive Director and CEO of economic development for Texas, Jeff worked
with other state agencies and programs in cooperative efforts to assist prospects seeking to expand or relocate to Texas. These agencies and programs include but are not limited to: Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, General Land Office, Texas Comptroller, Texas Historical Commission, Texas Railroad Commission and Texas Emerging Technology Fund.
The voters of Denton County elected Jeff to three terms as County Judge where he served more than 12 years in elected office. Denton County, during the decade of the 90s, was one of the fastest growing counties in America. As County Judge, Jeff took leadership on a range of economic development projects including announcements by Intel, Texas Motor Speedway and JC Penny Distribution.
While Denton County Judge, Jeff initiated the I-35 Corridor Coalition, a multi-state, bi-partisan, urban-rural advocacy group. The Coalition grew to include Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan as well as international memberships from Canada and Mexico and became North America’s Super Highway Coalition (NASCO). NASCO successfully lobbied Congress during ISTEA reauthorization to recognize trade corridors.
Additionally, Jeff served on the Dallas/Ft.Worth region’s North Central Texas Council of Governments Metropolitan Planning Organization board. Jeff is a 6 th generation Texan, married to Jackie Barret of Comanche, Texas for 38 years. They have two daughters, Joi (SMU ‘Pony’) and Jenni (UT ‘Longhorn’).
The family enjoys learning about different cultures through international travel. Moseley is a graduate and Outstanding Alumnus of Southern Nazarene University.
Liza Mark
Liza Mark
Liza Mark started the Shanghai office of Haynes and Boone, LLP, an international corporate law firm, in 2013 and is the administrative partner of the office. She is a partner in the Capital Markets and Securities Practice Group and regularly works in the firm’s Shanghai and Dallas offices. Liza has been working at U.S. firms in the U.S., Hong Kong and Shanghai for more than 20 years. She is familiar with the legal environments of these three countries and is able to help her clients fulcrum between the different business environments. She has concentrated her practice in private equity investments, securities and cross-border M&A.
She represents investors, issuers, and investment banks/financial intermediaries in financing transactions, including equity and debt public offerings and cross-border private placements in Hong Kong, India and the U.S. Liza is experienced in private placements of debt and equity securities, Asian in-bound equity offerings, Rule 144A offerings, medium term note programs, SPAC acquisitions, PIPEs, and Hong Kong IPOs. She also regularly advises clients regarding private equity investments, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and U.S. public company securities law reporting and compliance.
Liza has deep experience in the clean technology, energy, transportation and logistics, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact industries. She has worked closely with foreign private issuers in their securities offerings in the United States and the Hong Kong markets.
Liza also serves on the board of advisors of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations and the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the Ethics Committee of The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
She holds a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, 1998 and a B.S. in Accounting and Finance, Indiana University Bloomington, 1995, summa cum laude, with honors.
David Firestein
David Firestein
David J. Firestein is the inaugural executive director of The University of Texas at Austin’s China Public Policy Center (CPPC) and clinical professor at UT’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. As CPPC chief, Firestein leads UT's institutional engagement with China and oversees innovative interdisciplinary research on China-related domestic and foreign policy topics.
Prior to joining UT, Firestein served as senior vice president and Perot Fellow at the EastWest Institute; there, he led the Institute’s work in the areas of U.S.-China relations, East Asian security and U.S.-Russia relations.
A decorated career U.S. diplomat from 1992–2010, Firestein specialized primarily in China and U.S.-China relations. He is the author or co-author of three books on China, including two China-published Chinese-language best-sellers. Firestein speaks Chinese at the near-native level.
Throughout his career, Firestein has played an active role advancing U.S.-China and U.S.-Asia trade. He has also produced path-breaking thought leadership, scholarship and Capitol Hill testimony on a range of topics, including U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, U.S.-China infrastructure investment cooperation, and the role of national exceptionalism as a driver of major international conflict today. Firestein was also a principal architect of the U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue.
A native of Austin, Firestein holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and two master’s degrees from The University of Texas.
Michael Froy
Michael Froy
Mike Froy is global chair of the Corporate practice of Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, with more than 200 offices in over 80 countries (including over 40 offices in each of the U.S. and China). Mike previously served on Dentons’ U.S. and China region boards and as co-head of Dentons’ Chicago office. Dentons U.S. offices include locations throughout the Heartland (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Louisiana, Texas, and Alabama).
Mike advises businesses in meeting their strategic objectives focusing on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, complex commercial transactions, market entry, financings, corporate governance and public company compliance.
While Mike represents clients across a broad array of industries, his work on behalf of manufacturers and regulated businesses (energy, health care and insurance) has been particularly noteworthy:
-Executive Committee, Northwestern University’s Ray Garrett Jr. Corporate and Securities Law Institute
-Board of directors, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Lymphoma Research Foundation, Ravinia Festival Association
-Secretary and member of the executive committee, Junior Achievement of Chicago
University of Chicago Law School, 1983, JD
University of Michigan, 1979, AB, with honors and high distinction
Qiaoni "Linda" Jing
Qiaoni “Linda” Jing
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Qiaoni “Linda” Jing grew up at a village in central China. Pulling weeds was her first job and hunger was real in the community. As a child, Linda was determined to leave agriculture and see other parts of the world. In 1999, Linda started her career as a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Shanghai, China, after receiving her BE in Industrial Engineering and MA in Economics from Fudan University. Her father’s appointment by the Chinese Premier to lead one of the largest enterprises in China inspired Linda to shape her career towards general management. In 2002, Linda came to the U.S. for her MBA at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Upon graduation in 2004, Linda joined the Corporate Strategy group of General Motors. In 2006, Linda moved to Wentzville, MO to supervise UAW production teams along the truck assembly line. She later became the Quality Audit Manager there and secured JD Power Associates’ Best Quality Award for General Motors. Shortly after, Linda was brought back to the headquarters as a Business Development Manager focusing on strategic alliance. Linda returned to agriculture when Monsanto, now part of Bayer Crop Science, was seeking from other industries emerging leaders with track records of delivering. She joined Monsanto in 2009 as Strategic Planning Lead for the U.S. business, followed by leading a Customer Care team that delivered $1.9 billion revenue in 2010. Linda was expatriated to Argentina in 2011 to revamp the distribution channel in South America. Returning to the U.S., Linda became Global Operations Manager in Supply Chain. Her contribution in inventory and COGs reduction earned her the 2013 Global Business Outstanding Award. Linda joined R&D in 2013 as Director of Global Strategy & Operations, driving strategic initiatives and managing Monsanto’s plant breeding operations in 35 countries. In 2016, she became Senior Director & Chief of Staff in Global Corporate Affairs, spearheading stakeholder engagement. Genective, a biotechnology JV between Limagrain and KWS, the world’s 4th and 5th largest seed companies, chose Linda as its CEO in 2019. Tasked with transforming the Paris, France-based semi-virtual entity to a global operation centered in the U.S., Linda successfully led facility build-out, grand opened a new global headquarters in Champaign, IL, quadrupled the work force, and signed up multiple collaboration partners during her first two years on the job. Now President, CEO and a Board Member, Linda focuses on leading execution of the new strategy towards the new vision she set, together with the Board of Directors, for Genective, nurturing a new culture that has resulted in record high employee engagement, and commercialization of deliverables out of a refreshed R&D pipeline. Linda has been promoting cross-culture understanding since her student times in Japan and Switzerland. She served the Greater St. Louis community as a Leadership Council Member of the Danforth Plant Science Center, a Board Member of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce, a Co-chair of United Way Multi-Cultural Leadership Cabinet, and an Executive in Residence for University of Missouri-St. Louis’ IMBA program, lecturing and coaching on cross-cultural leadership. Linda was one of the St. Louis Regional Business Council’s Young Leadership 100, 2013 through 2015. She was honored by Who is Who Diversity in Color as Most Intriguing in St. Louis in 2018. She has been the leading voice for the Heartland in the leadership circle of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since 2018. After featuring Linda as a St. Louis Character in 2018, the St. Louis Business Journal honored her as one of the Most Influential Business Women in 2019. |
Alan Wong
Alan Wong
Mr. Alan Wong is special advisor to the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) as well as a former executive director of the Foundation. CUSEF is a Hong Kong based non-profit organization established in 2008 to promote positive relationship and better understanding between China and United States.
The Foundation’s annual program includes a host of activities in policy research, senior executive exchanges, high-level dialogues, education programs and outreach initiatives. In his capacity as Executive Director, Mr. Wong oversees the day to day running of the organization and is responsible to the Foundation’s Board of Governors.
Prior to his appointment with the Foundation, Mr. Wong was the Deputy Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, a statutory organization responsible for promoting Hong Kong’s external trade. In his more than 30 years of service with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, he had extensive experience working both in Hong Kong and overseas including Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, New York, Panama, Paris, London, etc.
Mr. Wong was born in Northern China. His family moved to Guangzhou soon afterwards and later the family settled in Hong Kong. After attending high school in Hong Kong, Mr. Wong went to Canada for his tertiary education, where he graduated from the University of Alberta with a degree of Bachelor of Science. Mr. Wong is married with two daughters.
Tom Ostrander
Tom Ostrander
Tom is a seasoned financial industry executive with deep expertise in investment banking, corporate finance, strategy, business development, M&A, capital raising, management, accounting (CPA), governance, as well as public and private Board experience.
Currently, in addition to serving on the Board, and as the Audit Chairman at Monaco-based Scorpio Bulkers (NYSE-SALT), Investor / Board member of Asgard Craft Brewery, Tom is the co-founder and Senior Financial Advisor of EquityHealth. While in New York, Tom held senior leadership roles in various leading companies, such as CFO at US Alliance Paper, and Global Co-Head of Salomon Brothers / Citigroup’s Industrial Group where he led a team of approximately 150 professionals internationally, and was responsible for $850 million in annual revenue.
Tom also has extensive international business experience in many countries in Western Europe and East Asia through his direct engagement with leading global companies such as GM, IBM, Chrysler, Goodyear, Japan Tobacco, Canon, Fuji Film, Shanghai Electric, and Xerox.
Tom has served countless times in various Board and other high-level meetings as a senior Investment Banking advisor. Notable experiences include his time at Kidder Peabody & Co. where he was a Board member present for the SEC-filing firm’s sale to GE in 1986. Tom also was on the Board and Audit, Compensation, and Governance Committees at Westmoreland Coal Co.
In addition to his professional responsibilities, Tom has and currently serves on various philanthropic, educational, medical, and institutional boards and fundraising activities. Notably, the University of Michigan, Harvard Business School, National Down Syndrome Society, Ballet Hispánico, the Institute for Semitic Studies, and others.
Tom is a multi-disciplinarian A.B. graduate of the University of Michigan, where he graduated cum laude, and also holds an M.B.A from Harvard Business School where he graduated with Distinction in the Top 10% his class. Tom currently lives with his family in Nashville, Tennessee.
Jim Brainard
Jim Brainard
Mayor Jim Brainard is Carmel’s first seven-term mayor and is one of the longest serving mayors in the State of Indiana. Under his tenure, Carmel has experienced tremendous growth and prosperity. It is considered one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. The population has grown from 25,000 to more than 103,000 in the last 25 years. Park land, greenspace, and trails have increased from 40 acres to more than 800, including the linear Monon Greenway and Central Park.
The development of an Arts & Design District, a new downtown called City Center and a new Midtown project joining the two together, has helped in the creation of a vibrant, thriving walkable city where companies want to locate, where employees want to live and where families want to raise their children. Mayor Brainard is frequently asked to speak around the world about city planning, climate change, redevelopment and transportation networks.
As part of the City Center project to create a downtown for Carmel, Mayor Brainard incorporated world- class cultural and entertainment venues. The Center for the Performing Arts in City Center includes the Palladium, a state-of-the-art, 1,600-seat concert hall, The Tarkington, a 500-seat proscenium theater and the 200-seat black box Studio Theater.
Mayor Brainard was also successful in gaining the talents of Emmy-nominated performer Michael Feinstein as the Artistic Director for the Center as well as integrating the Great American Songbook Foundation and Songbook Academy into the cultural options at the Center. All of these venues, including an outdoor amphitheater named Rotary Centennial Plaza, opened in 2011.
Mayor Brainard has implemented numerous environmental initiatives for the City of Carmel. He has encouraged the construction of roundabouts in place of traditional signaled intersections in Carmel, which reduces vehicle emissions. Accidents with injury were also reduced by almost 80 percent when contrasted to signalized intersections. The City now has more than 140 roundabout intersections, more than any other city in the United States. Mayor Brainard has signed executive orders mandating the use of hybrid or flex-fuel vehicles for city operations when available and recently enacted a “No Idling” policy for city employees. He also encouraged the City’s Utilities Department to develop the technology to use recaptured methane gas to power its wastewater treatment facility as well as repurpose its biosolid waste into high quality fertilizer (topsoil), eliminating the need for its transport to and disposal in a landfill. He has also initiated testing the feasibility of utilizing wind energy as a future power source for the plant.
Carmel has been honored with many awards for its high quality of life and environmental initiatives. Money Magazine named Carmel the No. 2 Best Place to Live in America for 2021-22 and Money placed Carmel at the top of their list of Best Places to Retire in 2022. Carmel has also been named the No. 1 Best Place to Raise a Family in 2020 and No. 1 Best Suburb in America in 2019 by Niche.com. In 2015, Carmel was recognized as Community of the Year by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. The City was awarded first place in the Climate Protection Awards from the U.S. Conference of Mayors for its roundabout program and national runner-up of the Home Depot Awards of Excellence in Community Trees. Carmel has also been the recipient of the Sterling Tree City Award, honorable mention for Municipal Excellence from the National League of Cities and has been designated a silver level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.
Based on surveys using community statistics, Carmel is consistently ranked among the top places to live for families, singles, children, senior citizens and veterans based on low crime rates, low cost of living, excellent schools, availability of high paying jobs and appreciation of community amenities such as the arts, culture, parks and recreational opportunities. Mayor Brainard’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts in History from Butler University and Doctor of Jurisprudence from Ohio Northern University. He also received a diploma from the Oxford Institute on International and Comparative Law from the University of San Diego. His book, Carmel, ‘round about right shares the story of redevelopment in Carmel during his administration.
Mayor Brainard has served as a Trustee and Co-chair of the Energy Independence and Climate Protection Task Force for the U.S. Conference of Mayors since 2013. In November of 2013, he was appointed to the Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience by President Barack Obama. In 2015, he traveled to four cities in India to represent the United States as part of the U.S. State Department’s speaker’s bureau. Also, in 2015 he was asked to speak on energy and climate policy at the German-American Centers in five German cities. In 2016, he was asked to speak on climate change and urban design in Rome, Italy, at the International Making Cities Livable Conference. In 2021, the City of Carmel hosted the IMCL Conference. Additionally, he has been a guest lecturer for Georgetown University, Butler University, Indiana University and Purdue University among others. He often speaks to city councils and planning commissions across the United States about city design and development.
The Mayor has served as President of the Butler University Alumni Association, was included in Butler’s “50 Under 50” in 2004 and has served as a Trustee of the university. He taught as an adjunct instructor at the University of Indianapolis and was named one of the “Most Powerful Hoosiers in the World” by Indianapolis Monthly Magazine. He is a member of St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church and the Rotary Club of Carmel. He resides in Carmel and has four children: Jack, a physician; Will, an attorney; Marie, an occupational therapist; and Martha, a medical research assistant at Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute.
Tom Ostrander
Tom Ostrander
Tom is a seasoned financial industry executive with deep expertise in investment banking, corporate finance, strategy, business development, M&A, capital raising, management, accounting (CPA), governance, as well as public and private Board experience.
Currently, in addition to serving on the Board, and as the Audit Chairman at Monaco-based Scorpio Bulkers (NYSE-SALT), Investor / Board member of Asgard Craft Brewery, Tom is the co-founder and Senior Financial Advisor of EquityHealth. While in New York, Tom held senior leadership roles in various leading companies, such as CFO at US Alliance Paper, and Global Co-Head of Salomon Brothers / Citigroup’s Industrial Group where he led a team of approximately 150 professionals internationally, and was responsible for $850 million in annual revenue.
Tom also has extensive international business experience in many countries in Western Europe and East Asia through his direct engagement with leading global companies such as GM, IBM, Chrysler, Goodyear, Japan Tobacco, Canon, Fuji Film, Shanghai Electric, and Xerox.
Tom has served countless times in various Board and other high-level meetings as a senior Investment Banking advisor. Notable experiences include his time at Kidder Peabody & Co. where he was a Board member present for the SEC-filing firm’s sale to GE in 1986. Tom also was on the Board and Audit, Compensation, and Governance Committees at Westmoreland Coal Co.
In addition to his professional responsibilities, Tom has and currently serves on various philanthropic, educational, medical, and institutional boards and fundraising activities. Notably, the University of Michigan, Harvard Business School, National Down Syndrome Society, Ballet Hispánico, the Institute for Semitic Studies, and others.
Tom is a multi-disciplinarian A.B. graduate of the University of Michigan, where he graduated cum laude, and also holds an M.B.A from Harvard Business School where he graduated with Distinction in the Top 10% his class. Tom currently lives with his family in Nashville, Tennessee.
Daniel B. Wright
Daniel B. Wright
Dr. Wright advises executives of leading global companies through his nearly four decades of China experience building bridges between people, resources, and public policy. He founded GreenPoint Group, a boutique strategic advisory firm with offices in Washington, D.C. and Beijing.
Wright was formerly Senior Vice President and China practice head of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm based in Washington, D.C. He also served at the U.S. Treasury Department as Managing Director for China and the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), where he provided strategic counsel to the Secretary of Treasury Henry M. Paulson, Jr. for this Cabinet-level economic exchange with China.
Prior to his Treasury Department appointment, Wright served as Vice President and Washington D.C. Office Director of the National Bureau of Asian Research and as the Executive Director of the Hopkins- Nanjing Program of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He has been a visiting scholar at Qinghua University’s School of Public Policy and Management.
Dr. Wright is a nonresident senior fellow with the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution and a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. from Johns Hopkins University SAIS, his M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary, and his B.A. from Vanderbilt University.
From 1997 to 1999, Dr. Wright held a fellowship with the Institute of Current World Affairs, during which he lived in southwest China’s Guizhou Province and wrote monthly reports from the perspective of grassroots societies in the country’s hinterland, with particular focus on governance and socio-economic development issues.
Jim Brainard
Jim Brainard
Mayor Jim Brainard is Carmel’s first seven-term mayor. Under his tenure, Carmel has experienced tremendous growth and prosperity. It is considered one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. The population has grown from 25,000 to almost 100,000 in the last 25 years. Park land, greenspace, and trails have increased from 40 acres to more than 800, including the Monon Trail and Central Park.
The development of an Arts & Design District, a downtown called City Center and a new Midtown project joining the two together, has helped in the creation of a vibrant, thriving walkable city where companies want to locate, where employees want to live and where families want to raise their children. Mayor Brainard is frequently asked to speak around the world about city planning, climate change, redevelopment and roadway networks.
As part of the City Center project to create a downtown for Carmel, Mayor Brainard incorporated world-class cultural and entertainment venues. The Center for the Performing Arts in City Center includes the Palladium, a state-of-the-art, 1,600-seat concert hall, The Tarkington, a 500-seat proscenium theater and the 200-seat Studio Theater.
Mayor Brainard was also successful in gaining the talent of Michael Feinstein as the Artistic Director for the Center as well as integrating the Great American Songbook Foundation and Songbook Academy into the cultural options at the Center. All of these venues, including an outdoor amphitheater named Rotary Centennial Plaza, opened in 2011.
Mayor Brainard has implemented numerous environmental initiatives for the City of Carmel. He has encouraged the construction of roundabouts in place of traditional signaled intersections in Carmel, which reduces vehicle emissions. Accidents with injury were also reduced by almost 80 percent when contrasted to signalized intersections. The City now has more than 130 roundabout intersections, more than any other city in the United States. Mayor Brainard has signed executive orders mandating the use of hybrid or flex-fuel vehicles for city operations when available and recently enacted a “No Idling” policy for city employees. He also encouraged the City’s Utilities Department to develop the technology to use recaptured methane gas to power its wastewater treatment facility as well as repurpose its biosolid waste into high quality fertilizer (topsoil), eliminating the need for its transport to and disposal in a landfill. He has also initiated testing the feasibility of utilizing wind energy as a future power source for the plant.
Carmel has been honored with many awards for its high quality of life and environmental initiatives. Carmel is among Money magazine’s Best Places to Live in America - #3 in 2014 and #1 in 2012 for cities with a population of 50,000 – 300,000. In 2015, Carmel was recognized as Community of the Year by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. The City was awarded first place in the Climate Protection Awards from the U.S. Conference of Mayors for its roundabout program and national runner-up of the Home Depot Awards of Excellence in Community Trees. Carmel has also been the recipient of the Sterling Tree City Award, honorable mention for Municipal Excellence from the National League of Cities and has been designated a bronze level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.
Based on surveys using community statistics, Carmel is consistently ranked among the top places to live for families, singles, children, senior citizens and veterans based on low crime rates, low cost of living, excellent schools, availability of high paying jobs and appreciation of community amenities such as arts, culture, parks and recreational opportunities. Mayor Brainard’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts in History from Butler University and Doctor of Jurisprudence from Ohio Northern University. He also received a diploma from the Oxford Institute on International and Comparative Law from the University of San Diego. His book, entitled Carmel, ‘round about right, shares the story of redevelopment in Carmel during his administration.
Mayor Brainard is serving as a Trustee and Co-chair of the Energy Independence and Climate Protection Task Force for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. In November of 2013, he was appointed to the Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience by President Barack Obama. In 2015, he traveled to four cities in India to represent the United States as part of the U.S. State Department’s speaker’s bureau. Also, in 2015 he was asked to speak on energy and climate policy at the German-American Centers in five German cities. In 2016, he was asked to speak on climate change and urban design in Rome, Italy at the International Making Cities Livable Conference. Additionally, he has been a guest lecturer for Georgetown University, Butler University, Indiana University and Purdue University among others. He often speaks to city councils and planning commissions across the United States about city design and development.
The Mayor has served as President of the Butler University Alumni Association, was included in Butler’s “50 Under 50” in 2004 and has served as a Trustee of the university. He taught as an adjunct instructor at the University of Indianapolis and was named one of the “Most Powerful Hoosiers in the World” by Indianapolis Monthly. He is a member of St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church and the Rotary Club of Carmel. He resides in Carmel and has four children: Jack, a physician; Will, an attorney; Marie, an occupational therapist; and Martha, a medical research assistant at Dana-Farber Cancer Research Institute.
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