Our Team

Bob Holden

Gov. Bob Holden

Chairman and CEO

Gov. 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.

About Gov. Holden
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Min Fan

Executive Director

Min Fan

Min Fan was born in China and studied at Peking University before immigrating to the United States. Continuing her education at the University of North Carolina she earned a B.A. in Art followed by an M.B.A. at the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Min went on to a successful career in the corporate world culminating in her role as the leader of the Ideation and Innovation Practice at Hewlett Packard (HP) Global Corporate Services. Upon leaving HP she joined the startup ecosystem as an entrepreneur and mentor at two Colorado incubators.

From 2018-2019, Min brought her entrepreneur experience and passion for US and China collaboration to the nonprofit sector as the Executive Director/COO of US China Innovation Alliance (UCIA). Over 100 US companies visited China on sponsored trips as a result of her team’s efforts.

Prior to joining the US Heartland China Association, Min launched US China Now, a not-for-profit endeavor, which partnered with a broad spectrum of organizations to build a bridge of understanding across the cultural divide between US and China.

About Min
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Jason Conley

Intern (Dover, OH)

Jason Conley

Jason Conley is a recent graduate from the Ohio State University and is looking forward to beginning his Master's degree in Chinese language in the fall.

About Jason
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Eliza Keffeler

Intern (Memphis, TN)

Eliza Keffeler

Eliza a student majoring in Chinese and Business at the University of Mississippi.

About Eliza
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Noa Atkins

Intern (Cincinnati, OH)

Noa Atkins

Noa Atkins is a sophomore at The Ohio State University, studying International Business and Information Systems. She is involved in the International Affairs Scholars Program, and enjoys volunteering and participating in clubs on campus.

About Noa
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Grace Zhang

Intern (Carmel, IN)

Grace Zhang

Grace Zhang is a sophomore at Case Western Reserve University studying biochemistry and international studies - global health. In her free time she enjoys photography and digital art design.

About Grace
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Olivia Smalley

Intern (West Grove, PA)

Olivia Smalley

Olivia is currently a senior at the Ohio State University, double-majoring in International Relations & Diplomacy and Chinese.

About Olivia
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Charlotte Sperl

Volunteer (Cincinnati, OH)

Charlotte Sperl

Charlotte is a graduate of the Ohio State University with a B.A. in Chinese. She is also a recipient of the State Department awarded Critical Language Scholarship Program and an alumna of the Mandarin Training Center in Taipei, Taiwan.

Charlotte first traveled to China in 2014 as a guest along with her parents, both professional classical musicians, who were touring and performing joint concerts with local Chinese musicians. From that time, Charlotte began studying Mandarin and decided to use her language skills to facilitate communication and build bridges between the US and China, such as through business, artistic and cultural exchange

About Charlotte
Kevin Guo

Kevin Guo

Volunteer (Laramie, Wyoming)

Kevin Guo

Kevin Guo (郭峰) received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wyoming.  He enjoys creating novel solutions and aspires to solve big problems in our world using his scientific expertise as well as his business acumen from being a co-founder of a startup company.

Kevin helps USHCA as a volunteer because he shares our mission to foster and support a positive, productive, and mutually beneficial relationship between the United States and China.  

About Kevin
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