IPWS is happy to announce this year’s independent WLA Jury to judge nominations in the Women Leadership Awards (WLA) 2018. The jury will oversee the selection of top candidates across the seven award categories in the WLA 2018. The WLA nominations are open March 21 – April 20, and the WLA Winners were announced at the 2018 IPWS Leadership Summit on Friday Mary 25th, 2018 in Shanghai.
Every year, jury members are selected from a broad cross-section of industries and positions to ensure a well-rounded representation of professionals in the judging panel. Their role in business and society is also a reflection of IPWS values: to Connect, Grow, Inspire and Lead.
IPWS is delighted to announce the following WLA 2018 independent jury panel:
- Veomayoury “Titi” Baccam, Government Relations & Corporate Social Responsibility, the American Chamber of Commerce Shanghai
- Florian Bohnert, Head of Global Partnerships, Mobike
- Jinfu Chan, Chief Financial Officer, GE Power – Asia Supply Chain for Gas Power Systems
- Martin Daffner, Founding Partner, Entrepreneur In Residence, Emerge Innovation
- Guergana Guermanoff, New Zealand’s Consul-General to Shanghai
- Audry Li, Partner, Zhong Lun Law Firm
The independent Jury members using the established WLA Criteria Guidelines for each award category will review all nominations submitted for the Women Leadership Awards 2018. The Jury will participate throughout the entire selection process. Following the review of all nominations, the Jury will select two finalists for each WLA category. These finalists will be notified in early May.
Learn more about our Women Leadership Awards 2018 Jury Panel below.
Veomayoury “Titi” Baccam – Government Relations & Corporate Social Responsibility, the American Chamber of Commerce Shanghai
Ms. Baccam is the Director of Government Relations & Corporate Social Responsibility at the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, known as the “Voice of American Business” in China, was founded in 1915. AmCham Shanghai was the thirdAmerican Chamber established outside the United States, and now has 3,000 members from 1,500companies. As a non-profit, non-partisan business organization, AmCham Shanghai is committed tothe principles of free trade, open markets, private enterprise and the unrestricted flow ofinformation. She is responsible for coordinating the Chamber’s advocacy efforts with the U.S.Government and Chinese government and its Corporate Social Responsibility programs. Prior to joiningAmCham, Ms. Baccam worked for 12 years in the U.S. diplomatic service. Her previous postings includeMoscow, Geneva, Washington D.C., and Shanghai. She received her bachelor’s degree from George Washington University and a Masters of International and Public Affairs from Columbia University.
Florian Bohnert, Head of Global Partnerships, Mobike
Florian’s personal brand is built around entrepreneurship, pluriculturalism & environmentalism. These keywords led him to China’s startup ecosystem for the first time in 2010, and most recently to Mobike, acquired by Meituan-Dianping in a USD 3.7 billion acquisition in April 2018.
As the first foreigner in Mobike (employee #37), he internationalized the company by launching the service in Singapore, opening up markets outside of China and creating international partnerships, recruiting brilliant talents & laying out the foundation for international expansion.
He is also Co-Director & Mentor in Startup Grind China, Mentor in Chinaccelerator & Lecturer at Shanghai University. Prior to Mobike, he founded WeSmart, an energy management SaaS platform, servicing MNCs in greater China, raising 7 million RMB in the company’s first round of funding.
He graduated with a Post-Master in International Energy Management from Beijing Tsinghua University & Ecole des Mines de Paris, a Master of Thermodynamics from Beijing Tsinghua, and a Master of Eco-design & Sustainable Transports from ESTACA. ANKI helped him get to HSK6; he’s also an INSEAD TIEMBA candidate.
Jinfu Chan – Chief Financial Officer, GE Power – Asia Supply Chain for Gas Power Systems
Jinfu is a Chief Financial Officer with experience working in both the Financial Services and Energy industry. She has led teams to achieve financial targets in partnership with business leaders, executed through divestitures, acquisitions and integrations as well as worked on development of joint ventures.
Jinfu was recruited into GE’s Financial Management Program and rotated through stints that provided foundational building across various finance skillsets. She then joined GE’s Corporate Audit Staff moving up the ranks to Senior Manager leading key projects across multiple countries in Asia, Europe and North America.
In 2013, she was named CFO for GE Capital Greater China and Southeast Asia, and in 2016, was promoted to CFO for GE Power’s Gas Power Systems Supply Chain in Asia. Jinfu enjoys working with diverse teams having lived and worked internationally for nine years. She attended the National University of Singapore and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration with Honors.
Martin Daffner – Founding Partner, Entrepreneur In Residence, Emerge Innovation
With over 25 years of experience driving innovation and building innovation organizations with firms like Procter & Gamble, Cisco and Avery Dennison, Martin comes with world leading hands-on knowledge and experience turning innovation concepts and ideas into real business outcomes. In 2006, Martin relocated to China to start up the Asia Pacific Innovation Center for a Fortune 500 company.
While a seasoned practitioner of innovation leadership and management, Martin is also an experienced entrepreneur. Creating an innovation center that was voluntarily funded each year by it’s business stakeholders changed the way Martin thought about innovation, and drove him to start his own business helping others think differently about how they lead and manage innovation. In 2012 he began his own innovation practice, working closely with senior business leaders in firms like Cisco, TE Connectivity Inchape and others. Contracted with Cisco Services as their Senior Innovation Architect, Martin was tasked to develop and deploy a ground-breaking innovation program. In 2013, that program was awarded the HBR/McKinsey M-Prize for “Innovating Innovation”, and within 18 months had dramatically changed the way Cisco’s Services businesses create, manage and implement their innovative
ideas. This program continues to be deployed more broadly across Cisco Systems globally.
Most recently,Martin has been working with Fortune 500 firms in China to design and deliver incubation and acceleration programs. More specifically, he’s designed and is currently delivering idea acceleration programs for Intel China’s Ideas2Reality Program,
Johnson & Johnson’s Emerging Market Innovation Center, and Honeywell China’s Idea Incubator. Martin plays many roles in the innovation ecosystem in Asia, and is currently the Director of Innovation at Hult International Business School in Shanghai as well as a
Faculty Supervisor for Jiaotong’s Global Corporate Lab Program.
As a strong believer in growth mindset and continuous development, Martin is also a certified facilitator of the Midnight Lunch creative thinking and innovation methodology. Developed in partnership with the Edison Labs, the Midnight Lunch process directly employs the proven creative strategies and methods developed by Thomas Edison, one of the worlds most prolific innovators. In addition, Martin
is a certified facilitator of the Creatix process for building both individual and organizational innovation capability. Developed by Richard and Jacqueline Byrd (author of The Innovation Equation), Creatrix is the world’s most proven methodology for increasing the “Innovation Mindset”.
Guergana Guermanoff – New Zealand’s Consul-General to Shanghai
Guergana Guermanoff took up her role as New Zealand Consul-General in Shanghai in February 2015. She is a Mandarin speaker trained at Taiwan National University, and served at the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing from 1999 to 2001, responsible for the economic and trade portfolio. Guergana returned to the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing as the Counsellor for Education from 2006 to 2010.
Prior to becoming Consul-General in Shanghai, Guergana was Lead Adviser in the China team at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Her other roles have included Regional Director for Americas, Europe, Japan and Korea with Education New Zealand and working in the private sector.
Guergana was educated at the University of Otago, and holds BA Hons (First Class) in English Literature and Russian Language.
Guergana is accompanied on her posting by her husband and three children.
Follow Guergana on Twitter @GGuermanoffNZ
Audry (Hong) Li – Partner, Zhong Lun Law Firm
Audry is a partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm based in its Shanghai office. She co-heads the firm’s M&A practice group and is also a member of the Management Committee of Zhong Lun Shanghai Office.
She has 25 years substantial legal experience in corporate advisory, foreign investment, cross border M&A, project restructuring and international dispute resolution. Her practice is focused on serving large multi-national companies as their trusted legal adviser and her clients are some of the largest private companies in the world such as Koch Industries and Koch companies. Her recent notable transactions include advising Barrick Gold Corporation on the strategic cooperation & US$ 960m sale of Veladero Mine to Shandong Gold Group and Carlyle Group/Onex Group on US$5.6bn acquisition of GM’s Allison transmission division; assisting Christie’s in becoming the first international fine art auction house to operate independently in China and bringing the first “Longines Global Champions Tour” (the world’s five star horse jumping competition) to Shanghai.
Audry has been highly ranked as Leading Individual in Corporate/M&A in China and Asia Pacific by Chambers & Partners Global and Asia Pacific each year from 2008 through 2018, and was appreciated as “a leading authority in the market” and “a spectacular practitioner” with “complete understanding of local market and excellent business sense and innovation in transactions”. She was selected as a “Top Woman Lawyer of Shanghai” by the Shanghai Bar Association in 2011 and was recognized as the “Top 15 Women Lawyers in China” by Asia Legal Business in 2012 (ranked No.1) .
Prior to starting her private practice, Audry had worked for 7 years at CIETAC (China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission) where she participated in resolving over 200 international commercial cases. Her dispute resolution experience enables her to offer a unique insightful understanding of being proactive and problem-solving in her legal practice and to identify the most pragmatic and value-added approaches when advising clients.
Audry sits on the panel of arbitrators at CIETAC and SHIAC. She is a Global Adjunct Professor in NYU Law School in Shanghai program and Faculty Director for Clariden Global program 2014-2015. She is a fellow of Young Leaders Forum of National Committee on US-China Relations and Asia 21 Young Leader of Asia Society based in New York. Audry is the co-author of Guide to Mergers & Acquisitions in China for Foreign Investors written on behalf of China Ministry of Commerce as a China–Germany governmental cooperative project.
Audry received an LL.M. in Corporate Law from New York University School of Law, an LL.M. in International Economic Law from Wuhan University School of Law, and a B.A. in English Language and a graduate diploma in International Cultural Exchange from Beijing Foreign Studies University.
