I am a Berlin-based native English speaker who reads, writes and speaks Mandarin Chinese and is conversant in German. For more than 20 years, I have been leading multi-national and cross-cultural teams in building, promoting and protecting brands and businesses in the highly complex and issues-rich emerging markets of Asia Pacific. My years of doing business in the PRC in particular have given me a deep understanding of the dynamics of leadership, decision making and successful stakeholder engagement in highly regulated and emerging markets.

As a former CEO myself, my advisory and coaching work centers on aligning key stakeholders – from senior executives to their peers and team members, around a shared vision and goals through addressing the challenges of leadership and the dynamics of cross-cultural engagement and by supporting smart strategic planning and organizational development. Quite often this includes addressing cultural differences and bridging the gap between various ways of working – particularly when key decision makers are based in another office or another country. My experience spans numerous across industry sectors, with particular expertise in the healthcare, senior care and education sectors. I draw heavily on my own personal and professional experiences in and exposure to the cultures of the US, Asia (particularly China) and Europe (particularly Germany).

In 2016, I co-founded Empirik Health (谙康), a team of seasoned healthcare professionals providing comprehensive advisory services to investors and operators and the business advisors who support them in China’s highly competitive and rapidly evolving healthcare services and senior care environment, and part of Empirik Group Ltd.. Prior to Empirik Health, I served as CEO of Chinaco Healthcare Corporation (CHC), founded by HCA co-Founder Dr. Thomas Frist, Jr., to deliver quality healthcare to patients in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities through the acquisition and management of large-scale general or mid-sized specialty hospitals. As CEO, I oversaw all aspects of CHC’s operations in the China market, from strategy development to hospital acquisition, opening and operations, and served as Chairman of the Board at both CHC hospitals.

Before joining CHC, I launched and served as Managing Director for inVentiv Health Communications/China, an integrated healthcare communications offering that is part of inVentiv Health (now Syneos), a top-tier professional services organization that accelerates the clinical and commercial success of biopharmaceutical companies through CRO and commercialization services. I also spent a decade at global communications group WPP, leading teams across China and then Asia Pacific, and specializing in crisis counsel and strategic integrated communications for clients in a wide variety of industries. My career began with consultancy Pacific Rim Resources, providing market research, competitor analysis, regulatory and joint venture partner advisory services for Fortune 500 corporations looking to enter the China market in the 1990s.

I proudly serve as a member of the Board of Governors of YK Pao School, a private Chinese school with an innovative Chinese-English immersion bilingual program and over 1200 students from China and overseas; as a founding member of the Middlebury College Asia Council, an advisory body that supports Middlebury College’s President and senior leadership to further Middlebury’s initiatives and priorities in Asia; and as a member of the Board of Directors for the University of North Carolina (UNC) – Chapel Hill’s China Club. I am also an active mentor with Global Women Connect, a Hong Kong-based non-profit that aims to equip and inspire women by connecting them to people from around the world willing to share their skills and experience through exchanges, events and mentoring.

I hold a Master’s degree in Public Health from the Department of Health Policy & Management at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health, and graduated cum laude from Vermont's Middlebury College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Chinese. I was a resident of Greater China from 1995-2020, and currently reside in Berlin, Germany.