WHO WE ARE
MARY O'HARA-DEVEREAUX, PH.D.
Founder and CEO, Global Foresight
Mary is one of the world's leading futurists and business forecasters, a sought-after speaker, and the author of such best-selling books as Navigating the Badlands: Thriving in the Decade of Radical Transformation.
Over the last 25 years, Mary has established a global reputation as a steady-eyed forecaster and strategy partner whose legendary trend-spotting and analysis across many industries has enabled senior executives to invent a profitable long-term future.
Mary's focus is on helping top executives understand the big picture and find targets no one else can see. She facilitates the design of the complex strategies, innovations, and leadership readiness every organization needs to thrive in today's rugged business and social landscape.
With hands-on experience in over fifty countries on seven continents, Mary has consulted with clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies like Procter & Gamble, Intel, and Coca Cola to CITIC-Pacific, the Chinese Science and Technology Commission, and preeminent non-profit organizations such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of California.
She is a top-rated keynote speaker for organizations like Apple Computer, Levi Strauss & Co., Oracle, Merck, and China Merchant Bank to the Milken Global Institute, Harvard's Kennedy School, and the National Council on Aging.
Prior to founding Global Foresight and the Center for the Future of China, Mary was a senior director at Silicon Valley's Institute for the Future, a spin-off from the Rand Corporation. She serves on a number of company and non-profit boards
Mary's work has been featured on Bloomberg TV and CCTV in China, on National Public Radio, and in the Wall Street Journal and many other prominent media outlets.
Dr. O'Hara-Devereaux holds degrees from the University of Michigan, University of California, and the Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara. She has held faculty positions at the University of California, the University of Hawaii, and Peking University, and has served as a visiting scholar at a number of major educational institutions around the world.
Contact Mary at mohara@global-foresight.net.
ROBERT MITTMAN, MPP
 Robert is an experienced forecaster, consultant, and facilitator who combines deep knowledge of several industries—including health care, energy, and technology—with an engaging facilitation style.
Prior to founding Facilitation, Foresight, Strategy and joining the Global Foresight Network, Robert was a Director at the Institute for the Future, a Menlo Park, California futures think tank and worked closely with Mary on a number of major programs.
During a 17-year career at IFTF, Robert led the Health Care Program and the Emerging Technologies Outlook Program. He also founded the Center for the Future of China, a non-profit spin-off from IFTF. Robert remains a Senior Research Affiliate of the Institute for the Future. He holds graduate degrees in computer science and public policy analysis and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, all from the University of California at Berkeley.
Contact Robert at robert@mittman.org.
CHEN ZHANGLIANG, PH.D.
Professor Chen, who at the age of 27 in 1989 became the youngest full professor in China, and became the President, Chinese Agricultural University and Vice President, Peking University. He is now Vice Governor of Guangxi Province and also serves as a representative to China's National People's Congress representing his native province Fujian and as vice-chairman of the China Biotechnology Association.
He also heads up technology transfer and high-tech enterprises for Beijing University, with seven listed companies in both Hong Kong and Mainland China with revenues for PKU of US$1.68 billion in 2001. Professor Chen directs a national laboratory on Biotechnology R&D— both biopharmaceuticals and ag-biotechnology—and has developed several companies from his research.
He has been a recipient of the UNESCO Javed Husain Prize for Young Scientists; was named one of Time magazine's Global 100 Roster of Young Leaders for the New Millennium in 2000; and is a member of the Davos World Economic Forum's Global Leaders of Tomorrow. Chen has also been an invited speaker at the Fortune Global Forum in Shanghai and Hong Kong and at APEC Shanghai. He received his Ph.D. in 1987 from Washington University, which named Professor Chen Alumnus of the Year 2002.
SUE COOK
 Sue is a best-selling author, acclaimed business coach, and inspirational speaker and president of Think Customer, a ground-breaking consulting practice pioneering innovative strategies for creating customer-obsessed organizations. She is also is co-author, with Roger Dow, President/CEO of the Travel Industry of America, of Turned On: Eight Vital Insights to Energize Your People, Customers and Profits..
Founder of Apple University and former President of The Tom Peters Group, Sue is well-known for moving leaders from insight to action. An innovator by design and a pragmatist at heart, she is a no-nonsense speaker, workshop leader, and consultant who thinks like a customer and tells it like it is, offering pragmatic ideas to help you build an unassailable competitive advantage.
With Jim Whittaker—the first American to summit Mt. Everest and former CEO of the outdoor retailing giant REI—Sue also co-founded Discovery Camps, designed to foster radical innovation and creativity in business. Says Sue: "There is no limit to the service, quality, and innovation that turned-on people can deliver."
Contact Sue at suecook@ix.netcom.com.
JEREMY NOBEL, MD, MPH
 Dr. Nobel is on the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health, where he teaches and does research on the public health aspects of medical care, focusing on the design and evaluation of health care management systems that maximize cost-effectiveness, quality, and access.
He is known for the development of evidence-based and information-driven approaches to care management and has worked in consultation with payers, purchasers, and suppliers of health care products and services in the design of effective health care management programs and strategies. Clients include Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Highmark BCBS, Health Net, Chrysler, GTE, CAREMARK, J&J, HBOC, McKesson, IBM, Access Health, Cisco, Medtronic, Aventis, and Baxter.
Dr. Nobel holds Board Certification in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine with Master's Degrees in both Epidemiology and Health Policy from the Harvard School of Public Health. He received his medical education at the University of Pennsylvania and completed his internal medicine residency at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University within the Science and Human Affairs program.
Contact Dr. Nobel at drjn@earthlink.net.
JEANNE-MARIE GESCHER, OBE
 Jeanne-Marie Gescher is one of the today's leading experts on China, an adviser to some of the world's most effective corporations, the leading expert on China's media industries, and an observer and commentator on economic and social change.
A resident of Beijing since 1989, Jeanne-Marie is a recognized thinker and regular speaker to government, industry, and policy think-tanks on global issues of sustainability and sustainable investment. She has been actively involved in the build-out of major PRC policy initiatives, facilitating WTO accession, and helping build China's private enterprise and knowledge economies.
In 1993, Jeanne-Marie founded Claydon Gescher Associates (CGA), a strategy consulting group, to work on some of China's most complex industries and issues . The group—which includes CGA Digital and Sustainable China@CGA—is supported by its own think tank and is actively involved in building dialogue (policy, social, and economic) across borders.
Contact Jeanne-Marie at cgaito@public.bta.net.cn.
THOMAS M. CHIN
 Tom Chin, Co-Founder, The Chiic Group International, Shanghai, China, has over 25 years experience as a corporate executive, entrepreneur, strategic planner, financier, supply chain manager, and manufacturer.
Besides co-founding and managing companies in the United States, Japan, and China, Tom has worked on special projects for the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. Quoted frequently in the media for his expertise in capital markets and doing business with China, Tom is also a familiar presence on television and has appeared on CBS's Pacific Currency and ABC's Wall Street Today.
Tom has lectured at U.C. Berkeley's Haas MBA School of Business and the University of San Francisco's McLaren Graduate School of Business on China Market Entry Strategies, China Supply Chain Management Solutions and Execution, and China Operating Issues. Mr. Chin has also lectured on U.S. Capital Markets, Competitive Intelligence and Knowledge Management in Shanghai and Beijing, a series sponsored by the United Nations. He is the founder of "China Focus", a briefing forum on China's trends and developments and is a frequent speaker at numerous International Symposiums.
Contact Tom at tomchin1683@att.net.
DAVID JUDSON
 David Judson, a former journalist, is currently the vice president of Kavrakoglu Consulting, a management consulting and education company based in Istanbul.
Mr. Judson joined Kavrakoglu in 2002 after two years as regional consultant for Jones International University, the world's first fully online, accredited university. In 2000 he helped found The MBA Club, an Internet-based executive MBA program with 3,000 students that is by far the largest program of its kind in Turkey. He developed and oversees a network of academic collaborations between The MBA Club and institutions that include the University of California, Moscow State University, Oslo University, Turku School of Economics in Finland, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Mr. Judson—who has particular interests in both the use of technology in education and its role in accelerating economic development worldwide—is a specialist in trade issues, particularly in the trading relationship between developed and developing economies, and he has published broadly on the economic relationship between the United States, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico. He is a founding board member of Forum Istanbul, the annual summit devoted to the study of Turkey's future.
Contact David at djudson@kavrakoglu.com.
ANNA LEE SAXENIAN, PH.D.
 Anna Lee Saxenian—an internationally recognized expert on regional economies and the information technology sector—is Dean of the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California, Berkeley.
Her current research examines the contribution of skilled immigrants to Silicon Valley and their growing ties to Asia. She is also conducting a major study on Chinese high-tech immigrants. Anna's recent publications include Silicon Valley's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128. She has written extensively about innovation and regional development, urbanization, and the organization of labor markets in Silicon Valley.
As well as being Chair of the Center for the Future of China's Board, she serves as a Senior Research Fellow and leads that organization's high-tech research. She was the Gordon Cain Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research in 1999-2000. She holds a Doctorate from MIT, and degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and Williams College.
Contact Anna at anna@socrates.berkeley.edu.
JIM WHITTAKER
 Jim Whittaker—high-altitude climber, adventurer, and environmentalist—achieved international fame when, on May 1, 1963, he became the first American to successfully summit Mt. Everest, the highest mountain in the world.
A visionary business and community leader, Jim was the first full-time employee of one of the country's largest outdoor retailers, Recreational Equipment, Inc—REI—retiring as its President and CEO after 25 years with the company.
Jim is an accomplished and inspirational public speaker who over the past 40 years has given presentations to hundreds of corporations and organizations. He also has led numerous high-profile climbing expeditions, including the first ascent of Mt. Kennedy (with Senator Robert Kennedy) in the Canadian Yukon in 1965, the first American ascent of K2 in 1978, and the spectacularly successful Mt. Everest International Peace Climb in 1990. Jim is the author of a best-selling, award-winning memoir, A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond.
DIANNE ROBERTS
Dianne Roberts is a professional photographer, writer, and publicist whose photographs have appeared in various media worldwide, including National Geographic.
She served as Executive Director of the 1990 Mount Everest International Peace Climb, which raised more than $1 million in donations from 168 corporate sponsors and hundreds of individual donors. She helped organize and fund two expeditions to K2, the second-highest mountain in the world, and was a team member and official photographer on both.
As Director of Marketing for an environmental products company, Dianne wrote the company's marketing plan and created and produced a variety of materials, including corporate identity, product names, labels, brochures, and newsletters. She is an avid outdoors enthusiast, accomplished climber, expert blue-water sailor, and competitive rower who shares adventures with her husband, Jim Whittaker, and their two sons.
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