David has spent nearly twenty years in industry and consulting roles, leading strategy projects and business transformation programs for enterprises in China, across Asia Pacific and in the USA. In Asia Pacific, he has worked extensively in China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam. David appears regularly as a guest commentator in print media and on television regarding China’s economic development and US-China commercial issues. David’s views are called upon by both foreign governments and the China government, having served as an expert witness at a US Congressional Commission on China’s Five Year Plans, chairing a roundtable session at China’s prestigious Party School, and hosting numerous multi-lateral sessions with the Development Research Center(DRC) of the State Council regarding the financing of China’s urbanization. He is regularly invited to participate in closed-door discussions with Ambassadors, government ministers, and company Boards on the opportunities and challenges of operating in China. Before beginning his consulting career, David worked at the OECD Development Centre in Paris, as an aide to a prominent United States Senator in Washington, and in corporate strategic planning roles with two global telecommunications companies. David holds a Master of Arts degree from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and graduated with honors from the University of Kansas with a degree in English literature, where he was named to the Phi Beta Kappa society. He currently lives in China with his wife and three children.

From 2010 to 2016, Schmitz was the China Correspondent for the public radio business program Marketplace. Schmitz has won several awards for his reporting on China, including two national Edward R. Murrow awards and an Education Writers Association award. His work was also a finalist for the 2012 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. His reporting in Japan — from the hardest-hit areas near the failing Fukushima nuclear power plant following the earthquake and tsunami — was included in the publication 100 Great Stories, celebrating the centennial of Columbia University's Journalism School. In 2012, Rob exposed the fabrications in Mike Daisey's account of Apple's supply chain on This American Life. His report was featured in the show's "Retraction" episode, the most downloaded episode in the program's 16-year history.

Prior to his radio career, Schmitz lived and worked in China – first as a teacher for the Peace Corps in the 1990s, later as a freelance print and video journalist. He speaks Mandarin and Spanish. He has a Master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

Schmitz's latest book is Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road (2016).

Prof. Zhang specializes in the study of global economic governance, especially regarding international development cooperation, G20 and BRICS related issues.

Her main publications include two monographs Research On European Regional Integration ( Shanghai Academy of Social Science Press, 2005), Development Oriented Aid: The Model of China’s Aid towards Africa ( Shanghai People’s Publishing House,2013), and more than 50 academic papers. She was visiting scholar in Institute for Southeast Asia Studies(ISEAS) in 2016, German Development Insititute (d.i.e) in 2010, and Center for Strategic and International Studies( CSIS) in 2015.