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Sean Stein
Consul General at U.S. Consulate General in ShanghaiSean Stein is the Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai. He previously served as Consul General in Shenyang, China. In that role he worked with U.S. states to foster over $1 billion in Chinese investment in the United States – a record at the time – and introduced dozens of U.S. firms to the Chinese market. He also developed a program that became the model for the U.S.-China Tourism Year, a Presidential initiative to attract Chinese tourists to the United States.
As Principal Officer in Medan, Indonesia, Mr. Stein focused on reconstruction in Aceh after the Boxing Day earthquake and created a mission-wide program to double the number of Indonesian students studying in the United States. While serving as the first Deputy Chief of Mission in Dili, East Timor, Mr. Stein oversaw the establishment of a new mission and construction of a new embassy. When large-scale political violence and instability broke out in Dili, he oversaw the evacuation of U.S. citizens from country and the drawdown of the embassy. Mr. Stein has also served tours in Lagos, Jakarta, and Chengdu.
He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and a graduate of Georgetown University. He speaks Indonesian and Mandarin Chinese and is married with three children.
Ker Gibbs
President at AmCham ShanghaiKer Gibbs first came to China in 1985 and has worked in various roles giving him broad exposure to US-China relations and business issues facing American companies operating in Asia.
In the 1990s Mr. Gibbs worked for the Boston Consulting Group in Shanghai. Since then he has split his time between Asia and Silicon Valley, serving in executive positions with Apple, Disney, and high-growth Internet businesses. He moved to Shanghai in 2002 as head of Asia Pacific for a Nasdaq-listed network security company that was acquired by McAfee. His career in high tech led him to banking; he became head of technology and media in greater China for HSBC. As an investment banker he worked with Alibaba, Baidu, and other firms advising on mergers and cross-border transactions.
From banking Mr. Gibbs moved to direct investments. He was a founding investor in the Crystal Orange hotel group, helping grow the company to 130 properties and 1,500 employees in China. He also led successful investments in real estate, e-commerce, and medical technology companies.
Before his appointment as president, Mr. Gibbs was elected three times to the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and served as chairman for 2016 and 2017. He also sits on the board of the United Way in China and volunteers with Renewal, a local homeless shelter. He is an op-ed contributor to the Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, and other publications.
Ker Gibbs holds a BA in economics from UCLA and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
Helen HU
CFO at Duke Kunshan UniversityHelen Hu is the Chief Financial Officer at Duke Kunshan University, overseeing finance, IT, and procurement. Helen joined DKU in September 2018 after working as Asia CFO for International Paper (“IP”) with responsibilities over finance, IT, and Administration. Besides IP, in her over 20 years of professional career, Helen has also worked for a few multinational companies in progressive leadership roles, including China CFO for Ferrari Maserati Cars, Finance Manager for McCormick in China and finance analyst at the headquarters in the United States. Prior to that, Helen also worked for Tate & Lyle, Kimberly-Clark in the United States, and a foreign trade company in China. She has accumulated rich and practical experiences in corporate finance, control and compliance, risk management, FP&A, M&A, restructuring, system build-up and people development. She is a recipient of multiple leadership awards from her employers and external professional communities.
Meanwhile, Helen is a board member at the Duke Kunshan University Education Development Foundation, and the vice chairman of its investment committee.
Helen is also actively involved in the business community to promote healthy development of China - US business relationships. She currently serves a second term as a governor at the board of American Chamber of Commerce Shanghai. During her first term 2017-2018, Helen was appointed in both years as the Treasurer and Chair of Finance Committee at the board.
Helen is an AICPA and CGMA member.
Helen received her Bachelor’s degree from University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), China in 1992, and an MBA degree from Wake Forest University, USA in 1997.
Veomayoury Baccam
GR & CSR Director of The American Chamber of Commerce in ShanghaiVeomayoury 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 third American Chamber established outside the United States, and now has 3,000 members from 1,500 companies. As a non-profit, non-partisan business organization, AmCham Shanghai is committed to the principles of free trade, open markets, private enterprise and the unrestricted flow of information. 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 joining AmCham, Ms. Baccam worked for 12 years in the U.S. diplomatic service. Her previous postings include Moscow, 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.
Brianne Watts
Officer at U.S. ConsulateBrianne Watts is the Environment, Science, Technology, and Health (ESTH) Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai. Ms. Watts came to Shanghai from Washington, D.C., where her posts included serving as Economic and Commercial Officer in the U.S. Department of State's Economic and Business Affairs Bureau Office of Bilateral Trade Affairs. In that role she worked to open new overseas markets and promote economic development through regional and bilateral trade initiatives in the Western Hemisphere, in addition to serving as U.S. Coordinator for the APEC Economic Committee. She started as a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department in 2008. Previous postings abroad include Belmopan, Belize and Beijing, China. Ms. Watts attended the University of Arizona and the London School of Economics.