Sean Stein has more than 20 years’ experience working in Asia and has served in senior diplomatic and policy positions throughout the region and in Washington. Sean currently serves as the Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, the largest AmCham in Asia, where he helps lead programs to advocate for U.S. business and to promote responsible trade and investment between the world’s two largest economies. As a Senior Advisor at Covington and Burling, Sean helps clients with strategic planning, understanding Chinese and US policy, and managing complex regulatory and compliance issues.

Previously, as U.S. Consul General in Shanghai, Sean led all U.S. government programs in China’s most economically vibrant region and advocated for policies to strengthen links between the U.S. and China. In this role he founded and co-chaired a task force to expedite the shipment of personal protective equipment to the United States to respond to the COVID crisis, an initiative that supported the shipment of more than 1 million pounds of urgently needed equipment to doctors and hospitals in the United States. As Consul General in Shenyang, China, Sean partnered with 13 US states to create a catalogue-based program to attract job-creating investment in the United States. The program generated nearly $1 billion in new investment during its first year, a record at the time. He also proposed and won approval for a presidential initiative creating a China-US Tourism year which significantly increased two-way travel between the two countries. Sean speaks Mandarin Chinese and Indonesian.