Conrad's main task is to evolve Bates 141 to the next stage, as a marketing solutions powerhouse in Greater China. He will retain his current responsibilities as CEO Hong Kong.

Said Jeffrey Yu, "The dynamic Greater China region is changing exponentially. Our plans are firmly in place now, ahead of the curve, to be ready for the sort of agency our clients will need in the future. Conrad is our ultimate change agent and the best person for the job. He has a successful and consistent track record delivering innovation for clients and our agency," added Jeffrey.

"There is no reason not to succeed if we leverage our strengths, which include our position as WPP's top three network in Asia, our rich category expertise and extensive skill sets," added Conrad.

As CEO Greater China, Conrad will be responsible for creating greater synergies across the offices.

Specifically, he will focus on further deepening the agency's collective category expertise in auto, real estate, finance, retail, IT. Currently, the agency's clients in these sectors include Shanghai General Motors, Cheung Kong, Vanke, HSBC, Café De Coral, Pizza Hut, Remy Martin, Heineken, Fuji Xerox, etc.

He will also develop specialist talent whose advanced skills (e.g., in digital platforms and social networking) can be transferable within the Greater China region.

Said Conrad, "in our agency model, we hone new generation communicators for the new world."

FedEx Express (FedEx), a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. NYSE: FDX) and the worlds largest express transportation company, announced the appointment of Alison Dack as Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer for the Asia Pacific division, effectively immediately. Based in Hong Kong, Alison leads the Information Technology team in the Asia Pacific region in supporting and enhancing the FedEx technology infrastructure for the region.

Since joining FedEx in July 2006 as Managing Director of Technology Services, Alison has demonstrated excellence in leadership and management skills. Alison has more than 30 years of experience in senior IT management positions. Her in-depth industry knowledge and extensive experience across the telecommunications, government and public sectors and media/entertainment industry will contribute towards FedEx vision to be the leading provider of transportation and logistics services.

"Technology has and will continue to play a critical role to FedEx business and remains a strategic competitive advantage for the company, said Alison Dack. We will continue to develop IT-enabled, value-added service features to ensure every FedEx experience is unique and outstanding."

Alison succeeds Linda Brigance, former Vice President, Chief Information Officer of FedEx Asia Pacific who has assumed the position of Vice President of IT for global clearance, FedEx Trade Networks and supply chain functions based in FedEx U.S. office, effective August 1.

Ketchum Greater China, the Asia Pacific division of top-five global public relations agency Ketchum and a unit of Omnicom Group, announced the appointment of Sonny Yang as vice president, China, strategy and development.

In this newly created position, Sonny will focus primarily on developing business from within Chinas domestic corporate and public sector and providing value-added counsel to key strategic multinational clients in the network.

Reporting to Chris Liu, partner and chief business officer, Greater China as well as teams across China, Sonny will drive business development, both new and incremental, across high-growth, high-value industries leveraging established capabilities and experience in corporate communications, brand marketing, issues/crisis management, capital markets communications, as well as consumer engagement. Specifically, he will play a crucial role in cultivating opportunities with large-scale Chinese corporations or government institutions that are going international, in terms of market expansion, M&As and other capital deals. To be based in Beijing, Sonny will also work in tandem with Nick Wheeler, general manager Ketchum Beijing, providing senior corporate counsel to clients in the office while pursuing new business opportunities.

"Celebrating 30 years in Greater China this year, we are proactively looking at how to further break new ground in this exciting, fast-changing and intricate marketplace, said Kenneth Chu, partner and CEO Ketchum Greater China. Having claimed the position as the world's second largest economy after the US, overtaking Japan, China readily provides an engine for future growth for the world's communications business, especially that driven by domestic enterprises and government institutions. It is in this context that Ketchum is making this new appointment for our China operations."

A communications veteran of 15 years in China, Sonny brings diverse experience in leading domestic and multinational PR agencies, including running his own agency for six years, as well as marketing in-house. His past client portfolio includes leading Chinese and multinational brands such as China Mobile, Cisco, COFCO Great Wall Wine, Datang Communications, Konka Group, Microsoft, Nike, Panasonic Telecommunications, Symantec and Yili Dairy. His wealth of expertise will add tremendous value to our client service while opening up new avenues of business growth.

"This is a challenging role and a very exciting opportunity that will help put Ketchum at the forefront of helping Chinese brands gain international recognition," said Yang.

Goh was previously promoted to General Manager for RSA Southeast Asia, based in Singapore, and has been with EMC for 10 years. In his new role, Goh will be responsible for helping customers integrate security solutions that meet business goals while effectively helping customers manage risk both internally and externally. He will also help EMC continue to build a solid partner ecosystem and customer base across the region.

"Vincent's domain expertise and strong track record in providing tremendous value to Southeast Asia customers will now extend to EMCs customers across Asia Pacific," says Steven Leonard, President of Asia Pacific & Japan, EMC Corporation. "I am confident through Vincents leadership that EMC will continue to be the valued partner to our customers as their security needs for virtualized and cloud computing environments evolve."

Commenting on his new appointment, Vincent Goh said, "RSA is a clear visionary and leader in the market, delivering security solutions for the information infrastructure. Asia Pacific is an exciting growth market with security spending continuing to be strong and more targeted to also address security risks that comes with deployment of new technologies within enterprises. I look forward to helping customers meet todays complex security demands, leverage the existing market potential and accelerating business growth to new levels."

Before joining EMC, Goh was instrumental in developing the OEM business for Iomega in South Asia and for developing Dell's business across Asia Pacific and Japan.

(Hong Kong) Citibank Global Consumer Group today announced the appointment of Ms. Teresa To as Citigold Private Client Business Head
with immediate effect.

Teresa To, Citigold Private Client Business Head, Citibank Global Consumer Group
In her new role, Teresa To is responsible for the development and growth of the Citigold Private Client business which aims at providing an exclusive and personalized client servicing model that takes care of the individuals wealth in totality, including both personal and business wealth, for high-net-worth individuals with a portfolio of US$1 million  US$10 million.

Teresa joined Citibank in 2000 as Branch Manager. In 2004, she was appointed District Sales Manager and was in charge of the branch operation control and supervisions of the frontline sales team. Teresa has 21 years of banking experience.

Citibank Global Consumer Group today announced the appointment of
Ms. Priscilla Ng as Director of Customer Franchise with immediate effect.

Priscilla Ng, Director of Customer Franchise, Citibank Global Consumer Group
Priscilla Ng is responsible for the marketing and business development of all consumer banking segments covering the emerging affluent, affluent and high-net-worth individual markets.

Prior to her current position, Priscilla was responsible for spearheading the expansion of Citibanks retail presence in Hong Kong and revamping the value proposition of the banks offerings to the mid-market segment.

Priscilla joined Citibank in 2001 as Securities Services Manager and became Head of Citigold Wealth Management in 2006. She has held various positions in the customer franchise department, including acquisition, retention and portfolio management.

Langham Hotels International (LHI) has appointed Vivian To as Director of Public Relations (Asia) to drive awareness of the luxury hotel group as it expands in Asia.

Ms To is a seasoned public relations professional with comprehensive experience in media relations, event management, publicity and promotions.

Working in conjunction with the public relations teams in Asia, Ms To will develop strategic publicity campaigns to maximise media coverage for the group's operating hotels and new properties in Hong Kong, China, Thailand and India.She will also be responsible for driving exposure in key Asian feeder markets.

Ainslie Cheung, Director of Public Relations, International said:The next couple years will see a rapid expansion of the group in Asia with several new hotels in the pipeline.Vivian will build on the growing presence of our brands in the region, and further promote the luxurious
and stimulating hospitality our hotels offer.

Ms To started her career as a TV journalist and news anchor. She was with the MTR Corporation before joining the LHI.

Towers Watson, a leading global professional services company, announced that Mark Saunders has been appointed managing director of the company's Hong Kong office. Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt completed their merger to form Towers Watson on 1 January, 2010.

In his role, Mark will have overall responsibility for Towers Watson's business in Hong Kong and to ensure the delivery of quality and effective people, financial and risk solutions to clients. Previously, Mark served as a Principal of Towers Perrin and Managing Director of the Risk Consulting & Software Business in Asia and built it to a market-leading position.

Towers Watson is committed to bringing broader, deeper, more comprehensive services to our clients, said Bob Charles. Mark's understanding of the Hong Kong business environment and culture and his leadership skills and strong client focus make him a perfect fit for the job.

Consistent with our vision of global market leadership, our aim is to secure Towers Watson as the undisputed leading consulting company in Hong Kong, said Mark Saunders. The combination of our two companies provides us with a strong market leading presence here in Hong Kong in our business of helping organisations improve performance and achieve successful results.

Mark has been working in the insurance industry since the 1980's and in Asia since 1989. He moved to Hong Kong in 1994. Before joining Towers Perrin in 1997 he was Hong Kong based CEO and Executive Director Board Member of international life insurance operations of a UK-parented insurer including their joint venture insurer in Korea.

He has been involved in more than 150 actuarial appraisals of economic value assessments of Asian insurers. Mark is widely regarded as a leading practitioner in economic value determination, Mergers & Acquisitions and IPOs of insurers in Asia having provided the Actuarial Expert Opinion in many major deals..

Mark has been the Appointed Actuary for ten insurers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam. He performs mentor roles for Appointed Actuaries new to the role in Asia and carries out peer review of Appointed Actuaries duties for seven insurers in India. He has provided Independent Actuary opinions for High Court sanctioned insurance business transfers and successful Expert Witness testimonials in the Court of First Instance in Hong Kong.

Mark undertakes memberships of numerous insurance-related, actuarial, regulatory and professional Committees across the Asia Pacific region and in individual countries. He is a regular facilitator of training sessions and speaks at and chairs conferences and seminars as well as authoring numerous articles and papers relating to the Asian insurance industry.

Mark is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (UK), a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India, a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (US), a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of Hong Kong, a Fellow of the Singapore Actuarial Society and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries of Thailand. He has both a BSc (Honours) degree and Post Graduate Certificate of Education in Mathematics from Manchester University, UK.

MasterCard Worldwide today announced the appointment of Hai Ling as General Manager, Greater China, MasterCard Worldwide commencing January 1, 2010.

As General Manager, Hai will hold overall responsibility for all aspects of MasterCard operations in Greater China with the objective of building the business and promoting the MasterCard brand. Focusing on corporate positioning and customer advocacy, he will be responsible for providing direction and insight to achieve business targets for Greater China. His core responsibilities will include forging closer business alliances with customers, enhancing MasterCard brand awareness and promoting the usage and acceptance of MasterCard cards.

Prior to joining MasterCard, Hai was the Head of Partnership Business and Co-brand Marketing with PCCC, a joint venture company between HSBC and Bank of Communications. He was instrumental in developing and managing merchant partnerships in the areas of co-branded credit cards, installment loans and preferred merchants.

Hai's career spans across the globe. He worked with Bank of America in the U.S. in Product Development and Customer Insights, where he spearheaded innovation through new products, markets and channels and leveraged research and development to create insights-driven marketing and product innovation.

During his career with Booz Allen & Hamilton and A.T. Kearney in both the U.S. and China, Hai has also consulted clients in financial services to launch new products and improve business processes.

Hai graduated from the College of Saint Rose in New York and obtained his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced the appointment of Don Blake as senior vice president of Operations. Mr. Blake will lead a team focused on making operational improvements that strengthen Hitachi GSTs competitive position in the global hard disk drive market. He comes to Hitachi after spending 13 years at Western Digital Corporation, where he most recently served as vice president and general manager of WD Media.

Don brings a proven record of accomplishment in high-volume manufacturing, supply chain management and global business operations, said Steve Milligan, president, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. His leadership and industry knowledge will be critically important as we continue to make process and efficiency improvements that will have a positive impact on customer response time, product quality and overall satisfaction.

Mr. Blake has more than 25 years of manufacturing and operations expertise in the hard disk drive industry. His tenure at WD included executive-level manufacturing, program management and quality roles. He spent seven years in Asia managing WDs HDD operations and played a leading role in the acquisition and successful integration of Komag. He began his career at Digital Equipment Corporation and held operations management positions of increasing responsibility at Connor Peripherals, Maxtor and Toshiba.

Mr. Blake will maintain offices in Asia and at the companys headquarters in San Jose, Calif.

The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA), anorganization dedicated to best practices in professional publishing, has e-elected Mr. Terence Tung as its Chairman.

Mr. Tung is Chief Executive Officer of One Media Group which publishes Ming Pao Weekly, Hi-Tech Weekly and Top Gear Hong Kong Edition in Hong Kong. It also operates MING, Popular Science China Edition and Top Gear China Edition on the mainland, as well as Ming Pao Weekly in Taiwan. He joined as the Sales Director of Ming Pao Magazines Group in September 1998.

" I'm delighted and honored to have been elected Chairman of SOPA for anotheryear," said Mr. Tung. "The past year has been one of the most challenging ones as publishers sought to chart a course through the financial crisis and also deal with new technological developments impacting on the business."

"2010 should bring better times with the upswing in the economic cycle. Collectively we are quite upbeat about prospects. Membership numbers for SOPA increased by 15 percent last year despite the downturn," he said.

SOPA continues to expand its outreach programs in Asia including the hosting of its first "SOPA Media Summit" in Beijing last month. The landmark event under the theme "The Future of Publishing - New Platforms, New Technologies, New Models" brought together more than 150 senior executives from print,digital and mobile media groups, agencies, research and industry bodies from across China and the region.

Separately, the Society has just begun soliciting entries for the "SOPA 2010 Awards for Editorial Excellence". The competition, which seeks to highlight the best of Asian journalism, will this year include a new award category for "Multimedia News Presentation" to cater for new innovations in journalism with a more specific intent to honor techniques that are increasingly integral to the profession. Last year's awards received 547entries from 97 publications.

The Society of Publishers in Asia has also conducted a series of "SOPA Media Insiders" events throughout the year in Hong Kong and Singapore including topics on new media, groundbreaking research and advertising strategies.

Mr. Tung welcomed the appointment of new Board representatives including Mr. Barrie Goodridge, CEO Asia for Edipresse Asia Limited, Mr. David E. Smith,Regional Director, Advertising & Sponsorship at The Economist Group (A/P) Ltd. and Mr. Shawn Hiltz, Director of Marketing, Asia at The Wall Street Journal Asia.

SOPA Board Officers re-appointed include Mr. Randy Weddle (Managing Director Asia/Pacific for International Herald Tribune (HK) Ltd.) as the Honorary Treasurer and Ms. Do Do Yeung (Managing Director and Publisher for Hachette Filipacchi Hong Kong Limited) as the Honorary Secretary.

For Sub-committees, Ms. Christina Lee (Asia Managing Director for
BusinessWeek) has been appointed Chairman of the China Projects Group Sub-committee. Mr. David E. Smith will head the SOPA Publishers' Ball Sub-committee and Ms. Alice Chai (Research Director for The Wall Street Journal Asia) will be in charge of the Research Sub-committee.

The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA), an organization dedicated to best practices in professional publishing, has named Ms. Diana David as its new Deputy Chairman.

Ms. David is Regional Circulation and Business Development Director at
Financial Times Ltd., a position she has held since 2006. Previously she
chaired the SOPA Professional Training and Events Sub-committee and
spearheaded region-wide industry programs.

Marriott International (NYSE:MAR) has named John Toomey regional director of global sales for Greater China, based in Hong Kong, effective immediately. Most recently, he was area marketing and sales director for Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia.

In his new role, Mr. Toomey has overall responsibility for providing strategic sales leadership for Marriotts global sales efforts throughout Greater China. Among his priorities are to develop and implement business segment sales strategies that align with the companys overall sales goals and objectives at the corporate and property levels and to ensure optimal use of sales resources and pull-through of segment strategies for new and existing accounts. Currently, Marriott maintains sales offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.

Mr. Toomey began his Marriott career in 1996 as a national account executive with the companys Los Angeles national sales office. Three years later, he was promoted to director of marketing for the Renaissance Mumbai Hotel & Convention Center in Mumbai, India. In 2002, he was advanced to country director of sales and marketing for Marriotts hotels for India. He was promoted to his most recent position in 2006.

He is a graduate of Indiana University with a B.A. degree in English and currently resides in Hong Kong.

Websense, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBSN) today announced the appointment of Alison Higgins-Miller as Vice President for Asia Pacific Sales. Higgins-Miller joins Websense bringing more than 10 years management experience within the IT sector, most recently in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) sector. She will be responsible for building and aligning the sales and channel strategy for the Asia Pacific region to support business growth.

"Websense has a very unique, compelling value proposition that provides unprecedented visibility into the internal and external movement of information in the Web 2.0 world," said Alison Higgins-Miller Vice President for Asia Pacific Sales. "The threat landscape is changing rapidly and I am delighted to be joining the company at this exciting time in the industry.

Previous roles held by Higgins-Miller include Managing Director at Acelarus, a full-service partnership for complementary SaaS vendors. The company incubates regional business for software companies wishing to expand their global revenues. Prior to Acelarus, she held the position of Vice President of Asia Pacific for RightNow Technologies, a successful pioneer in SaaS business applications. In this role, she grew the business from a virtual start-up, to a team of 34 in the region.

Other roles include President of Asia-Pacific operations for Enterasys network management subsidiary Aprisma, where she built a multi-national sales and support team from its inception, a group that consistently exceeded projected revenue targets. Higgins-Miller also built a successful multi-national sales and support team from inception to achieve revenue growth and Oracle Corporation where she held the role of regional manager. She developed partnerships and managed a number of management consultancies globally for Oracle and was responsible for building Global strategies for world wide practices, establishing the company as a preferred partner with each consultancy. Before Oracle, Alison held positions at several leading IT companies in Australia.

Initially based out of Websense in Sydney, Higgins-Miller will report directly into Didier Guibal, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales.

Tom Samranjit has been appointed Executive Chef for Gateway Hotel. The promotion comes less than a year into Chef Tom's appointment as Executive Sous Chef for the Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel.

Chef Tom joined Marco Polo Hotels in 2007 as Kitchen Section Head for the Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel. In this capacity, he formed part of the powerhouse cast that spearheaded the startup operations of the Western kitchen of award-winning CUCINA.

Prior to joining the Marco Polo Hotels, he gained valuable experience working in some of Hong Kong's leading restaurants and hotels, including The Repulse Bay Hotel, The American Club Hong Kong, Harbour Plaza Hong Kong, and W Hong Kong Hotel where he was part of the pre-opening culinary team as Senior Sous Chef.

Chef Tom, a Thai national, comes from a family of chefs. He brings with him over 15 years of culinary and kitchen management experience, specializing in French, Italian, and Southeast Asian cuisines. His culinary philosophy highlights the use of best quality produce cooked in classical, uncomplicated style to bring out the most authentic flavours of every dish.

On top of his overall responsibility for kitchen management and bringing the hotel's food and beverage standards to optimum levels, Chef Tom will also be focusing on continuing La Brasserie's tradition of award-winning, authentic French home-cooking. La Brasserie is Gateway's Michelin-recommended French restaurant and amongst the best in Hong Kong.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced that Nicholas M. Donofrio, 64, has been appointed to the company's board of directors. Donofrio spent 44 years at IBM, starting as a logic and memory chip designer and rising to lead the company's technology strategy and innovation.

Nick is a highly-respected technology and business leader who has driven some of the industry's most successful and important technology initiatives during the past four decades, said Bruce Claflin, chairman, AMD Board of Directors. He will be a great addition to our board.

Prior to his retirement from IBM in 2008, Donofrio was an IBM fellow and executive vice president of innovation and technology. His focus on innovation contributed to IBM being awarded the highest number of patents of any company for 13 consecutive years. During his career, Donofrio held a variety of leadership roles in IBM's server, advanced workstations, personal computing, manufacturing and semiconductor development divisions.

Donofrio also serves as a board member for The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation and Liberty Mutual. He is on the board of trustees for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is co-chair of the New York Hall of Science Board of Trustees.

Donofrio holds a bachelor's degree from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master's degree from Syracuse University.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has announced the appointment of Amanda Hyndman as General Manager of Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C. with effect from today.

Mrs. Hyndman, who is English, is a veteran hotelier with over 20 years of hospitality industry experience worldwide. She joins Mandarin Oriental, Washington D.C. from The Excelsior, Hong Kong, a leading business hotel in Hong Kong that is owned and managed by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.

Prior to joining Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Mrs. Hyndman was General Manager of the Waldorf, London and has previously held General Manager positions with Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, Le Meridien and Hilton.

Mrs. Hyndman graduated with honours from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Mrs. Hyndman is a Master Innholder and was Vice Chairman in 2006 and President of La Reunion des Gastronomes in 2007. She has been a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality since 2003 when she was awarded the Freedom of the City of London.

Commenting on the appointment, Richard Baker, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Groups Executive Vice President, Northern Region, The Americas said, We are delighted Amanda will be leading the dedicated and dynamic team at Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C. With many years of valuable experience, coupled with her commitment to deliver great service, she will be well positioned for this important role.

As General Manager of Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C., Mrs. Hyndman succeeds Jan Goessing, who recently moved to Asia to take up his new position as General Manager of Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok.

The Excelsior, Hong Kong announces with great pleasure the appointment of Mario Corti as Executive Chef.

Chef Mario brings to the position over 14 years of diverse experience having led the culinary teams at Restaurant Marks at Mandarin Oriental, Munich, which under his leadership was awarded a Michelin Star for three consecutive years from 2006 to 2008. Prior to this, he worked in three other Michelin-starred restaurants in Germany. Most recently he held the position of Executive Sous Chef at Mandarin Oriental, Singapore where he was responsible for all culinary operations, overseeing 100 chefs and serving up to 800 guests for banqueting functions.

A German national, Chef Mario graduated from the Villingen-Schwenningen Hotel Management School in 1995. He was awarded Chef of the Year in Germany by the Bertelsmann Dining Guide in 2008.

In his capacity as Executive Chef for The Excelsior, Hong Kong, Chef Mario will be responsible for the hotels overall culinary direction and production. He also will handle all food costs, manage guest advocacy and maintain colleague commitment.

NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced Kim Chan as the
new General Manager for NetApp Taiwan and Hong Kong. In this position, Kim will report to NetApp Greater China Regional Director Adrian Chan. This appointment is effective immediately.

Prior to joining NetApp, Kim was Country Manager for Symantec and Veritas in Taiwan, where he was responsible for market strategy and business operations. Before that, he worked for EMC Taiwan, Fujitsu Taiwan, and NCR Hong Kong.

Adrian said, "The Greater China market is the fastest growing in the world. Management and data storage is a key challenge for our customers so our strategy is focused on how to best meet their needs. I am confident that Kim's extensive experience, along with excellent customer and partner relationships, make him the best person to implement and manage this strategy, helping NetApp and its customers retain strong positions in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Kim's appointment highlights our commitment to customer support and service, demonstrating confidence in future business growth in Hong Kong and Taiwan."

Kim said, "My goal for NetApp Taiwan and Hong Kong is to continue nurturing relationships with our channel partners to provide data management storage solutions and services for our customers. In the future, we will continue to work with our global strategic partners, such as Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Symantec, VMware and Cisco, to offer superior and unprecedented value to our customers."

Kim has a bachelor degree in Social Science from University of Hong Kong. He has been based in Taiwan since 1991.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has announced the appointment of Jonas Schuermann as General Manager of Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong effective 1 September 2009

Mr Schuermann is a veteran hotelier with over 25 years of hospitality industry experience worldwide. His career includes more than 15 years in senior management positions in Mandarin Oriental properties.

For the past five years, Mr Schuermann has been General Manager of the award-winning Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur, which he and his team have successfully positioned as the best hotel in the city. Prior to this, Mr Schuermann was General Manager of Mandarin Oriental, Macau. He was also part of the management team at the Groups flagship property in Thailand, Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok.

Mr Schuermanns other career highlights include hotel management positions with The Peninsula in Hong Kong and The Palace Hotel in Beijing.

A Swiss national, Mr Schuermann graduated from Hotel Management School, Belvoirpark, Zurich, Switzerland and speaks four languages: English, German, French and Italian.

On behalf of my colleagues at Mandarin Oriental, we are delighted to welcome Jonas Schuermann back to Hong Kong to take up his new responsibility as General Manager of the Groups flagship property. I have no doubt that Jonas has exactly the right character and experience for this important role and will build on the propertys legendary reputation as one of the worlds finest hotels.  said Andrew Hirst, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Groups Operations Director, Asia.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has announced that Pierre Barthes will succeed Jonas Schuermann as General Manager of Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur with effect from 1 September 2009. Mr Schuermann has moved to Hong Kong to take up his new position as General Manager of the Groups flagship property, Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong.

A French native, Mr Barthes has more than 20 years experience in the hospitality industry. He joined Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in 1998 and has held a variety of senior management positions in the Groups US hotels, including Resident Manager at Mandarin Oriental, New York, where he contributed to the successful opening of hotel. Mr Barthes was General Manager of the former Mandarin Oriental, Macau from 2004 to 2007 and was appointed General Manager of Mandarin Oriental, Beijing in 2007. Following a fire at the construction site in the spring of 2009, the development of this property has been postponed.

Commenting on the appointment, Andrew Hirst, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Groups Operations Director Asia, said: Pierre has the experience to build on Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpurs reputation as one of the citys best places to stay for either business or leisure. We are delighted that he is joining the property, where he will lead a dynamic and quality focused team.

Wilson Ho is Managing Director of Oracle Hong Kong. Bringing more than 20 years of valuable management experience in Hong Kong and the Greater Chan region to Oracle, Ho is responsible for leading the company in Hong Kong and overseeing its strategy and business operations, including all of its Technology and Oracle Fusion Middleware businesses.

At Oracle, Ho aims to quickly make a widespread impact with his proven and inspirational leadership qualities. Ho is a great proponent of the impact of the business software infrastructure and he is keen to take the team forward and achieve even greater successes that will see the company advance while also making a notable contribution to the local community.

Prior to Oracle, Ho held a number of senior positions in IT and Internet companies, gaining strong sales and partner management experience and achieving outstanding business success. He was previously Director of Search Marketing at Yahoo! Hong Kong Limited. Before that, he was Country Manager of BEA Systems Hong Kong Limited, achieving significant wins in middleware solutions in key projects across different sectors including financial services, telecommunications and government. Between 1998 and 2005, Ho held several key sales management positions at Sun Microsystems.

Ho holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and a Bachelors degree in Science from the University of Hong Kong.

NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) today announced that Keith Au has been named General Manager for Hong Kong, in addition to his current role as Marketing Director of North Asia. In the newly added responsibility, Keith will lead the Hong Kong sales team in driving the business of NCRs self-service and assisted-service solutions in targeted industries such as banking, retail, hospitality, travel and entertainment.

An over a decade veteran of NCR, Keith has been assuming the role of marketing director of North Asia since 2005. He has successfully devised product marketing and deployment strategies in driving significant growth for NCRs self-service solutions in the region. Prior to that, Keith was General Manager, Greater China Area of NCRs former Retail Solutions Division. Keith started as a system analyst for ATM products and then turned to focus on sales and marketing. During his service to NCR, Keith has constantly brought in outstanding contribution to the company by over-achieving annual quota and expanding to new accounts.

NCR has a strong presence in the Hong Kong market and we are committed to helping our customers transform their businesses with our innovative self-service solutions. Keith is a seasoned marketing and sales leader with detailed knowledge of our solutions combined with a deep understanding of the local customers, he will be invaluable in driving NCRs growth across both our core and new industries, said Patrick Chou, NCR North Asia president.

Keith has a master degree in computer science from Southern Illinois University, USA.

Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and the only provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions, today announced the promotion of Phil Gann as the Director of Solutions and Products Group, Asia Pacific, with immediate effect.

The rapidly growing services-led solutions are a key component of Hitachi Data Systems success. Phil Gann will play a pivotal role in leading this regional professional services, solutions and products organizations, overseeing the strategic direction and execution of the services and product strategy and ensuring a seamless customer experience. His responsibilities includes overall Solutions Strategy, Services Development, and Integration as well as ensuring consistency, efficiency in service delivery by adapting repeatable methodologies and proven best practices.

A Hitachi Data Systems veteran of 18 years, Phil brings to the role strong technical expertise and a sound understanding of Hitachi Data Systems products, services and strategic software initiatives.

I am delighted to announce Phil Ganns new role in our organization. With his proven expertise, Phil will be instrumental in developing tools and programs to equip our teams with the necessary skills and best practices to deliver robust storage solutions that not only meet client needs in the region but exceed expectations. I am confident that Phil will build on our current success and take the group to the next level to support our growth in the region, said Kevin Eggleston, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific, Hitachi Data Systems.

Phil joined Hitachi Data Systems as a Customer Service Engineer in Sydney in 1991 and moved into a series of pre-sales and technical roles. Most recently Phil was the Director, Storage Infrastructure and Business Continuity, Asia Pacific. During his tenure, Phil has been instrumental in the design, implementation, sales and strategic development of Virtualization, Disaster Recovery and Data Migration solutions in the Asia Pacific Region based on industry leading storage technology from Hitachi, Ltd. & Hitachi Data Systems Partners.
I am thankful of the opportunity and look forward to addressing the specialized needs of our customers here and developing our relationships through the APAC region. The financial crisis has demonstrated that technology is a business enhancer and can reap tangible benefits for organizations who want to win in the downturn. Business organizations are waking up to this fact and I am excited at the prospect of helping our customers get the best out of their technology investments, said Phil Gann.

Phil Gann is the replacement for Vivekanand Venugopal, who has moved on to assume his new role as the Vice President and General Manager of India. Phil will be based in Hong Kong.

MasterCard Worldwide recently appointed Danny Cheung to lead its regional business in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. As area head of Taiwan, Hong Kong & Macau, Cheung will hold overall responsibility for all aspects of MasterCards operations in these markets, with the specific aim of promoting the MasterCard family of brands.

His core portfolio will include building close business alliances with customer financial institutions, enhancing MasterCards brand awareness and increasing the usage and acceptance of MasterCard cards.

Prior to this, Cheung was vice president and business manager for Hong Kong and Macau. He oversaw the development of MasterCard products and services and was responsible for enhancing the MasterCard brand and market position in areas of deposit-access products as well as credit and chip technology payments in Hong Kong and Macau. As business manager, Cheung also expanded the portfolio of MasterCard cards in-market, working with customer financial institutions to launch MasterCard Platinum, World and PayPass card programs.

Cheung has over 25 years of experience in the technology and payment industries in both Hong Kong and Australia. He was previously General Manager of Innovision Technology Corp. Ltd. in Hong Kong.

Kristian Francis joins Links Recruitment as Senior Consultant in the Banking, Finance & Accounting division. With over nine years of recruitment experience in the UK and Asia, Kristian joins Links Recruitments head office in Hong Kong to service its clients in the finance sector

Prior to his move, Kristian had a similar role at Robert Walters PLC and worked in their London, Tokyo and Hong Kong offices.

Commenting on his new appointment at Links Recruitment, Kristian Francis said: I am very pleased to be joining an independent recruitment specialist that has such a strong regional presence. The opportunities for career progression as well as being able to offer a personal, flexible and diversified service to clients is a big plus.

I think it speaks volumes that during the downturn, while many recruitment companies had to reduce their own headcount, Links Recruitment remained constant and even looked to employ new staff.

Deborah Matson, Managing Director at Links Recruitment said: We are delighted to welcome Kristian to the team. He is a very accomplished recruiter and has excellent experience in the Banking & Finance sector. I am sure he will be a great asset and will be very effective at servicing clients in this current dynamic environment.

Catherine Low joined Sun Life Hong Kong as VP & General Counsel to oversee the legal, compliance and corporate secretarial functions. She reports directly to Roger Steel. Catherine will also work closely with the Sun Life Trustee team. Prior to joining Sun Life, Catherine was VP & Deputy General Counsel at American International Assurance Co Ltd (AIG Group). Catherine has extensive exposure in her previous regional and country roles including a wealth of experience from both law firms and commercial establishments in the UK and Hong Kong. She was previously with CyberCity Holdings Ltd, a venture capital company and also formerly with The Bank of East Asia's London Branch and Head Office in Hong Kong.

Joanne Sau joined Sun Life Hong Kong as VP & Chief Financial Officer. She directly reports to Roger Steel, CEO, Sun Life Hong Kong. In addition to her role as CFO of the Hong Kong operations, Joanne will also be responsible for the overall financial management of the business and investments functions. Prior to joining Sun Life, Joanne was Chief Financial Officer at HSBC Insurance Hong Kong and also brings considerable experience from her previous regional and country roles, including with ING and New York Life.

Eugene Lundrigan is the newly appointed VP, Marketing & Strategy, who reports directly to Roger Steel. Eugene will have an overall responsibility for the following areas: strategic focus, marketing positioning, customer strategy, customer journey, product development, marketing communications and HKs program management office. Prior to this new role, Eugene was VP, Wealth Management at Sun Life Financial Asia for two years. He started his Sun Life career in the Corporate Office in 1997, and has since held various investment and treasury roles within the Canadian Investment Division. Eugene began his career as a securities and financial analyst with the Bank of Canada in 1990.

Edward Nusbaum will serve as the next CEO of Grant Thornton International, effective 1 January 2010, it was announced today. Grant Thornton International is one of the world's leading global accounting organisations, with more than 30,000 partners and staff in over 100 countries. He succeeds David McDonnell who will retire after eight years as Grant Thornton International CEO.

I am greatly honoured and look forward to the opportunity to lead Grant Thornton, said Nusbaum. I will dedicate myself to continuing the Grant Thornton tradition of strong leadership in the accounting profession and in speaking out on issues of importance. I want
the Grant Thornton brand to mean principled people providing superior service to highly satisfied clients around the world.

David McDonnell added, "I am delighted that Ed has been appointed as my successor. There was an extremely strong and rigorous process for the selection of the new CEO and I believe Ed will do a great job in moving Grant Thornton forward."

Ed Nusbaum has been CEO of the US member firm since 2001. Under his leadership the firm tripled in size, with annual revenues growing from $400 million to $1.2 billion, more than doubling the growth of any of its major global competitors during this eight-year period. For the past two years, the US accounting professors named Grant Thornton LLP
as the top the US accounting firm for ethics and work/life balance, and this past year, Grant Thornton LLP took first place in the Public Accounting Report 2008 audit rankings, marking the first time one of the four largest accounting firms has not won the PAR annual audit
ranking.

Before becoming CEO of the US member firm, Nusbaum served as the firms national managing partner of professional services, managing partner of the Philadelphia office and national director of assurance services based in New York.

Nusbaum was appointed to the SECs Advisory Committee on Improvement to Financial
Reporting (CIFiR). The group, which issued its recommendations in August 2008, was charged with advising the SEC and the nation on how the financial reporting system could be made more useful for everyone who relies on it.

Nusbaum led Grant Thornton LLP in taking strong thought leadership positions including the publication of the February 2002 white paper on requisite steps for restoring credibility To the accounting profession, the Five-Point Plan to Restore Public Trust. He has also written
and spoken on the need for stock-option expensing; prohibiting auditors from also performing internal controls work; the need for principles-based accounting; and revising lease accounting rules. Most recently, Grant Thornton LLP announced its support for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as the next step in financial reporting transparency.

Nusbaum received his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, summa cum laude, from The Ohio State University and his Master of Science degree in management from Purdue University.

As part of SHLs intended succession plan, John Bateson, Chief Executive Officer, is to stand down from his role after nine years in order to pursue other interests. He will be replaced by David Leigh who joined SHL more than a year ago as Chief Commercial Officer.

Leigh commented on Batesons contribution to SHL: John Bateson has been instrumental in taking SHL onto the global stage to service our international customers. He has also driven our development to offer the very best product, technology and service proposition and despite the economic situation, leaves SHL in very good shape for the future.

I joined last year to assist SHLs global expansion plans and that is still very much our focus. Our passion is to provide assessment tools to help our customers have the right people in the right place at the right time. In the last year, SHL has delivered over two million assessments online. This is as important today - anywhere in the world - as at any other point in the economic cycle and our mission is to ensure we help customers by providing them with the highest quality talent management solutions.

Leigh joined SHL from Steria, a pan-European IT and business process outsourcing company where he was Group BPO Director and a member of the Executive Committee. Prior to this, Leigh was the Group Business Development and Commercial Director at Xansa plc, Senior Vice-President at ipValue Management Inc, a company owned by Goldman Sachs and General Atlantic Partners, and a consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and the only provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions, today announced the appointment of Kevin Eggleston as the new Senior Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific with immediate effect.

Kevin Eggleston has both international experience and an excellent track record in Hitachi Data Systems, where his last position was the Regional Vice President of the Western Region in the United States. The focus of Egglestons new role is to continue with the growth momentum in the Asia Pacific region and provide vision and leadership to accelerate expansion of the company's revenue and market share in the region.

I am pleased to announce one of the key leadership changes in the company. The position of the Asia Pacific head is extremely critical and requires strong, experienced global field leadership to drive the success of Hitachi Data Systems, said Randy E. DeMont, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Worldwide Sales, Services and Support. The Asia Pacific region continues to show promise and Kevin Egglestons depth of knowledge in Asia Pacific and international expertise makes him an apt leader to drive the growth in this region. I am confident of his ability to propel Hitachi Data Systems growth plans in a continued positive direction in the region.

Commenting on his new role, Eggleston said, "I am excited to embark on the new challenge entrusted to me. Asia Pacific is a fascinating region in terms of business potential and the diversity that it represents. Hitachi Data Systems has a high performance team in Asia Pacific and an amazing set of solutions that help customers to maximize return on assets, reduce operating costs and build an economically optimized storage environment. It is indeed an excellent opportunity and I look forward to driving the adoption of Hitachi Data Systems solutions in this part of the world.

Kevin Eggleston is an IT veteran with over 30 years of experience in the industry. Prior to joining Hitachi Data Systems in 2005, Eggleston had served various sales and leadership positions in the United States, Latin America and the Asia South Pacific region at StorageTek and BlueArc.

The former General Manager of Asia Pacific, Mark Kay, has been named as the head of the System Integrator and Alliances division of the company. He will put his experience and strategic skills to enhance relationships with select system integrators and key alliances and drive growth for the company.

Sun Life Financial today announces the appointment of Bruce Hodges as Chief Operations Officer, responsible for the IT and Operations functions for Asia. Mr. Hodges will report directly to Stephan Rajotte, President of Sun Life Financial Asia.

IT and Operations functions have become crucial for success in the financial services industry, as IT pervades all aspects of our operations  from handling day-to-day activities to helping devise strategic initiatives, said Mr. Rajotte. This is especially the case during the current financial turmoil, when IT and Operations functions are vital for us to forecast and mitigate risks. We are delighted that Bruce will oversee these functions, as he has a strong track record plus a wealth of knowledge spanning a wide range of the financial services sector.

I am thrilled to have the opportunity of joining Sun Life Financial Asia, said Mr. Hodges. I look forward to being buoyed by the companys dynamism to boost its competitiveness across the region.

Mr. Hodges has over 19 years experience in the life insurance and financial services industry, in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Thailand. Prior to joining Sun Life, he was President & CEO of Manulife Insurance (Thailand) PCL. Through holding diverse roles during his career including product development and pricing, marketing and communications, operations, IT and human resources.

Mr. Hodges earned a MBA and an undergraduate degree in Business Administration, both from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario in Canada.

Global experiential marketing agency Jack Morton Worldwide, whose clients include adidas, Pfizer, Coca-Cola, Macquarie Bank and other leading brands, has announced three key leadership appointments for Hong Kong and Asia Pacific:

Ben Taylor to assume a wider regional leadership role. Expanding his regional leadership role to assume responsibility for Jack Mortons offices in Australia as well as Hong Kong and Beijing, Taylor will become SVP/Managing Director, Asia-Pacific. Taylor joined Jack Morton in 2005 as Managing Director, Asia, having previously held leadership positions at George P. Johnson. In his almost 20-year career in marketing, Taylor has worked with clients including Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Procter & Gamble and other top brands. Based in Hong Kong, Taylor reports to Jack Mortons Chairman & CEO, Josh McCall.

Guy Parsonage to lead Hong Kong office. In becoming General Manager, Hong Kong, Parsonage assumes immediate accountability for Jack Mortons Hong Kong office and reports to Ben Taylor. As Director of Client Services, Parsonage has contributed to a significant growth in client relationships with adidas, Macquarie Bank, Pfizer and other top brands that is reflected in Jack Mortons leading agency profile in Hong Kong. He joined Jack Morton in 2002.

Chris Burke to lead Production in Asia. As Director of Operations, Asia, Burke will assume a wider role in the production, project management and operational side of Jack Morton offices in China as well as Hong Kong and will report to Ben Taylor. Burke will be tasked with ensuring that the Jack Morton service remains consistent across the region and support Ben Taylor in the development of new Asian markets. Burke joined Jack Morton Hong Kong in 2005 after a long career in the experiential industry around the world.

Josh McCall commented: The new leadership appointments reflect both the increasing stature of the Jack Morton brand as well as the significant increase in clients searching for regional and in some instances global solutions to their experiential marketing needs. In response to this developing client need, the new leadership structure leverages the best of both worldsour regional network as well as the huge respect that clients have locally for Ben and our team.

Plan International, a global aid agency working on behalf of children in developing countries, has appointed James Murray as Chief Executive Officer to head up its operations in Hong Kong, which will officially open its Hong Kong office in July 2009.

Mr Murrays responsibilities include establishing the organisations Hong Kong office, from implementing the marketing strategy to driving the donation and sponsorship programmes and managing the regional government and corporate relations for Plan.

Plan International is one of the worlds longest standing development agencies with over 70 years of history, and works in over 49 developing countries to provide long-term, sustainable programmes to benefit children and their communities in the areas of education, health, environment and livelihood.

A 24-year veteran with Plan, Mr Murray has had a remarkable career with the organisation, having worked on numerous field projects in many underdeveloped parts of Africa and Asia, including the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Niger and most recently China, where he has spent the past seven years as country director.

Mr Murray has been involved in formulating and implementing Plans development programmes in these countries. During that time, he has witnessed first-hand the impact on some nations of civil war and the ravages of extreme poverty, giving him in-depth perspectives on the issues and challenges that people face to survive and prosper.

A graduate in Community Development and Anthropology and later in NGO Management, Mr Murray started his career as an urban planning consultant in the USA, which then led him to volunteer in the US Peace Corps in the Philippines in the late 1970s. He later worked as a Director in Southern India for the Catholic Relief Services before joining Plan International in 1985.

SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, has named David Hughes as Vice President of Asia Pacific (AP) operations, reporting to Mikael Hagström, Executive Vice President of SAS Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. In this role, Hughes will be responsible for managing SAS operations in AP, which include developing new business and implementing business practices that support SAS Pan-Asian and global initiatives.

Most recently Vice President of Sales in Canada, Hughes has a history with SAS that spans 15 years. During his tenure at SAS Canada, his extensive industry experience and leadership was instrumental in the incremental annual growth that established significant market share in key industries.

The potential within the Asia Pacific region is enormous, said Hughes. I look forward to leading SAS Asia Pacific towards leveraging the momentum that is building in the region. In the current challenging economy, companies in both the commercial and public sector in the region need SAS Business Analytics to give them competitive advantages. I am excited to be a part of such a great team and look forward to driving SAS Asia Pacific operations.

I am confident that Davids extensive leadership and sales experience as well as his high energy and proven track record will further accelerate our rapid growth in Asia Pacific and bring the organization to new heights, said Hagström. The timing is of great significance as the new global economic dynamic increases the demand for analytical intelligence.

As announced in February, SAS achieved its 33rd year of revenue growth, posting US $2.26 billion in global revenue for 2008. Specifically, the Asia Pacific region accounted for 12 percent of total revenue, with countries like India, Japan and the Philippines seeing high growth rates of 20 percent or higher in sales.

Eaton Hotels International has named Mr John Dick as Vice President for Eaton Hotels International, and Managing Director of Eaton Hotel Hong Kong.

Taking up his new role, Mr Dick will be responsible for leading all aspects of Eaton Hotels International including brand development, strategic growth for both the hotels and serviced apartments. And for Eaton Hotel Hong Kong, his main role will be managing the hotels operation, further developing the hotels brand image and achieving the objectives of delivering a smart and easy level of comfort with can-do service.

John is a proven leader with an extensive background in the industry. We are delighted to appoint him to lead our premium four star brand  Eaton, an affiliate of Langham Hotels International (LHI) - where he will take the brand footprint to new levels, said Brett Butcher, Chief Executive Officer, LHI.

On his new role, Mr Dick said, Station at Eaton Hotel Hong Kong allows me to experience the essence of the Eatons brand. The environment here is full of vibrancy, style and fun. Embracing the Can-Do spirit, the Eaton Team is a very dynamic one, they are enthusiastic and devoted to their work and guests. Although there are a lot of challenges ahead, with the support and assistance from the spirited Eaton Team, WE will surely be able to bring Eaton to a new level, and present our guests the unique Eaton, more importantly, to make Eaton Hotel Hong Kong the role model for the brand. 

Mr Dick is a veteran of the hotel industry having spent more than 20 years in management roles. He most recently served as Managing Director of The Langham, Auckland where he led the NZ$14 million rebranding campaign in 2005.

He also championed environmental initiatives at the property resulting in Green Globe certification  an internationally recognised credential for best environmental practice and becoming the first hotel in New Zealand to do so. The government of NZ also awarded the hotel a Green Ribbon for its work in this area. Subsequently, Mr Dick was assigned an additional role of global green champion for LHI.

After joining Eaton Hotel Hong Kong, Mr Dick has initiated a series of Green actions to proactively support the Green movement, for example, the launch of resource conservation programmes for all working levels, namely recycling paper, plastic, aluminium cans and glass container on guest floors as well as all outlets and making Eaton the very first one to initiate the source separation programme at the back office by encouraging staff to sort their rubbish before putting into the recycling box. In addition, a special themed programme Happy Earth Hour has been successfully launched to support the Earth Hour 2009 as well.

MasterCard Worldwide has announced the appointment of Vicky S. Bindra, 44, as president, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA) region. Mr. Bindra, who will join MasterCard on June 1, 2009, replaces Andre Sekulic, 58, who is retiring.

For more than 20 years Andre has been a valued leader at MasterCard and was instrumental in our success in the APMEA region, said Walt M. Macnee, president, International Markets, MasterCard Worldwide. We are extremely grateful for his years of service to MasterCard and wish him the best in his future endeavors.

We look forward to Vickys leadership as he brings a deep understanding of the APMEA region and a unique combination of consulting, banking and financial services experience to our organization and our customers, Macnee continued.

Mr. Bindra joins MasterCard from GE Capital, where he was CEO, President, India, since 2007. Prior to that, Mr. Bindra held several senior-level assignments at Citibank in New York and Singapore in consumer banking, credit cards, small business, sales and marketing and private banking. In addition, he was a partner at Bain & Company, leading assignments in financial services and private equity.

Mr. Bindra is a graduate of St. Xavier's College in Calcutta with a degree in finance and accounting. In addition, he is a certified public accountant and holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.

Mr. Sekulic will continue to support MasterCard in an advisory capacity, and serve as a member of the APMEA Regional Advisory Board and the Strategic Payments Services (SPS) Board.

The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA), an organisation dedicated to best practices in professional publishing, has elected Mr. Terence Tung as the Chairman and Ms. Christina Lee as the Deputy Chairman. Mr. Tung takes over the helm from Mr. Alan Lammin who has stepped down following his retirement as Publishing Director of TIME Asia.

In a career spanning 20 years in the media industry, Mr. Tung is currently the Chief Executive Officer of One Media Group which publishes Ming Pao Weekly and Hi-Tech Weekly in Hong Kong, as well as Top Gear Hong Kong licensed under BBC. In China, One Media Group runs Popular Science under license from Bonnier, and Top Gear China under license from BBC and MING. To further cement its foothold in the Greater China market, One Media Group launched in 2008 its flagship magazine Ming Pao Weekly in Taiwan.

Ms. Christina Lee, Asia Managing Director for BusinessWeek, was elected as the Deputy Chairman.

"As the 21st century advances, publishers are facing new challenges to their traditional business models as content migrates online and audiences continue to fragment into smaller clusters," said Mr. Tung. "But overall readership of media continues to climb and demand for quality content remains stronger than ever."

SOPA has dedicated itself to preserving freedom of the press in the Asia region and to ensuring that independent, quality journalism is observed, encouraged and acknowledged. Today, while the climate is far tougher with the impact of the global recession being felt by publishers, SOPA continues to work hard in acting as a hub for the establishment of guidelines, standards and voicing opinions that affect the industry across Asia. A main push this year is to establish more ties with publishers in China and foster industry collaboration across Asia.

"I'd like to extend my personal thanks to Alan, my colleagues on the Executive Board, Ms. Iris Fung, the Executive Director and all SOPA Chairmen emeritus for their supports and contributions to the publishing industry," Mr. Tung added. "Under Alan's leadership, SOPA has enjoyed a resurgence in membership, gained respect across the region and cemented partnerships with associations in Japan, Europe and others countries."

The SOPA Board also appointed Mr. Randy Weddle (Managing Director Asia Pacific - International Herald Tribune) as the Honorary Treasurer and Ms. Diana David (Regional Circulation & Business Development Director for Asia - Financial Times) as the Chairman of Professional Training and Events Sub-committee.

Richard Carter has joined Rolls-Royce Motor Cars as Director of Global Communications. He will be based at the companys head office and manufacturing plant at Goodwood and will have responsibility for the brands global communications strategy.

Carter began his BMW Group career at BMW South Africa where he was General Manager, Group Communications and Public Affairs, for the last 11 years. Prior to BMW, Carter, who is a lawyer by profession, held a number of diplomatic positions including postings in Washington and London as well as serving as Presidential Press Secretary to President F.W. de Klerk during the run-up to South Africas transition to full democracy in 1994.

"It is a privilege to have been appointed Director of Global Communications for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, arguably the most prestigious motor car manufacturer in the world," said Carter. "These are very exciting times for the company and I am looking forward to the challenges that my new role will bring."

His predecessor, Graham Biggs, returned to BMW UK at the beginning of this year, as Corporate Communications Director.

Langham Hotels International (LHI) has promoted hospitality veteran, Katie Benson, to the newly created position of Regional Vice President  Europe and North America  signaling the groups growing ambition as a luxury hotel operator.

In addition, Ms Benson will become Managing Director of The Langham London, relaunching the original grand hotel as one of Londons top three hotels from April after a massive á80 million restoration and refurbishment.

Brett Butcher, Chief Executive Officer of Langham Hotels International said: In the 9 years she has been with us, Katie has played an impressive role in the development of The Langham brand in Melbourne and Hong Kong. We feel confident that her knowledge and expertise will continue to contribute to the companys success at our flagship hotel in London while developing new and existing properties
strategically in North America and Europe.

In her dual role, Ms Benson will lead the repositioning of The Langham in London as it evolves and take up the strategic responsibility for The Langham properties in North America. She will also be active in the future developments for LHI in the USA and Europe.

Before her promotion, Ms Benson served as Managing Director of The Langham, Hong Kong, where she oversaw all aspects of the operation from 2007. She also successfully relaunched and positioned The Langham, Melbourne in 2005 as one of the premier hotels in the city where she was also the only woman to be named Australian Hotelier
of the Year by HM Magazine. Ms Benson has more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry.

Im thrilled about the exciting challenges that lie ahead, Ms Benson said. 2009 will be a year of developments, not only for The Langham, London but for our properties across North America and Europe. Im looking forward to working with the dedicated
teams at each of these properties to roll out a number of exciting projects.

Cited by Hotel Management magazine as an exceptional hospitality professional, Ms. Benson has held executive positions at luxury hotels in Middle East, China and Australia. The most enjoyable part of my job is connecting with people in all walks of life, and I look forward to bringing my experiences to my new roles she says.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has announced the appointment of Anthony McHale as General Manager of Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London effective 6 April 2009.

Mr. McHale is a veteran hotelier with more than 30 years experience of managing luxury hotels around the world. He joins Mandarin Oriental from Orient Express Hotels, where his most recent position was General Manager of Keswick Hall Club and Estate in Charlottesville Virginia, that has been frequently listed as one of the worlds best hotels in various international publications. Mr. McHale was also General Manager of the award-winning Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana from 2000 to 2005. Prior to this, Mr. McHale was with The Hotel Bel Air, Los Angeles where he held the position of Hotel Manager from 1997 to 2000. Over the previous 15 years, Mr McHale gained significant experience through senior hotel management positions with a variety of hotel groups, including The Peninsula Hotels and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

Mr. McHale, who is British with US and Canadian citizenship, was educated in the UK and has been a member of the Chaine des Rôtisseurs, an officer of Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin and a board member of the New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Association.

On behalf of my colleagues at Mandarin Oriental, we are delighted to welcome Tony McHale to his new position as General Manager of our flagship European property. I have no doubt that Tony has exactly the right character and experience for this important role and will build on the hotels reputation as one of Londons most luxurious hotels.  said Christoph Mares who will re-join the Group as Operations Director, Europe, Middle East and Africa, in April 2009.

StepStone, a leading global provider of human capital management software and services, today announced the appointment of Erik Schmit as Managing Director APAC, Schmit will also be taking over as General Manager for all of StepStones operations in Greater China .

With almost thirteen years of senior management experience in the technology industry, and substantial exposure to international markets, Schmit will lead StepStones growing Chinese subsidiary.

Currently Regional Director for Western Europe at StepStone, where he successfully ran the France, Italy, Benelux and Scandinavian regions, Schmit moves to Hong Kong with over seven years experience in senior sales roles. Prior to this he was Director of Sales at MrTed Ltd. and MD of Exact Softwares Switzerland operations. Schmit will continue to report into Matthew Parker, StepStones Managing Director of its global solutions operations.

Schmits new appointment follows StepStones recent acquisition of the remaining 30 per cent of its Chinese subsidiary. StepStone first entered the Chinese market in 2008 when it acquired a controlling interest in LEVEL4 Performance Consulting Limited and its subsidiary in mainland China (subsequently renamed StepStone China).

Colin Tenwick, Chief Executive Officer of StepStone, commented: We are delighted to announce Eriks new role as Regional Director of Asia Pacific. Eriks move underlines our global ambitions. His strong sales management experience, leadership skills, customer focus and understanding of StepStone within international markets will ensure StepStone continues to take advantage of the strong growth opportunities in China.

The appointment and promotion of Mr Brett Butcher to Chief Executive Officer will propel luxury hotel operator, Langham Hotels International (LHI), to the next stage of its already impressive growth cycle.

Dr K S Lo, Chairman of Langham Hotels International said: "Brett Butcher has been with LHI for seven years helping to steer the Langham brands to their current level of recognition and success. He has blended innovative marketing with world-class brand management and operational excellence through total quality management. In his new role as CEO, Bretts responsibilities will be broadened to include driving the companys overall direction and strategies engaged on quality and sustainable growth.

Mr Butcher will lead LHI in focussing on an ever-expanding pipeline of quality hotel properties that already circles the globe. This planned growth will deliver Langham Hotels more than 30 operating Hotels within the next five years.

Mr Butcher will continue the companys focus on Total Quality Management leading to accredited status in all properties while building a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

"My goal is ensure The Langhams 140 year history of enchantment and romance develops and continues to position our Hotel portfolio as global icons of hospitality. We have a duty of guardianship with these incredible hotels and my role is inspiring our talented colleagues to evolve and strengthen our service by knowing our guests intimately and building great memories.

By focussing our strategy on Total Quality Management and marketing excellence, we have an incredible opportunity to reinforce our brands as aspirational luxury household names, he added.

Mr Butcher's international hospitality management experience spans 30 years, covering roles in Asia and the Pacific, to the USA. He has held senior executive hospitality management positions with various hotel groups, overseeing operations, sales and marketing, and hotel development roles.

For the past seven years, Mr Butcher has held several senior roles within Langham Hotels International including those of Senior Vice President  Sales & Marketing, Senior Vice President  Brands, as well as Senior Vice President Langham Place Operations. He was also the Managing Director of Langham Place, Mongkok, Hong
Kong overseeing the opening and initial operation of this successful Hotel.

Mr Butcher is an Australian national and holds a Bachelor of Business Degree (Hospitality Management).

AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced that Bruce Claflin has been appointed Chairman of its Board of Directors. Mr. Claflin replaces Hector Ruiz, who retired from AMDs Board in conjunction with assuming the position of Chairman of the Board of The Foundry Company. Mr. Claflin has been a member of AMDs Board of Directors since August, 2003.

The AMD Board also appointed Waleed Al Mokarrab to the Board. Mr. Al Mokarrab is chief operating officer of Mubadala Development Company.

Bruce Claflin brings a wealth of business experience that applies directly to the challenges and opportunities relevant to our company, said Dirk Meyer, president and chief executive officer of AMD. We are also honored to welcome Waleed Al Mokarrab to the Board. His experience in business development across a broad range of industries will be an invaluable asset to AMD.

Mr. Meyer continues in his role as president and CEO, and as a member of the AMD Board of Directors.

Mr. Claflin has 33 years of experience in senior positions with IBM, Digital Equipment and most recently as CEO and member of the board of directors of 3Com Corporation, a provider of voice and data networking products and services. He has run major personal computer businesses and has extensive international experience, including the founding and management of international joint ventures. In 2006, Mr. Claflin retired from 3Com Corporation. Mr. Claflin is also a member of the board of directors for Ciena Corporation.

Waleed Al Mokarrab is the Chief Operating Officer of Mubadala. His primary responsibilities are to oversee Mubadalas operational and business development activities. These include Mubadalas international acquisitions and business development activities across a broad range of industries such as healthcare, education, energy, infrastructure, aerospace, real estate and technology. Prior to joining Mubadala, Mr. Al Mokarrab worked with the UAE Offsets Group as a Senior Projects Manager. He brought with him a wealth of experience from McKinsey & Company where he worked as a Consultant, advising on a range of industrial and governmental projects.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced the appointment of Steven Campbell to the position of Chief Technology Officer. In his new role, Steven will have global responsibility for all aspects of the companys product development and technical vision. As the top technology executive for Hitachi GST, Steven will play a strategic role in the companys future direction and business growth.


Steven Campbell is an outstanding addition to our senior management team, said Hiroaki Nakanishi, chief executive officer, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. Stevens proven track record combined with his leadership experience, technology background and passion for excellence will deliver extraordinary value to our customers worldwide.

Steven has 30 years of experience in the electronics and data storage industry, having served in senior executive roles at Western Digital Corporation and technology management roles at Quantum and Hewlett-Packard. Most recently he was Chief Executive Officer of Singapore listed Innotek Limited and Innoteks subsidiary Magnecomp Precision Technology, a strategic component supplier to major hard drive companies. His experience at Western Digital included serving as General Manager of the Desktop Solutions Line of Business, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Vice President of New Product Introduction and Chief Quality Officer. He will be based at Hitachis San Jose, California headquarters.

Crystal Cruises has appointed Wendy Lin as regional sales manager for Asia-Pacific, marking the first time the luxury line has based staff in the region. Based in Taipei, Taiwan, Lin will work closely with Crystals international sales representatives, independent agencies and incentive houses throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Lin will report to Karen Mann, Crystals director, international sales, whose territory spans Mexico and South America, as well as Asia-Pacific.

For the past eight years, Lin has been Crystal Cruises international sales representative for Taiwan. In that time, Lin has significantly grown the travel agency bookings from Taiwan and developed creative promotions to generate new business and support Crystals repeat clientele. She has also served as a consultant for business development at the Ambassador Hotels Group in Taiwan.

In addition to speaking several languages, Lin has earned a Master of Economics from Washington State University and two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Hotel Management from Washington State University and César Ritz in Switzerland.

Asia-Pacific is one of the fastest growing regions in cruising and were delighted to expand our sales coverage of the region with the addition of Wendy Lin, says Mann. Besides her extensive onboard experience and Crystal product knowledge, Wendy has a great attitude and is results oriented.

The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA), an organization dedicated to best practices in professional publishing, today announced that Alan Lammin has been re-elected as SOPA Chairman following a unanimous vote at the annual general meeting.

Mr Lammin, who recently announced his retirement as Publishing Director of Time Asia, will remain at the helm of SOPA until the end of March 2009 when his retirement takes effect.

Terence Tung, CEO of One Media Group, will continue in his role as SOPAs Deputy Chairman.

Mr Lammin is a seasoned veteran of the publishing industry in Asia. Before assuming the position of Publishing Director, Asia, Time, in April 2005, he spent five years as Vice President & Managing Director, Asia for BusinessWeek, working in a regional capacity out of Singapore and Hong Kong. Prior to that, he spent 18 years in Japan working in a number of sales-related positions at McGraw-Hill.

I am delighted to continue in the role of Chairman of The Society of Publishers in Asia and would like to thank all the board members for re-electing me to this position, said Mr Lammin.

Mr Lammin said the year ahead was likely to be challenging for the publishing industry.

In these uncertain times, no one can be quite sure of the true nature of the challenges that lie ahead for the industry in Asia. This is all the more reason to continue with the strong leadership SOPA has enjoyed over the years and to provide a platform for Asian and international publishers to network and collaborate on common industry issues, commented Mr Lammin.

Sun Life Hong Kong today announces the appointment of Vivian Choi as Head of Individual Life Operations.

In this role, Ms Choi will be responsible for the operations of Sun Life Hong Kongs life insurance business. She directly reports to Roger Steel, CEO of Sun Life Hong Kong.

With over 20 years experience in the life insurance industry, Ms Choi is an ideal candidate to lead our life operations, said Mr Steel. She has extensive experience in managing life and agency operations as well as system development projects, and has proven abilities in providing excellent customer service.

Ms Choi joins Sun Life from Fortis Hong Kong (formerly Pacific Century Insurance), where she was Senior Vice President, Operations & Chief Operating Officer. Previously, she held senior roles in life operations and customer service functions for Prudential, Jardine CMG Life (now part of Sun Life) and AXA. Ms Choi was also one of the pioneers who established the Distinguished Customer Service Award for the life insurance industry in Hong Kong, when she served as the President of the FLMI Society of Hong Kong (currently named the LOMA Society of Hong Kong). Ms Choi is a Fellow of the Life Insurance Management Institute and an Associate Life and Health Claim.

Visa Inc. today announced the appointment of David Lee as president of its Asia Pacific region. He succeeds Rupert Keeley, who was recently appointed Visa Inc.s Global Head of Strategy and Corporate Development. In this role, Lee will be responsible for continuing to grow Visa Inc.'s business in the region. Lee will report to Hans Morris, President of Visa Inc.

Asia Pacific is an extremely diverse region that includes some of the worlds most sophisticated, fastest growing and most technologically advanced economies. With the emerging giants of China and India, as well as number of other significant developing economies, it presents a wealth of potential opportunities for the payment industry and will be the focus for much of the companys development in the coming years, said Joe Saunders, Chairman and CEO of Visa Inc. David has been at the heart of Visas growth in Asia for many years and his deep experience and commercial acumen ideally suit him to lead the regions well-established and diverse management team.

Lee joined Visa in 1985 from international accounting firm Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co. He has held a number of roles in the Singapore regional headquarters culminating in his appointment as Chief Operating Officer in 2007. As COO, he was responsible for strategy, planning, human resources, client support, systems, financial operations and administration across the region at a time when the company continued to strengthen its leadership in the region.

Born in Malaysia, David was educated in Singapore where he was awarded the Lee Foundation Prize by Singapores Chartered Association of Certified Accountants as the years top graduate on gaining his ACCA. In 2003, he graduated from the Harvard Business Schools Advanced Management Program. David currently serves as a director of the National Library Trust Board, the Singapore Management University School of Accountancy Advisory Board, and the Naval Base School Advisory Board  his alma mater. Most recently he was appointed to the board of Visa Processing Service Pte. Ltd. (VPS), a joint venture between Visa Inc. and Yalamanchili Software Exports (P) Limited, a leading payments processor and software products and solutions company with operations in India and Singapore. He is married with three children.

Sun Life Financial Asia is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Goodall to the position of Vice President, Regional Distribution.

In this role, Mr. Goodall will be responsible for developing distribution channels in the Asia region and will work with Sun Life Financial country leaders to help develop and execute strategies for expanding our business.

Mr. Goodall has held a number of senior roles in financial planning firms and insurance companies in Australia. He has extensive experience in managing distribution channels and most recently, headed up his own financial planning business. Prior to that, he held positions at ANZ Financial Planning, ING Australia and Zurich Insurance.

Luxury hotel operator, Langham Hotels International (LHI) has appointed Aviva Chow as Director of Global Sales  MICE as part of the groups strategic plan to build room sales through Meetings, Incentive, Conventions and Exhibition (MICE).

Ms Chow will be responsible for developing group global MICE strategies and revenues for all Langham properties.

Reporting to the Vice President  Sales  Alison Styles, Ms Chow will develop group business for new and existing hotels including The Langham, London that completes its GBP80 million refurbishment in 2009; the first hotels in China  The Langham, Yangtze Boutique, Shanghai, the two Langham Place properties in Beijing and Eaton
Hong Kong. She will also promote the groups proprietary MICE platform takethelead as a user-friendly online tool backed up by a human service delivery.

Alison Styles, Vice President  Sales said: Avivas role is new to Langham Hotels International  and recognises the strategic importance placed on developing MICE revenues and effectively showcasing our exceptional products and services.

Ms Chow is a 10-year hotel industry professional who was previously with Island Shangri-la Hong Kong, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.

NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) today announced that To-Sun Chan (TS Chan) has been named general manager for Hong Kong. In this role, Chan leads a team responsible for sales of NCRs self-service and assisted-service solutions in targeted industries such as banking, retail, hospitality, travel and entertainment.

NCR has a strong presence in the Hong Kong market and we are committed to helping our customers transform their businesses with our innovative self-service solutions. TS has a strong background in the banking industry and, with this rich knowledge, he will be invaluable in leading our team to a new level of strategic growth and expansion in the competitive local market, said Patrick Chou, NCR North Asia president.

Chan is an information technology industry veteran with over 20 years experience in sales and general management, possessing a deep understanding of the financial services industry. He joins NCR from Fujitsu Hong Kong Limited where he was general manager of the Banking Business Unit. During his tenure at Fujitsu, he started the department from ground up and directed the entire operation to serve world-class industry players. Prior to that, Chan held numerous sales management positions with Olivetti Hong Kong Limited and Digital Equipment China Limited.

I am excited to join the growing NCR team. By leveraging our global success in self-service and our established presence in Hong Kong, we will bring more innovative solutions to meet consumers increasing demand for convenience and ease of use in the ways they interact with business, said Chan.

Chen earned a Master of Business Administration degree in IT Management from the University of Canberra, Australia.

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced the promotion of Mr. Marcos Ong, Sales Director, as the General Manager for HK and Macau, F5 Networks with immediate effect. In his new role, he will be in charge of leading the F5 Networks team in the delivery of corporate strategy, including the development and execution of business plans and projects, establishing and maintaining key high-level relationships and ensuring the delivery of high caliber services to clients in Hong Kong and Macau. His remit is to further strengthen F5s leadership position in the Application Delivery Networking market and contribute to the rapid growth for the company in Hong Kong. Marcos joined F5 in October 2005 as a Sales Director.

During his appointment as the Sales Director in the Hong Kong office, Marcos oversaw the sales and marketing activities. During this time, a significant growth in sales was recorded, further strengthening F5s market share in Hong Kong.

F5 is very committed in growing our business together with our partners, said Linda Hui, Managing Director of F5 Networks, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It is our pleasure to have Marcos promoted to General Manager of Hong Kong and Macau. With his extensive experience in sales and his sound technological background, we are confident that he will be able to build on the existing foundation and lead the two offices to achieve our targets.

Prior to joining F5, Marcos Ong was Sales Manager for Symantec Hong Kong, Cisco Systems Hong Kong and Agilent Technologies.

Marcos holds a Bachelor Degree in Applied Science for Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Toronto.

United Airlines announced today the appointment of Sidney Kwok as director, Greater China. In this role, Mr. Kwok will oversee all of Uniteds passenger operations and service in both mainland China and Hong Kong. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Kwok was Uniteds director in mainland China.

Mr. Kwok has more than 30 years of experience in the airline industry. He joined United Airlines in 1998 as business manager and division controller, Pacific South in Hong Kong before he was appointed general manager, China in November 2000. During Mr. Kwoks tenure as general manager in China, United Airlines was voted the Best American Airline Serving China three times by Business Traveller China from 2005 to 2007.

The Asia-Pacific region has always been key to Uniteds growth and within this region, mainland China and Hong Kong are two very important markets, says Mark Schwab, Vice President, Pacific, United Airlines. Our recent introduction of Uniteds new, luxurious First Class Suite and Business Class cabin to Hong Kong, and eventually, to China, is testimony to our commitment to listen to what our customers say and give them what they want.

In his current position, Mr. Kwok will be responsible for devising and implementing strategies to further strengthen Uniteds position as a leading transpacific carrier in Hong Kong and mainland China. Moreover, he will continue to play an instrumental role in fostering commercial relationships with Star Alliance members in mainland China including Air China and Shanghai Airlines.

With more services between China and the U.S. than any other U.S. carrier, United has always been a key facilitator of culture and commerce between these two great nations. United also makes possible these exchanges with the U.S. for our southern China passengers through our daily services from Hong Kong to U.S. destinations," said Sidney Kwok, director, Greater China, United Airlines. "We are committed to continue investing in Hong Kong and mainland China to deliver even better products and services to our customers.

United operates daily nonstop services between Beijing and Washington D.C.; Beijing and Chicago; Beijing and San Francisco, Shanghai and Chicago; Shanghai and San Francisco, Hong Kong and Chicago as well as Hong Kong and San Francisco. From Hong Kong, United operates daily nonstop services between the territory and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as between Hong Kong and Singapore.

Mr. Kwok is a native of Hong Kong and a graduate of the University of Hong Kong.

Ketchum Greater China, the Asia Pacific division of top-ten global public relations agency Ketchum and a member of the Omnicom Group, today announced the appointment of Ross Hughes as General Manager, Ketchum Shanghai. Hughes will immediately take over Ketchum Shanghais leadership role from Penny Burgess, who will remain to support Ketchum in a consulting capacity.

Ross Hughes brings to Ketchum over a decade of experience working in public relations in Greater China and Asia. His diverse knowledge and track record cover both in-house public relations roles and consulting for corporate communications, financial PR, public affairs and technology PR. Hughes is also well versed in crisis communications and media training and he will be responsible for providing strategic counsel to clients and driving growth for Ketchum Shanghai.

Ross depth of experience in corporate and technology communications as well as his knowledge of Asian markets will be tremendous asset in helping clients overcome challenges in this highly competitive landscape. He will play a significant role in consolidating Ketchums leadership in Greater China, said Kenneth Chu, Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Ketchum Greater China.

Prior to joining Ketchum, Hughes was with The Hoffman Agency as General Manager China. When he was in his role as the Hoffman General Manager Hong Kong, he was responsible for managing all aspects of the business and regional client accounts including Google and Dassault Systems.

Im very excited to be part of the Ketchum Greater China family as its renowned in the region for its excellent blend of local and international expertise and its ability to deliver sound counsel in Chinas increasingly multicultural and multifaceted society, Hughes said.

Hughes graduated from Griffith University in Brisbane with a BA degree in Modern Asian Studies in 1990. Hughes studied Chinese in Taiwan and is conversant in Mandarin.

Sun Life Hong Kong today announced the appointment of Jeremy Young as Vice President, Independent Sales. In this role, Mr. Young will be responsible for the development of Sun Life Hong Kongs growing broker/independent financial adviser (IFA) sales. Mr Young will report directly to Roger Steel, CEO of Sun Life Hong Kong Ltd.

Jeremy brings to us a wealth of experience in broker sales, and will oversee all current and future projects aimed at strengthening our position in this channel, said Roger Steel, CEO of Sun Life Hong Kong. These projects will include development of our IFA Fund Platform product, for which Jeremy has assumed immediate responsibility.

Prior to joining Sun Life Financial, Mr. Young worked for AIG Life New Zealand, where he built sales significantly in his most recent roles as Head of Distribution and National Sales Manager. Prior to joining AIG New Zealand, Mr. Young spent five years as Business Development Manager for Sovereign Assurance, the largest wealth management provider in New Zealand, for which he managed over 100 adviser relationships. Prior to Sovereign Assurance, he was a broker with Summit Financial Group, one of New Zealands leading brokerage companies, for three years.

These are exciting times to be joining Sun Life Hong Kong, said Mr Young.

Sun Life has recently made strong progress in developing sales through brokers and independent financial advisers, and I look forward to working with them to realise the full growth potential in this channel, he added.

Robert Half International is pleased to announce the appointment of a new Director for the companys Hong Kong office, Andrew Morris. He takes on his new role heading up Hong Kong operations after nearly seven years with Robert Half in Australia. With an exceptional and proven track record of leadership and growth, Andrew now brings his knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm to Hong Kong.

Most recently, Andrew held the position of Senior Manager at Robert Halfs Mount Waverley branch in Australia where he was responsible for establishing the office. Under his guidance the office saw 100% growth and expansion and exceptional staff retention. Andrew was also recognised for outstanding performance amongst Robert Halfs 360 offices worldwide.

During his career Andrew has also spent time in Malaysia, and offers Hong Kong clients and candidates a regional perspective on Asia Pacific recruitment trends.

Commenting on his appointment, Morris said; Robert Half International is the worlds leading recruitment agency for positions in the finance, banking and accounting fields and Hong Kong is one of the most exciting financial centres on the globe. The Hong Kong office has gone from strength to strength since inception in 2005 and I hope to drive this growth even further. 

Andrew Morris succeeds Andrew Brushfield, who has moved to Melbourne, Australia as Director of their Victorian operations.

Langham Place, Mongkok, Hong Kong is thrilled to announce the appointment of Shaun Campbell as general manager.

Shaun has more than 18 years hospitality experience with extensive management expertise in senior operations, marketing, revenue and food and beverage.

Throughout his career, Shaun has worked with numerous five-star hotel groups including Hyatt International, Marriott International and Mirvac Hotels in Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and India. Prior to joining Langham Place, Mongkok, Hong Kong he was general manager of Hyatt Regency in Kolkata, India.

My past experience within strong brands, combined with my marketing background, has reinforced the value of committed hospitality to provide a strong basis for guest satisfaction and loyalty. The success that Langham Place, Mongkok, Hong Kong has enjoyed in the competitive market of Hong Kong is no accident. I am excited about joining a very professional, guest focused team and look forward to continuing to grow the hotels success and the Langham Place brand. It already feels like a great fit and I am extremely energized about being back working in Asia in such an exciting young brand, commented Shaun.

An Australian national, Shaun is a business graduate of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia.

Verizon Business has named D. Blair Crump group president worldwide sales, effective immediately.

In this newly created position, Crump oversees the company's enterprise, wholesale, government and education sales efforts worldwide, leading an organization of more than 5,000 sales and support professionals. Verizon Business has 321 offices across six continents and operations in 75 countries. The company serves 98 percent of the Fortune 500 and is the largest provider of communications services to the U.S. federal government.

"We see huge opportunities in helping globally extended enterprises securely communicate with their mobile and geographically dispersed networks of employees, partners, suppliers and customers," said Verizon Business President John Killian. "Integrating our global sales team under Blair's seasoned leadership will ensure the right focus and drive to sustain our global leadership."

Verizon Business generated total 2007 revenues of US$21.2 billion. This year, the company generated total second-quarter revenues of US$5.3 billion, or growth of 0.9 percent compared with last year's second quarter. Sales of strategic services -- such as IP (Internet
protocol) and managed services, including security, as well as Ethernet and optical services -- continued to fuel growth. These services generated nearly US$1.5 billion in revenue, up 18.7 percent from second-quarter 2007.

Since November 2006, Crump has been Verizon Business' senior vice president for international and premier sales  serving the company's top 200 accounts as well as internationally-headquartered customers. In his new role, he will also assume responsibility for all global sales, including all U.S. enterprise, federal and state government, and education accounts, as well as international customers.

Since beginning his career in 1983 as one of the first sales representatives in New York City with MCI, Crump has held positions of increasing responsibilities in sales and marketing and has spent the majority of his career developing commercial successes with large-enterprise customers.

A native of Philadelphia, Crump holds a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Anita Hou is a director of Forensic and Investigation Services at Grant Thornton. Anita comes with a variety of solid experiences in auditing, listing and investigation work. She handles both local and international enterprises covering a wide spectrum of industries including property investment, manufacturing, trading, retailing, infrastructure and construction. Anita is now specialising in providing services in forensic, investigation and litigation support assignments involving asset tracing and recovery, anti-money laundering investigation and compliance, as well as fraud investigations. She also handles assignments in relation to liquidation, bankruptcy and receivership.

Anita holds an MBA and is a Certified Public Accountant in Hong Kong. She is also a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Fanny Hsiang is a Partner of Professional Practice of Grant Thornton. She provides advisory services to the Firm's assurance practice and facilitates the proper application of accounting standard requirements.

Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Fanny has accumulated over 15 years of professional experience in international and major
accounting firms.

Fanny has extensive experience in financial reporting related work and researches on topical accounting issues. She specialises in financial reporting support in relation to Hong Kong Financial Reporting Standards (HKFRS), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Hong Kong Companies Ordinance requirements.

Fanny is a Certified Public Accountant (Practicing) in Hong Kong.

Luxury hotel operator, Langham Hotels International (LHI) announced today the appointment of Bob van den Oord to the position of Vice-President  Sales & Marketing.

Mr van den Oord will provide strategic leadership and assume overall management of all LHIs global sales and marketing operations to penetrate and develop key markets. His role includes driving Global Sales, Communications, Customer Relationship Management, Electronic Marketing & Revenue Management.

Eric So, Executive Vice President  Langham Hotels International said: Bobs talent, business acumen and track record will evolve our brand, our products and the services as we accelerate our momentum in the international hospitality market."

Bob van den Oord said: "Langham Hotels International enjoys dramatic growth through its complementary brands - The Langham which combines yesterdays charms with todays amenities and Langham Place which embodies 21st century living through design and technology. In the last 12 months alone the company has doubled in size to 16 hotels as new owners seek brands with unique propositions that can deliver tangible results on a global scale.

I look forward to leveraging our brands and building on the current success that LHI has enjoyed to date. We will take this solid foundation and pursue growth opportunities, he added.

Previously, Mr van den Oord enjoyed a successful track record in senior hotel management roles on three continents  North America, Europe and Asia. Most recently, he led the dramatic repositioning of LHIs affiliate hospitality brand - Eaton Hong Kong into one of the citys most exciting four-star properties. Following an US$18 million refurbishment, Mr van den Oord proved it was possible to offer accessible rates with facilities and services that are viewed as unique and distinctive.

Under his leadership, the property achieved rates which were the envy of the competitive set while creating a completely new and different brand identity that has been perceived as both surprisingly fresh and spirited.

Mr van den Oord is a skilled linguist who is fluent in English, Dutch, French and German, and is currently extending his language proficiency in Mandarin.

Estella Tsui is appointed as the marketing director at Grant Thornton effective 1 Oct 2008.
Estella takes charge of the Firm's marketing department and oversees the Firm's integrated marketing initiatives, including branding, communications, publications, PR, events and website. She is also a member of Grant Thornton International's international brand hub team.
Prior to joining Grant Thornton in 2001, Estella has worked with a variety of companies ranging from trading to technology and telecom service to professional service. She has extensive experience in the marketing field especially in the areas of strategic marketing and communications.
Estella holds an MBA degree and majored in Translation in her bachelor degree.

Catherine Fung joined Grant Thornton recently as Director of Corporate Finance.
Catherine has spent over 14 years working in financial and investment advisory services, including extensive experience in the corporate finance sector for private and public listed companies in Hong Kong and China.
Prior to joining Grant Thornton, she served as a director and chief financial officer of a privately-held foreign investment enterprise in Shanghai for several years. Before that, she founded a licensed corporate finance advisory company in Hong Kong and advised on a wide spectrum of corporate finance transactions ranging from IPOs, takeovers, restructuring and asset disposals to mergers and acquisitions. She also held a senior position in an international securities house, and she was trained in Ernst & Young.
Catherine holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from The University of Manchester in England, and she also has a legal background.

Langham Place, Mongkok has appointed David Fung as their new director of sales and marketing.

David has over 20 years hospitality experience in Hong Kong and USA. His past experiences include five years as the director of sales at Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers (until 2007) and four years as the global account director at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, based in Washington DC.

David has also held a variety of senior sales management roles with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and with Hyatt Hotels International.

Throughout his extensive career, David has attained many professional achievements including corporate sales trainer of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Asia Pacific and recipient of sales person of the year with Hyatt Hotels in USA.

Proactive by nature, David was also the president of The Capital Chapter of Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), the USAs largest meeting and convention association.

In his new role, he will work closely with the management team to ensure that the Hotel continues to maintain its position as a leading five-star property in Hong Kong.

Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS), the global leader in application delivery infrastructure, has appointed Victor Wong as regional director for Hong Kong and Taiwan. In his new role, Victor is responsible for developing the company's business, managing operations, and boosting revenue in these two important markets. Wong reports to Victor Tsao, Citrix's vice president and general manager for Greater China.

"Victor has a tremendous international technology company background plus an in-depth knowledge of the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets," said Tsao. "These factors make him an ideal choice to handle this demanding post and I am confident that he will have a strong impact on our business prospects."

Wong added: "I am very excited to join a market leader like Citrix and feel confident that my broad Asian IT experience will help the company to achieve even greater levels of success."

Before joining Citrix, Wong was senior director for SAP in Taiwan, where he spent two years managing sales, marketing and operations and achieved record performance levels for the company.

Previously, Wong held several regional roles for Business Objects including managing director, Hong Kong/Macau; alliance director Greater China; and managing director, Taiwan. He was responsible for setting up the Business Objects office in Taiwan and developing the company's business from the beginning.


Wong has also worked for Siebel Hong Kong/Taiwan and SAS Hong Kong. In 1994 he was employed by US ERP software vendor, SSA, becoming director with responsibility for leading the sales and presales teams in Hong Kong.

Victor Wong started his career as a programmer in 1989. He graduated from City University of Hong Kong with the major in Computer Studies. He also holds a postgraduate certificate of Engineering Business Management from the University of Warwick in the UK.

The Excelsior, Hong Kong announces with great pleasure the appointment of Wendy Lee as Director of Communications.

Wendy joins The Excelsior, Hong Kong from J.V. Fitness Ltd. where she was the Regional Manager, Corporate Affairs, responsible for media relations, internal communications and new club opening events for California Fitness and mYoga.

Prior to her position at J.V. Fitness Ltd, Wendy worked for PR Consultancy Impact Asia Ltd., where she headed up the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group public relations retainer account for four years and was responsible for the pre-opening public relations campaign for The Landmark Mandarin Oriental and the renovation public relations campaign for Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong.

In her capacity as Director of Communications for The Excelsior, Hong Kong, Wendy will be responsible for the hotels overall communications direction and public relations strategy.

Previously Group Director of Corporate Engineering, Mr Suen will continue to lead the engineering function. He will manage and oversee the strategic implementation of the hotel engineering and standards.

Mr Suen has held a number of senior corporate roles. He was previously the Hong Kong-based managing director of The Viking Corporation, general manager of Kidde International and Technical Services Manager of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels.

Mr Suen first joined the group in 2006 as Director of Engineering - Corporate.

In his new corporate capacity, he will play a vital role in formulating strategic engineering policies in hotel operations and hotel development worldwide. He also oversees new hotel projects to meet LHIs corporate engineering standards.

Previously Group Director of Projects, Mr Wong will provide strategic guidance for Langham Hotels Internationals new projects at a design level.

He will head up project development as LHI expands on a global scale, developing tailored on-brand solutions to deliver cutting edge designs to Langham Place branded hotels and timeless traditional looks which project innovative luxury hospitality for The Langham brand.

Mr Wong joined the Group in 2005.

He has been involved in a wide range of projects related to new hotel developments. He provides a strategic design overview for each new project to ensure integration into the Langham Hotels International portfolio.

Following his promotion to Vice President, Mr Wong will continue to oversee the groups development of projects to ensure leading edge services and products are incorporated for guests to LHI standards.

TransUnion has named Lawrence Tsong president of its operations in East Asia, a new role he has accepted in addition to maintaining the managing director role for the companys Hong Kong operations. In this new role effective immediately, Mr. Tsong greatly expands his responsibility for promoting and growing TransUnion's credit information and analytic and decisioning business throughout the region.

Mr. Tsong joined TransUnion in 2007 and has been an integral part of the companys growth in Hong Kong, managing the day-to-day operations and introducing the use of advanced analytic and decisioning solutions to the financial markets.
Since Lawrence joined TransUnion, he has made major contributions and built strategic relationships in the credit markets in Hong Kong and throughout the region, said Andrew Knight, president of TransUnions international division. We are extremely confident that he will continue to be a key figure at TransUnion, leading our efforts in demonstrating the economic benefits an active credit system brings to both businesses and consumers in emerging markets.

Prior to joining TransUnion, Mr. Tsong was first vice president of United Overseas Bank group where he was responsible for establishing and managing the credit card business. From 1984 to 1998, he held various positions with American Express, the last one being the director of relationship management for the company in East Asia. In this role, he was accountable for long-term strategic card and merchant partnership programs, concentrating in the airline, hotel and retail merchant sectors.
Mr. Tsong holds a Bachelor of Social Science degree from the University of Hong Kong.
Established in 1982 as Hong Kongs first centralized credit database, TransUnion now maintains more than 21 million records of 3.8 million individuals and provides risk management services to businesses and direct to consumer credit information. Visit www.transunion.hk to learn more.

Barclays Wealth, the wealth management division of Barclays, has appointed Nitin Birla as Director, Head of Hong Kong Desk, South Asia, in a move to tap into the burgeoning potential of the South Asian high net worth community in North Asia.

In this newly-created role, Mr. Birlas directive is to drive and execute the strategy for South Asian client acquisition in North Asia. He will report to Sandeep Sharma, Head of South Asia, who is based in Singapore.

Mr. Sharma said, We are delighted to welcome Nitin to our team. Nitin has an impressive track record in building up similar businesses in his previous employment, and we are confident that he will be able to realize the mandate with his vast experience and in-depth knowledge of the South Asian high net worth community based in North Asia.

Didier von Daeniken, Chief Executive of Barclays Wealth Asia Pacific said, Asia Pacific is an important growth region for our private banking business, with North Asia making a strong contribution in terms of assets growth and client base. We are now just one of the few private banks to have coverage of the South Asian high net worth segment based out of Hong Kong, complementing a well-established Hong Kong-based team currently serving the North Asian markets.

Prior to joining Barclays Wealth, Mr. Birla spent seven years as Executive Vice President at RBS Coutts in Hong Kong, where he instituted its private banking business and implemented the strategy for South Asian client acquisition in the North Asian markets of China, Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines and Taiwan. Before that, Mr. Birla spent six years building up Citibanks Non-Resident Indian business in Hong Kong, where he successfully established and led a team of relationship managers servicing NRI clients based in North Asia.

Mr. Birla has twenty years of experience in the banking industry, having also held senior roles at Citibank in India, and BNP Paribas in Hong Kong.

Langham Place, Mongkok has announced the appointment of Melissa Tracey as executive assistant manager - rooms.

Prior to joining Langham Place, Melissa was director of rooms and second-in-charge to the general manager at Blue Sydney, A Taj Hotel. With over 10 years hospitality experience in Australia, Melissa has worked for various prestigious five star hotels in Sydney including Sheraton on the Park Sydney, W Hotel Sydney, Star City Hotel and Casino, and Sydney Marriott.

An Australian national, Melissa has two degrees including a Bachelor of Hospitality and Tourism from the University of South Australia.

Barclays Wealth has appointed Pheabe Chau as Singapore Head of Investment Specialists effective today, in a move that demonstrates its commitment in further strengthening its client servicing and advisory capabilities.

In her role with Barclays Wealth, Ms. Chau will oversee a team of Investment Specialists based in Singapore, and she will report to Thomas Fekete, the Global Head of Investment Specialists and the interim Head of Investment Specialists in Asia.

The Investment Specialist team offers Bankers an invaluable resource in advisory solutions, through adopting a systematic approach to asset allocation and risk management, providing strategic advice in optimizing returns and monitoring portfolios, as well as offering expertise across all asset classes.

Thomas Fekete said, "We are delighted to welcome Pheabe to our team. Under her leadership, we are confident that the team in Singapore will provide best-in-class investment advice and trade ideas across all asset classes to our private banking clients, and ensure that our offering continues to set the industry benchmark."

Didier von Daeniken, Asia Pacific Chief Executive of Barclays Wealth said, "The private banking business continues to thrive in Asia, and we are focused on expanding and building capabilities to further enhance
our range of services to our clients. This new appointment will strengthen our client servicing and advisory expertise, and ensure that we are well-positioned to take advantage of market opportunities."

Ms. Chau was most recently Senior Vice President, Investment Advisory at Coutts Bank von Ernst, responsible for setting up investment advisory services for the bank's private banking joint venture with Bank of China
in Beijing and Shanghai. She also spent three years with Coutts in Singapore, where she managed a team of investment advisors.

Prior to that, Ms. Chau held senior positions in various financial institutions over a 20 year span across Hong Kong and Singapore.

Sun Life Financial Asia today announced the appointment of Michelle Li as Vice-President, Human Resources, Asia.

In this role, Ms. Li will be responsible for all Sun Life Financial Asias regional human resources activities, including the development and implementation of strategy and human resources programmes and initiatives.

Human resources is always a key component for the development of Sun Life Financial Asia. Michelle will play an invaluable role in ensuring we have a strong, motivated team to help drive our growth, and enhance the Sun Life Financials brand reputation across Asia. said Stephan Rajotte, President of Sun Life Financial Asia.

I am thrilled to be joining Sun Life Financial Asia, said Ms Li. I have been privileged to be involved in the rapid growth in the financial services industry across Asia  and look forward to participating in further exciting developments.

Ms. Li joins Sun Life Financial Asia from Société Générale, where she was Managing Director/Head of Human Resources for the Corporate and Investment Banking area. Based in Hong Kong, she was responsible for the full spectrum of human resources for the Asia-Pacific region including Japan and Australia. Ms. Li has over 20 years experience in human resources in Canada and the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, she has worked in various industries including investment banking, insurance, information services and consulting.



Ms. Li holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta, and an Executive MBA from the University of Ottawa in Canada. She is also a Certified HR Professional (C.H R.P.) from Canada, and a qualified fellow of the Life Insurance Management Institute (FLMI).

Sun Life Financial Asia today announced the appointment of Riza Mantaring as Regional Chief Operations Officer, responsible for Sun Life Financials IT and operations across the Asia Pacific. Ms. Mantaring will report directly to Stephan Rajotte, President of Sun Life Financial Asia.

By combining oversight of these functions under one regional head, we will strengthen our operations, improve efficiencies and aim for operational excellence across all our markets, said Mr. Rajotte. This directly supports the growth and customer aspects of our vision and strategy to 2012.

Ms. Mantaring was previously the Chief Operating Officer of Sun Life Financial in the Philippines. She joined Sun Life Financial in 1992 in the Information Systems department, and has since assumed many different roles of increasing responsibility. In particular, she has held several operational roles over the last nine years, giving her a broad perspective and understanding of the operations of Sun Life Financial across Asia Pacific.

I am very excited to join Sun Life Financials regional senior management team, said Ms. Mantaring. This is a challenging role and I am looking forward to helping Sun Life achieve greater success in the Asia Pacific.

Ms. Mantaring holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Electrical Engineering, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines, and a Master of Science (M.S.) in Computer Science, from the State University of New York at Albany, USA.

Sun Life Hong Kong today announces the appointment of Belinda Luk as Senior Vice President, Pension and Group Business.

In this role, Ms. Luk will be responsible for Sun Life Financials Pension and Group business in Hong Kong, and will lead the third party pension administration business currently known under the name of BestServe Financial. She will report directly to Roger Steel, Chief Executive Officer of Sun Life Hong Kong.

Sun Life is committed to the pension and group businesses in Hong Kong. Belinda Luk brings considerable experience in the pension and group business sectors. She will be the key driver and champion for advancing our presence in these markets, said Mr. Steel.

I am very happy to be joining Sun Life Hong Kong, said Ms. Luk. I am very impressed by the caliber and commitment of the senior management team as well as the drive to grow and expand our markets. I look forward to the opportunity to chart this new course in my career.

Ms. Luk joins Sun Life from Manulife in Hong Kong, where she has held several senior roles in Pension Sales and Services as well as Individual Marketing. Prior to joining Manulife, Belinda held various senior positions in the advertising industry. Belinda holds a Diploma in Communications from Hong Kong Baptist University, and completed the Ivey Consortium Executive Program. She is also a Fellow of the Life Office Management Association (LOMA).

Barclays Wealth has appointed Manpreet Singh Gill as Asia Strategist, effective today. Based in Singapore, Mr. Gill will report to Michael Dicks, Global Head of Research and Investment Strategy. Mr. Gill will be responsible for driving research and providing in-depth analysis of regional markets. He will also focus on interpreting market economics and developing investment strategies for Barclays Wealth Private Banking clients in the region.
The Barclays Wealth research team is committed to providing world-class research platform and product capabilities that are globally aligned but responsive to local clients' needs. The appointment of Manpreet Singh Gill in Asia will ensure that both local and rest-of-the-world views are delivered to clients and awareness of investment
opportunities is heightened, said Michael Dicks.
Didier von Daeniken, Asia Pacific Chief Executive of Barclays Wealth added, We are confident that this appointment will further enhance the ability of Barclays Wealth to service our Private Banking clients in Asia by delivering outstanding investment solutions to them.
Before joining Barclays Wealth, Mr. Gill had been Economist and Strategist, Global Markets Group at ICICI Bank in India since 2005. There, he was responsible for driving macroeconomic research for Japan and the Eurozone, as well as developing investment strategies for structured products, with a focus on global FX.
Prior to that, Mr. Gill worked on dollar-bloc macroeconomic research at Infosys BPO and risk modelling for a number of markets at an American bank.
Mr. Gill graduated from INSEAD with a Master of Business Administration and holds a Master of Arts in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics.

Langham Hotels International has appointed Stefan Heintze as General Manager of the luxury operators first boutique hotel - The Langham, Yangtze Boutique, Shanghai which is scheduled to open at the end of 2008.

Stefan was previously the Director of Brand  The Langham Hotels and Resorts where he was responsible for developing and enhancing The Langham brand at a corporate level. He also served as Director of Development  Special Projects for the group.

We are delighted that Stefan is leading the charge of this new iconic property adjacent to Nanjing Road as we open the first of our many properties in China, said Nigel Roberts, Senior Vice President  Operations for The Langham Hotels and Resorts. His corporate brand knowledge combined with his extensive operational experience will be telling as we introduce our enchanting brand footprint into Shanghai and China.

In this new role, Heintzes responsibilities will include overseeing the pre-opening and opening of The Langham, Yangtze Boutique located in the heart of Shanghais central business district, a stones throw from The Peoples Square adjacent to Nanjing Road.

It is a boutique luxury hotel originally designed as an iconic masterpiece of art deco and neo-classic architecture by renowned architect Li Pan in the 1930s, and was once named "The Third Largest Hotel in the Far East".

The hotel will reopen as Shanghais only internationally-managed five star art deco boutique hotel once the multi-million dollar renovation is complete.

Stefan Heintze, General Manager says: The Langham, Yangtze Boutique, Shanghai will re-emerge with the 140-year legendary luxury hotel heritage of The Langham brand whilst reflecting the splendour of history and romance of Old Shanghai. This landmark property will combine yesterdays charm with todays amenities.

The internationally managed boutique luxury hotel will feature 96 exquisite rooms and suites, including Chuan Residences which are directly connected to the hotels signature Chuan Spa which will pamper guests on their journey to wellness.

All five restaurants and bars in The Langham, Yangtze Boutique will be designed as destinations to see and be seen in their own right and feature distinctive characteristics.

The Japanese Mado Izakaya Restaurant & Bar will explode with colours, creativity and flavours of Japan, while Tang Court will create a new dimension of innovation in Cantonese cuisine.

Two Western restaurants will form part of The Langham, Yangtze Boutique experience. Ciao - an Italian all-day-dining restaurant - will serve classic creations of the robust Northern Italian cuisine while Palm Court will offer authentic English afternoon tea in a tranquil setting of one of Shanghais true art deco lobbies.

The glamour and style of 1930s Shanghai is recaptured with the rooftop column-free Pearl Room hosting up to 250 guests. This new venue will be a wonderland for society events and magnificent meetings with bespoke Langham service featuring state-of-the-art facilities and classic art deco grandeur.

A seasoned hotelier and graduate of Lausanne Hotel School, Heintze brings a wealth of international experience to his position with a career spanning 18 years with international hotels and leading private clubs. He started his career with Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa Centre where he acquired valuable pre-opening experience and food and beverage development. He has also held senior roles at Dusit Group properties as well as pre-opening General Manager of Palmerston Suites Tianjin Hotel, China.

The U.S. Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) has appointed Captain Charles You to head the Port of Savannah's sales office in Shanghai. Until recently, Captain You served as the Port of Savannah's agent in Shanghai under an agreement with Wilhelmsen Ships Service Ltd. , formerly Barwil Agencies Ltd. In his new capacity and expanded role with the GPA, Captain You will oversee the Port of Savannah's carrier and sales initiatives in both Shanghai and North China. In addition, Captain You will work with the GPA's Trade Development Team in the United States as part of the GPA's new China-Savannah Initiative in which the GPA is working to grow its brand recognition and service capabilities among China's shippers.

The Port of Savannah, located in the State of Georgia along the U.S. East Coast, is the fastest growing port in the United States. The Port of Savannah ranks as the 4th largest U.S. container port, as well as China's second largest container port on the U.S. East Coast. It provides an array of express services for China's shippers targeting the U.S. Southeast and Midwest, a combined region served by the Port of Savannah that comprises 80% of the U.S. population.

Having a very strong sales team in China  Teresa Yuen in our Hong Kong and South PRC office and Captain Charles You in Shanghai  allows the Port of Savannah to stay in constant communication with some of our largest customers, said Georgia Ports Authority director of trade development, John M. Wheeler. The GPA has enjoyed a long relationship with Captain You. He understands the Port of Savannah and he has an extensive background in the China-U.S. trade. Captain You's appointment to this very important position further illustrates the Port of Savannah's long-term commitment to serving the needs of China's carriers and shippers.

Prior to joining the Georgia Ports Authority, Captain You served as deputy managing director of Barwil Huayang Shipping Service Co., Ltd for three years, A Wilhelmsen Ship Service joint venture in China. In addition, he served as a vessel captain with COSCO from 1997 to 2003, followed by fleet captain in Huayang Maritime Center for a year.

The GPA owns and operates deepwater terminals in the U.S. ports of Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia, as well as inland port operations in Bainbridge and Columbus, Georgia.

The GPA maintains sales offices in strategic locations around the globe. U.S.A.: Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia and Metuchen, New Jersey; Europe: Oslo; South America: Buenos Aires; Asia: Busan, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, and Tokyo; Indian Subcontinent: Chennai, Mumbai, and New Delhi; Australia / New Zealand: Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.

SAS Institute, the global market leader in business intelligence software and services, announced the appointment of Cecil Ko as its general manager for Hong Kong.

Cecil Ko joined SAS in July 2008 with 20 years' management experience in the technology industry, especially in Greater China. In his new role, Ko will be responsible for overseeing the business development of SAS in Hong Kong, developing local strategies and directions which meet the corporate goals, and managing the operations of SAS Hong Kong office, including SAS professional services, and sales and marketing activities in Hong Kong. Prior to joining SAS, Ko was President of Greater China at Business Objects. He had previously held senior positions and gained extensive management experience at Oracle, and IBM China/Hong Kong and Canada.

"Cecil is an information technology visionary, with fruitful exposure to the Hong Kong and mainland China business intelligence markets, especially for the financial services and insurance sectors," said Alex Wong, president of SAS Greater China. "With our Hong Kong market development enhanced through Cecil's leadership, we are confident the SAS Greater China team can help the company to strengthen its position as the market leader for comprehensive business intelligence software and services."

Entering his new role, Cecil Ko said, "I am delighted to take on this new position at SAS, which is renowned for its cutting-edge, powerful business-intelligence solutions. Business intelligence is becoming more and more important in today's business environment. I look forward to leading our focused, dedicated team as we empower businesses in Hong Kong to make the right business decisions and enhance their business performance."

Specialising in Marketing Communications in the Broadcast and Hospitality industries, Ms Shng has over 15 years of working experience covering Singapore, China and Hong Kong.

Ms Shng joined the Group in 2003 as Director of Communications of the Langham Place Hotel, Mongkok, Hong Kong and Eaton Hotel Hong Kong.

She became the Groups Director of Public Relations in 2005 and has been responsible for developing strategic publicity campaign and media relations for the Group.

In her role as VP  Communications, Ms Shng oversees advertising, media and publicity campaigns while managing the Groups global communications strategies.

Previously Group Director of Information Technology, Mr Lai will continue to manage the information technology services and lead the integration of new hotels into the Langham Hotels systems.

As the group expands on a global scale, he will not only ensure the information technology is unified for cutting edge reporting tools and optimal IT effectiveness, but also introduce technology transparently to wow our guests.

Barclays Wealth has appointed Andreas Kuhnle as Associate Director of Alternative Investments Product Development, effective June 2008. Based in Singapore, Kuhnle will report to Barbara-Ann King, Barclays Wealth Global Head of Alternative Product Development, and locally to Werner Schlossmacher, Head of Private Bank Coverage for Barclays Capital in Asia.

Trends indicate continued opportunities for wealth management firms to tap into growth markets around the world, including Asia. According to Barclays Wealth Insights Volume 5 'Evolving Fortunes', China and India are forecasted to be among the worlds top ten wealthiest countries by 2017 while the density of households with net wealth in excess of US$1 million is expected to reach 40.7 per cent in Singapore and 39.4 per cent in Hong Kong.

We are delighted to welcome Andreas Kuhnle to the Barclays family. The development and growth of alternative investments and mutual funds is critically important to the expansion of our business across Asia. As an investment specialist, Andreas brings a depth of experience to our team and I am confident he will make a significant contribution to the development of our products and solutions in the alternatives space. said Didier von Daeniken, Asia Pacific Chief Executive of Barclays Wealth.

Kuhnle will focus on driving strategy and end to end product delivery in the alternatives space across hedge funds, private equity and real estate. Kuhnle was previously employed at Deutsche Bank for 12 years, and was most recently driving alternative investment growth in both advisory sales and portfolio structuring.

Prior to joining Barclays, Kuhnle worked in the UK, Germany and Singapore and has extensive experience in wealth management as an investment specialist for hedge fund investments, as well as asset allocation, portfolio construction and risk management.

Sybase (NYSE:SY), a leading provider of enterprise infrastructure and mobile software, has promoted Larry Leong to the role of General Manager for the companys Hong Kong operations.

In his new role, Leong will be responsible for growing the company's local market revenue and managing day-to-day business operations. He will take the lead in identifying and pursuing new business opportunities and oversee key functions including: sales, marketing and professional services. Leong will report directly to Horace Chow, Vice President, Sybase Asia Pacific and General Manager of Sybase Greater China.

"Larry has been a key contributor to the success that Sybase has achieved in this region and we are delighted that he will now be taking on this important new role, said Chow. "In his previous position of Sales Director, Leong demonstrated a strong commitment towards the companys success and we are positive he will continue to contribute significantly towards our business growth in Hong Kong."

Leong started working for Sybase in 1997 as a Practice Manager for the Professional Services Sector. He later joined the companys sales team, where he was responsible for software sales to Hong Kongs public sector.

During his time at Sybase, Leong has been instrumental in attracting and managing major customers including the Hong Kong Police Force and the Hospital Authority. In his most recent position, Leong was Sales Director leading a team responsible for software license sales and services.

He completed tertiary education in Hong Kong, majoring in Business Administration.

Salans, the international law firm with offices across 19 cities worldwide, today announces that it has obtained the licence from the PRC Ministry of Justice to open a second office in Mainland China, to be located in Beijing. Matthias Mueller is appointed the Managing Partner of the office.

Opening a Beijing office is a key part of Salans recently announced development plan for China. Beijing puts in place a key building block of Salans strategy to offer its clients a capability across Greater China.

The office will serve corporate and institutional clients with regional headquarters in the Chinese capital. It will provide the base for Salans to develop its Foreign Direct Investment and M&A business in the north-east China region. The office will also provide a focal point for serving the growing number of Salans clients from Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) who are investing in China.

Matthias Mueller is a German national and fluent Mandarin speaker who has been permanently based in China since 2002. He specializes in all aspects of corporate law and foreign direct investment, including mergers and acquisitions and the restructuring of foreign invested enterprises.

John Flanigan, co-managing partner of Salans Shanghai office said: Matthias is an excellent member of Salans China team and his deep knowledge of the Chinese market will prove invaluable to clients in Beijing. We can now provide a service across China in corporate, finance and real estate.

Matthias Mueller said: Our team in Beijing will complement our two other operations in China and will solidify our position among the leading firms for advice on the China market. This is a compelling opportunity to serve our clients not only in Chinas capital but across the north-east region.

Dariusz Oleszczuk, Salans Global Managing Partner says: Our opening in Beijing is a key building block in our international strategy. Salans coverage across China continues our story of successful development in fast growing markets, with a dynamic group of partners.

Emerson (NYSE:EMR) announced today that Sara Yang Bosco has been named president, Emerson Asia-Pacific, reporting to Edward L. Monser, chief operating officer. She succeeds Peter K. Yam, who retired on March 31, 2008, from his role as president, Emerson Greater China.

In her new role, Bosco will be responsible for Emersons corporate activities in Asia-Pacific. She will drive strategic development to further strengthen Emersons market-leading position in the region. Asia-Pacific has become Emersons second largest market outside of the United States and remains one of the companys key growth regions.

Yam will continue to work as an advisor to Emerson with various projects, such as the companys leadership development programs.

'Sara has a long history of supporting Emerson as legal counsel and possesses a deep familiarity with our business. She brings to Emerson extensive knowledge and experience of Asia, which will be critical to our development as we continue to increase the breadth of our client base, product and service solutions in the region,' said David N. Farr, Emerson chairman, chief executive officer and president. 'With her strong vision and leadership, we are confident Emerson will continue to grow in this dynamic region over the next decade.'

'Peter has done a magnificent job over the past 22 years,' Farr continued. 'He has made a significant contribution to our rapid growth in China, such as the Emerson shared manufacturing facility he helped establish in Shenzhen, China, in 1993. Peter is, and will remain, one of the most respected leaders in the company.'

Bosco joined Emerson in 2005 as general counsel, Asia-Pacific. She was previously a partner with the Hong Kong offices of Baker & McKenzie and Perkins Coie, where she served as an outside legal counsel to Emerson. Bosco holds a bachelor of arts from the University of Notre Dame and a juris doctorate from Indiana University, Bloomington. She is also a member of the New York State Bar Association.

Yam joined Emerson as president, Emerson Hong Kong in April, 1986. During his tenure with the company, he held various positions in Asia, driving Emersons growth in the region. Yam will work closely with Bosco during the transition.

Salans, the international law firm with offices across 18 cities worldwide, and which recently announced a major development program in China, today announces a further key appointment in the region. Andrew Lui, the former head of Pinsent Masons corporate practice in China, is joining Salans as a partner to run its Hong Kong operation to be set up this year.

Andrew Lui has worked in Hong Kong and Mainland China for more than a decade in the fields of M&A, public offerings and private equity work. His client focus is on investment banks, venture capitalists and listed companies in both Hong Kong and the PRC. Andrew speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and English.

John Flanigan, co-managing partner of Salans China region said 'This appointment is indicative of the investment we are making to build our China practice. We are fortunate to add someone with the background and calibre of Andrew to run our team in Hong Kong.'

Andrew Lui says: 'It was essential for Salans to be present in one of Asias leading financial hubs. The challenge of building a new gateway into China is extremely compelling from a personal and professional stand point.'

SAP has announced the appointment of Errol Chan as Managing Director, SAP Hong Kong. Reporting directly to Mark Gibbs, Executive Vice President, SAP North Asia, Errol will assume responsibility for all aspects of SAP Hong Kongs operations and go-to-market initiatives.

Errol is an industry veteran with over 25 years of sales and management experience in the technology space. Prior to joining SAP, Errol was the Chief Operating Officer of SAS Hong Kong, where he oversaw the companys operations and supervised all sales and marketing activities. He also assumed other senior management roles at various multinational technology companies, including China Regional Manger for Cisco Systems, as well as General Manager for Tandem Computers, a manufacturer of computer systems.

'I am pleased to welcome Errol on board, and am confident that his proven track record in driving the expansion of some of the leading technology companies will be invaluable as more and more customers in Hong Kong look to SAP to help them sustain and enhance their competitive advantage,' said Mark Gibbs, Executive Vice President, SAP North Asia. 'With Errols deep experience and extensive knowledge of the Hong Kong market, I look forward to working closely with him to grow our business across different vertical sectors in this exciting market.'

'With its comprehensive and innovative solutions portfolio, SAP has successfully solidified its reputation as the business solution partner of choice for both large enterprises and small and medium sized businesses in Hong Kong,' said Errol Chan, Managing Director, SAP Hong Kong. 'I look forward to leading SAP Hong Kongs high-caliber team to take this leadership position to even greater heights.'

Errol received his bachelors degree in Science, majoring in Applied Mathematics, from the University of Hong Kong. He earned a masters degree in Science, majoring in Finance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and the only provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions today announced the appointment of Mark Kay as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific, effective immediately.

Having worked with the organization for nearly 20 years, Mark brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to his new role. He will provide sales direction and leadership to the region and work actively to improve coverage, strengthen and enhance the channel strategy and leverage Hitachi's broad range of solutions to accelerate growth of the company's revenue and market share.

"Hitachi Data Systems' Asia Pacific business has experienced tremendous growth over the past two years and we are confident that Mark' s leadership and strategic vision will take the business to the next level of excellence," said Randy E. DeMont, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Worldwide Sales, Services and Support. "Mark will continue with our missions of building high performance teams, increasing operational efficiency, balancing performance across the region and being compliant in all aspects of our business."

Commenting on his new role, Mark said, "I am thankful of the fabulous opportunity of playing a key role in enhancing Hitachi Data System' s dominant position in Asia Pacific, home to some of the fastest growing markets in the world. It is an exciting time as companies are focusing on leveraging storage technology to derive business benefits, in a smarter way. I look forward to addressing the specialized needs of our customers here and developing our relationships through the APAC region."

Most recently, Mark was the Country Manager of Hitachi Data Systems in Australia and New Zealand. Under Mark's leadership, Hitachi's ANZ business grew substantially both in revenue and profit. Additionally, Mark developed a strong, versatile team and created a solid, solutions-oriented business.

Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has announced the promotion of Mr. Edward Koh, Deputy Regional Director of Greater China to the Regional Director of Greater China with effect from 1 May 2008. In his new role, he will be in-charge of formulating the development blueprint and market strategies of the Greater China region, so as to further enhance and uplift Singapore' s competitiveness in the tourism industry.

During his appointment as the Deputy Regional Director of Greater China, Edward oversees the Business Travel & Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibitions (BTMICE) segment as well as the Healthcare Services segment. Under his helm, significant growth has been observed in these two key segments in which Singapores MICE offerings have been widely promoted and it further strengthen Singapore as a top-tier MICE destination in Asia. Furthermore, he put numerous efforts in promoting the concept of "Medical Travel Service" for healthcare, rehabilitation and sanatorium, which tapped on an alternative market segment for travel to Singapore.

Graduated from the National University of Singapore, Edward has previously served the Ministry of Labor and Ministry of Manpower respectively. Having lived and worked in China for years, Edward has gained a thorough understanding of the China market, he was previously appointed as the Consul of Education and Cultural Department, Consulate of Singapore in Shanghai. Moreover, he obtained his Master degree in Public Management from Tsing Hua University in 2007.

Mr Edmund Chua, Regional Director of Greater China has been promoted as Assistant Chief Executive of the Planning and Sector Development Group with effect from 1 May 2008. Edmund has been with the STB since 1990, in his five years of service as the Regional Director of Greater China, his proactive and ambitious approach has achieved remarkable result. Under his leadership, STB Greater China appointed popular singer A-Do and JJ Lin as the Ambassadors. Through various innovative sales promotion and events, STB successfully boosted the destination awareness in the Greater China Region, further promoting Singapore as a dynamic and energetic travel destination. In 2006, the total number of visitor arrival from China exceeded 1 million, making Singapore the first foreign destination that received more than a million Chinese visitors. With the clear strategic direction set by Edmund, a series of promotion campaigns featuring different themes were launched in Hong Kong and Macau, boosting the number of visitor arrivals from Hong Kong and Macau to exceed 300 thousand in 2007. In his new role as the Assistant Chief Executive, Edmund will remain focused on the business development of the Greater China Region and continue to working wholeheartedly to promote Singapores quality offerings to the China, Hong Kong and Taiwan market.

Grant Thornton recently announced the appointment of Kannie Wu as Director of Training.

Kannie has accumulated over 15 years of experience in audit with clients involved in wide variety of industries including securities and future brokering, mutual funds, general trading, manufacturing, property investments etc, some of which are listed companies in Hong Kong or overseas. Kannie was also engaged on certain special exercises, such as floatation, due diligence reviews and internal control review and investigation of securities brokers.

From 2006, Kannie specialises her role in providing financial reporting support in relation to Hong Kong Financial Reporting Standards and International Financial Reporting Standards. In 2008, she is actively involved in training and development of the assurance personnel within the firm.

Kannie is a Certified Public Accountant in Hong Kong. She is also a member of certain working groups and committees of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Grant Thornton recently announced the appointment of Rainbow Ma as Director of China Practice.

Rainbow Ma is a Director of China Practice at Grant Thornton Hong Kong. She joined Grant Thornton in 2004 and is now seconded in Guangzhou to provide professional service for the clients located in Shenzhen and Guangdong Province. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Rainbow has accumulated over 7.5 years of professional experience in "Big-Four" accounting firms in Hong Kong and Mainland China.
Rainbow has extensive assurance experience in a wide variety of industries including trading, electronics products manufacturing, pharmacy, printing, textile and airline transportation.

She has also involved in various transaction support assignments including initial public offerings and financial due diligence in acquisitions of companies.

Rainbow Ma is a Certified Public Accountant in Hong Kong, a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and a member of China Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Grant Thornton recently announced the appointment of Winnie Tsui as Tax Director.

Winnie had previously worked with two international accounting firms in Hong Kong and Beijing. She has extensive experience in providing tax advice to multi-national companies investing into China, including formulates market entry tax strategies, investment structure, tax regulatory, planning and compliance. She also provides tax review and planning to mainland companies that aim at IPO overseas.

Winnie has also been involved in numerous merger and acquisition projects and assisted companies on acquisition planning; tax due diligence and post acquisition restructuring.

She had worked in the commercial sector for a conglomerate with investment projects in China.

yoo is pleased to announce the appointment of Andrew Pang to the position of Managing Director, Asia.

Pang, who has over 17 years of property experience in the Asia markets, is responsible for creating business opportunities within Asia Pacific as well as the day to day running of the office. yoo is currently actively seeking development partners in the region.

Prior to joining yoo, Pang was the Executive Director for International Investments at Knight Frank Hong Kong. In this position he was responsible for overseeing all the cross border transactions between international offices covering areas such as residential developments, marketing, hotel investments and resorts developments.

yoo, the design focused branding, marketing & development company, was founded in 1999 by John Hitchcox and Philippe Starck. A global success story, the yoo brand continues to push the boundaries in innovation and has grown into an internationally respected property concept. The yoo name has redefined the conventions of residential design and property marketing, injecting vivacious spirit, wit and personality into every project they work on.

The concept is one of added value through design, branding and marketing to developments around the world by working in collaboration with development partners. The partnership creates the "point of difference" for marketing to leverage from - resulting in increased gross sales and higher sales rate.


yoo opened a regional headquarters in Hong Kong in mid 2007 in order to bolster its presence in Asia. Over the past eight years, yoo has been working around the globe with international partners on a variety of landmark buildings and large residential projects. Projects to date in Asia have included Cape Yamu, Phuket, Thailand, JIA boutique hotelin Hong Kong, Tribeca Apartments in Melbourne and Meta by Yoo in Sydney, Australia.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced the appointment of Raj Das to senior vice president of worldwide marketing. In his new role, Das will be responsible for worldwide product planning and strategy, positioning, promotion and fulfillment.

Das brings nearly two decades of experience leading product planning and marketing organizations in the storage industry. Prior to joining Hitachi GST, Das was vice president at SGI (SGIC), where he was responsible for product management, product and channel marketing, and outbound activities for the companys storage product division.

"We are very pleased to welcome Raj to the Hitachi GST team," said Shinjiro Iwata, executive vice president. His proven marketing and product management expertise, technical background and leadership will play a key role in accelerating our worldwide marketing efforts."

Das' extensive background in product marketing also includes senior-level product marketing positions at Brocade Communications (BRCD). He led product marketing at Brocade where he managed the firms entire product portfolio. Also, he was vice president, product marketing at McDATA and played a leading role in Brocades acquisition of McDATA. In addition, Das directed product marketing groups at Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Tandem Computers and Amdahl Corporation.

About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies develops advanced hard disk drives to store and preserve the worlds valued data. Founded by the pioneers of hard drives, Hitachi GST enables users to fully engage in the digital lifestyle by providing high-value, high-capacity storage in formats suitable for the office, in the home or on the road. With vertically integrated research, design and manufacturing capabilities, Hitachi GST delivers leadership technology and quality to its global customer base.

With approximately 33,000 employees worldwide, Hitachi GST offers a comprehensive range of hard drive products for desktop computers, high-performance storage systems and servers, notebooks and consumer devices. For more information, please visit the companys website at www.hitachigst.com.

The Excelsior, Hong Kong is delighted to announce the appointment of Graham Burst as Executive Chef.

In his capacity as Executive Chef for The Excelsior, Hong Kong, Chef Burst will be responsible for the hotel' s overall culinary direction and production. He will also handle all food costs, manage guest advocacy and maintain colleague commitment.

Chef Burst, a British national, graduated from Exeter College in the United Kingdom and has since gained considerable experience in Europe and Asia. Before joining The Excelsior he held the position of Executive Head Chef at the Hong Kong Football Club, where he was responsible for six food and beverage outlets and the club' s banqueting function which served up to 850 guests. Prior to that position he was Executive Head Chef at the Marco Polo Gateway Hotel, Hong Kong. Chef Burst' s London experience includes work for The Dorchester as part of the reopening team, as well as stretches at The Lanesborough and at The Ritz.

About The Excelsior, Hong Kong
Situated in the heart of Causeway Bay, the shopping centre of Hong Kong Island, The Excelsior is only a five-minute drive to the city' s central business district and forty minutes by MTR to Hong Kong International Airport. The hotel features 886 rooms and suites, five exclusive Executive Floors with a private lounge, fully-equipped business centre, extensive fitness centre and tennis courts, and state-of-the-art meeting and banqueting facilities.

Grant Thornton recently announced the appointment of Martin Cheung as Director of Corporate Finance.
Martin has more than eleven years of investment banking experience in the Greater China and Asia. Prior to joining Grant Thornton Corporate Finance Hong Kong, he had worked for Daiwa Securities and Japan Asia Securities for eight and three years respectively. Martin worked for the Corporate Finance Department in Daiwa and was involved in the restructuring and fund raising of Chinese State-owned enterprises. Martin also worked on Equity Capital Markets transactions for mid-size listed companies while he was with Japan Asia.
Martin holds an M Sc (Investment Management) from the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. Martin is also member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and CPA Australia.

Grant Thornton recently announced the appointment of Mary Ho as Tax Director.

Mary Ho specialises in Hong Kong and China tax. She provides advice to her clients on a wide range of tax issues including expatriate tax planning, cross-border corporate tax planning and structuring. Mary also advises client on transfer pricing issues and has assisted a number of clients to set up establishments in China.

Mary is also an experienced business researcher. Her business cases and teaching notes are distributed by Harvard Business Online and are used by world-wide educational institutions. She also co-authored a winning case on mergers and acquisitions in an international MBA case competition held in Montreal. Mary is one of the authors of the book entitled "Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship In Hong Kong".

Mary received her First Class Honours degree in Business Administration from the University of Hong Kong and holds a Diploma in Advanced Securities Market Analysis (with Distinction) issued by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is a member of the AICPA.

Grant Thornton recently announced the appointment of Barry Tong as Director of Specialist Advisory Services.

Barry has over 13 years' experience and specialises in financial advisory services. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, he worked as a manager in the Financial Advisory Services Department of an international accounting firm.

Barry has worked on various transaction advisory assignments, as well as corporate restructuring and financial monitoring engagements involving listed companies and entities incorporated in Hong Kong, mainland China and various other international jurisdictions. He has experiences in a wide range of forensic assignments including asset tracing and fraud investigations.

Barry holds a MBA degree and is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He is also a Certified Fraud Examiner.

Recruitment is an ever expanding sector that is now no longer just about placing the right person in the right job. Forward thinking recruitment agencies, such as Links Recruitment, are offering additional Human Resources services that ensure the recruited are satisfied, productive and working to their full potential.

Under the helm of Kathy Peebles, Links Recruitment' s new HR Services division offers psychometric testing for recruitment and career development, executive coaching and leadership development, career coaching, outplacement support, interview training, exit interviewing and stress management.

In a world of high staff turnover, escalating wages, accelerated promotions due to war for talent; services such as psychological assessment, executive and career coaching provide companies with much needed support in ensuring their employees are maximizing their potential. These services provide a useful insight into an employee's professional character highlighting an individual's strengths and weaknesses. From this information a career development programme is developed in line with the organization's goals.

Kathy Peebles, HR Services Manager at Links Recruitment, said:"Investing in your staff is protecting your bottom line. For an employee to excel in their field and find lasting satisfaction they need a solid understanding of their strengths. The keystone for high achievement is utilizing these strengths for the good of the organization. It is a win: win situation for all concerned. The employee is satisfied in their job and the employer is positively exploiting these strengths to impact on the organisation's return.

"The main premise of an executive coaching programme is that self-understanding is the first step to self improvement. In essence the role of coach in the career management programme is to guide the individual to identify strengths, underlying motivators and values. The next step is to explore the definition of success and to identify what is blocking their advancement. By understanding a client' s underlying drivers we can then create goals and develop a career management plan that is intrinsically motivating and aligned with the organizations goal and vision."

Another service is outplacement support. A relatively new concept to the Hong Kong market; currently there are some companies that provide outplacement practical support to employees going through a change process, such as a position being made redundant, but very few are recruitment agencies.

Kathy Peebles, HR Services Manager at Links Recruitment, said: "Our outplacement support services are tailored to address the needs of employees, from Chief Executive Level through to low level management and across all industry sectors. Career transition services equip and support employees with the practicalities of coping with the change and exploring future options. It therefore makes perfect sense that we can not only counsel an organization' s employees through this traumatic time but also offer a solution in the form of a new, suitable job through our recruitment business."

Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE:MAR) has named Dominic Sherry Regional Vice President, Sales & Marketing for the Asia Pacific region, reporting to Geoff Garside, Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific. Most recently, Mr. Sherry served as Regional Vice President, Sales & Marketing - Caribbean & Latin America. Previously based in Asia, he will be returning to Hong Kong with his wife and four children to take up his new position in May 2008.

"We are thrilled to congratulate Dominic on his new position and look forward to welcoming him back to Hong Kong. His extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of Sales & Marketing & the Marriott International brands around the world will help drive our performance and extensive growth across the Asia/Pacific region," said Mr. Garside.

In his new role, Mr. Sherry will be responsible for developing the sales and marketing strategy, co-ordinating all sales and marketing activities and assisting with pre-opening initiatives for new Hotels & Resorts across the Asia Pacific Region. This responsibility spans across five lodging brands: JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels & Resorts, Courtyard by Marriott and Marriott Executive Apartments.

Mr. Sherry, originally from New Zealand, has more than twenty five years of experience in the travel and tourism industry. Since joining Marriott International in 1992, he has managed sales and marketing organizations in Europe, Asia/Pacific, USA and Latin America.

Desmond Yuen is appointed as Managing Partner of China Practice at Grant Thornton effective on 1 April 2008.

Desmond is in charge of the management and operation of Grant Thornton's offices in mainland China.

Desmond has significant experience in audit and corporate advisory work including flotations, due diligence reviews and mergers & acquisitions.

Desmond provides advice to clients with interests in China and China-based entities. Desmond has helped many clients establish representative offices and joint ventures and has undertaken due diligence reviews of organisations in China. In addition, he is experienced in assisting China-based entities to seek funding or public listings outside China.

Desmond is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and a Certified Public Accountant (Practising) in Hong Kong.

U21Global, the world's premier online graduate school, has announced the appointment of Nick Hutton as its Chief Executive Officer with effect from 1 April 2008.

Based in Singapore, Hutton will be responsible for extending the graduate school's leadership in the online learning marketplace. Building upon the achievements of his predecessor, Hutton aims to reaffirm U21Global as the pioneer in online learning, a dynamic brand of executive education that utilises the most sophisticated technology and the Internet.

Professor Sir Colin Campbell, Chairman of U21Global Board and President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Nottingham said, "We are delighted to welcome Nick Hutton as U21Global's CEO. He is highly-regarded and has extensive global experience of top-class business leadership, having worked with some of the leading multinational corporations in the region. This experience will support U21Global in its strategy to deliver tailored, high-quality learning solutions to students and corporations worldwide, particularly as we expand our growth both regionally and globally."

Having amassed 26 years of experience in the Information and Communications Technology industry (including 19 years in Asia), Hutton joins U21Global from RGB Networks where he served as Vice President for Asia Pacific. Prior to that, Hutton was based in Shanghai as Chief Marketing Officer at Alcatel Asia Pacific and was responsible for the overall management of marketing and communications programmes in Asia Pacific to build the company's business in the region. He has also previously held management roles in 3Com subsidiary CommWorks Corporation, Alcatel/Newbridge Internetworking Division for Asia Pacific and Apple Computer.

"I am very pleased and proud to have been selected to head U21Global. With the Internet being the single greatest force in education today, eLearning becomes an integral part of university education especially in knowledge-driven economies. U21Global has placed great emphasis on providing students with quality educational experience, and attracted more than 3,000 students from over 60 countries since its inception," said Mr Hutton, "With that. I am excited to join the team and embark on a new and exciting chapter of my career."

Established in 2001, U21Global is committed to providing quality post graduate education in the global marketplace through flexible eLearning delivery. The graduate school is backed by a network of 21 leading research-intensive universities based in America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Australia.

American Express International, Inc. announced the promotion of Mr. Y C Koh to Senior Vice President & General Manager, Greater China & Southeast Asia. He assumed an expanded role in leading the American Express consumer card business in Greater China and Southeast Asian markets to optimize the company's presence and business growth, and providing strategic direction in developing value-added products and services for Cardmembers. He is based in Hong Kong.

Prior to this appointment, Mr. Koh was the General Manager of Greater China, overseeing the consumer card business in the Greater China region. In this role, he led the region in driving strong card billings and revenue, enhancing services and benefits for various premium consumer cards, and launching a number of successful Cardmember programs to enhance customer engagement and experience.

"The economic outlook of Asia Pacific as a whole is promising. Each market in Greater China and Southeast Asia is enjoying strong business momentum and there is a significant scope for continued growth. American Express has been pursuing a successful premium strategy and is the thought leader in the affluent space. With our unique products and services tailored to the affluent segment, we are well positioned to capitalize on the growth opportunities in the Greater China and Southeast Asian markets," said Mr. Koh.

Mr. Koh joined American Express in 1989 and has held a series of leadership positions of increasing responsibility across various businesses, including Consumer Card, Corporate Card, Global Network and Establishment Services, Travel Services, Travelers Cheques, Human Resources and Administration. Before coming to Hong Kong in 2006, he was Vice President and General Manager for Global Travelers Cheques & Prepaid Services for the Japan/Asia Pacific/Australia (JAPA) region based in Singapore.

Mr. Koh graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Statistics from the National University of Singapore and a Masters in Business Administration in the United States.

American Express International, Inc. has announced the appointment of Mr. Gregg Hirano as Vice President, Head of Lending, for Hong Kong and Taiwan. He is responsible for leading the credit card lending business in driving all areas of product development, strategy execution and portfolio management of the American Express Credit Cards in these two markets. He is based in Hong Kong.

Prior to this appointment, Mr. Hirano was Director, Business Development of Small Business Services International based in New York, a role he assumed in 2006. During his tenure, he played a key role in launching a business card product in Australia and enhancing product benefits for business cards in Hong Kong and India. He also developed global strategies to drive cardmember spend and enhance customer service.

Mr. Hirano joined American Express in 1997 and has progressed within the organization, gaining strong experience in a variety of business sectors including consumer card and business card, covering new business development, cardmember acquisition and loyalty. He has managed a variety of credit card portfolios including co-brand cards and business cards.

Mr. Hirano graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass
Communications from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master
of Business Administration in General Management from Cornell
University.

Seasoned IT sales and marketing executive and SMT (statistical machine translation) evangelist, Kirti Vashee, has joined automated translation technology expert, Asia Online, as Vice President of Sales for the Americas and Europe.

An industry veteran, Vashee joins Asia Online from SMT pioneer, Language Weaver where, as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, he was responsible for the companys worldwide business development strategy.

Vashee brings extensive enterprise software and information services industries experience to the company, having held senior sales and product marketing positions in both small entrepreneurial start-ups that were successfully sold to much larger public companies, as well as large blue chip organizations, including EMC and Dow Jones.

Rapid economic growth in Asia, and globalization trends in general, have led to significant demand by the world's largest companies to bring content, product, and services to Asian markets. Asia Online is focused on building best-of-breed translation systems that pair 11 Asian languages with the most widely spoken European languages, not just to English. Additionally, the next billion Internet users are also largely expected to be Asian, offering lucrative new markets to Global 2000 companies who reach out to this new user base. In addition, Asia Online plans to expand its core Asian language portfolio to include direct translation to/from many key European languages throughout this year.

By 2012, Asia is expected to account for almost 50% of all Internet users. Asia Online aims to have more than 48 million new users throughout Asia, who will be regularly using the Internet in their own languages, for everything from email, to in-depth research and educationally-focused content.

"It is extremely gratifying that our vision has caught the attention of such a key industry player. This is a key appointment that will significantly boost our global sales and marketing push at a pivotal point in our growth," said Dion Wiggins, Chief Executive Officer of Asia Online. "Kirti has built an enviable reputation as a thought leader and visionary in large-scale corporate translation and its role in furthering international trade and communication. His in-depth understanding of the knowledge management and translation industries, coupled with his expertise in building worldwide partnerships, will unquestionably help us to strengthen and build our partner and customer network.

Vashee has established successful sales operations for several companies in Europe and the Asia Pacific region, and has extensive experience developing motivated and effective distribution channels and partner networks. He joined Language Weaver in 2005 from EMC where, most recently, he was Vice President, Xtender Solutions. He became part of EMC's organization when it acquired Smart Storage (Legato), a company that he was instrumental in building from a five-person start-up to a successful, globally recognized 125 person organization.

Vashee is a sought-after and accomplished speaker on automated translation technology at localization and globalization technology focused conferences around the world.

"Asia Online has a tremendously compelling  even world-changing vision. I am excited to be part of a company whose unique services will enable people to transcend language as a barrier to knowledge," said Vashee. "Today, more than 86% of all content on the Internet is in non-Asian languages. The remaining 14% is mostly Chinese, Japanese and Korean, with all other Asian language combined accounting for less than 0.03% of all content online. Asia Online will make a massive amount of new content available in these under-served languages and quite possibly change the translation landscape in doing so."

"Asia Online offers a technology infrastructure that I believe is truly revolutionary and provides significant productivity increases to its emerging corporate customer base as this architecture allows their systems to improve with each use and ongoing corrective feedback. This continuous feedback loop will drive constant quality improvements, which will encourage and enable massive translation projects that would never otherwise be undertaken."

Vashee did his undergraduate work in economics and finance at Bombay University, India, and received his MBA from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. He is an active member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs Association www.tie.org).

About Asia Online (www.asiaonline.net)
Asia Online's unique services enable people to transcend language as a barrier to knowledge by providing unrivalled access to the limitless store of English-language content on the Internet, in their language of choice.

Asia Online's primary focus delivers huge amounts of content in local languages. In doing so it has created a core technological infrastructure that enables massive translation projects to be undertaken. Asia Online is working with language service providers and publishers with its unique infrastructure that facilitates the ongoing evolution of real time corrective improvements that aims to deliver machine translation quality that is second to none.

Formed in 2006, Asia Online is a privately owned company backed by a number of individual investors and institutional venture capital. It is headquartered in Singapore, with operational headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, from where it conducts R&D and daily business operations. Asia Online currently employs more than 150 staff and is in the process of being incorporated in an additional 10 Asian countries.

Grant Thornton would like to announce the appointment of Jonathan Leong as Managing Partner effective 1 April 2008.

Jonathan Leong will take over from Gabriel Azedo who will assume a full time position onGrant Thornton International's Global Leadership Board responsible for the member firm network.

Background
Jonathan Leong was the Head of Audit Practice specialised in assurance and business advisory services and also played the role of Staff Partner responsible for human resources affairs before assuming his office of Managing Partner at Grant Thornton.

Prior to joining the Firm in 1993, Jonathan practised in South Africa. He is a Certified Public Accountant (Practising) in Hong Kong, with extensive experience in dealing with a wide range of Hong Kong based companies, from small local entrepreneurial organisations to large international trading and manufacturing companies, as well as companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He also provides support to companies from business planning and implementation to the raising of finance, and assists clients with corporate advisory matters such as public company flotation, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence reviews and corporate restructuring.

Other new appointment
Grant Thornton is also pleased to announce the appointment of Desmond Yuen as Managing Partner of China Practice.

In his position, Desmond Yuen will be in charge of the management and operation of the Grant Thornton's offices in mainland China.

Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS), the global leader in application delivery infrastructure, has announced the appointment of Victor Tsao as the area vice president and general manager for the Greater China Region. Victor is responsible for directing and managing business operations in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In this role, he is responsible for leading the sales and marketing teams, driving market awareness of Citrix, and growing the company's revenue and market share.

Reporting to Dennis Rose, vice president of Citrix Systems Inc - Pacific, Tsao will focus on accelerating the growth of Greater China. "With the strength of twenty years of experience leading and growing IT operations across Greater China, Victor is well positioned to lead Citrix's operations as it begins accelerating its growth with a major new phase of investment planned for these markets," said Dennis Rose.

"Citrix is going through an exciting growth phase and I am delighted to be part of the team," said Victor Tsao. "I look forward to contributing to the growth of Citrix and driving its technology and market leadership even further."

Tsao has worked in leading technology organisations including IBM, Dell, i2 and prior to Citrix, he was the Greater China general manager for APC (American Power Conversion Corporation). An industry veteran, he brings with him an extensive track record of success in his 20 year of career as well as an in-depth understanding of the full range of IT business including hardware, software, consulting services and channel management.

Tsao has lived and worked in China for more than 11 years. He holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Chinese Culture University in Taiwan.

Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS) is the global leader and the most trusted name in application delivery infrastructure. More than 200,000 organisations worldwide rely on Citrix to deliver any application to users anywhere with the best performance, highest security and lowest cost. Citrix customers include 100 per cent of the Fortune 100 companies and 99 per cent of the Fortune Global 500, as well as hundreds of thousands of small businesses and prosumers. Citrix has approximately 6,200 channel and alliance partners in more than 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2007 was US$1.4 billion.

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced the appointment of Joseph Signorelli to the newly created role of vice president for Data Solutions in Asia Pacific and Japan.

Signorelli will be responsible for driving sales of F5 Acopia Data Solutions across the region. He will be based in Tokyo, Japan and report directly to Christopher P. Lynch, Senior Vice President of Data Solutions for F5 Networks. In this role, Signorelli will support the broader efforts of Song Tang Yih, Vice President of Asia Pacific and Tada Nagasaki, Vice President Country Manager of Japan, and ensure the success of the F5 Acopia Data Solutions product portfolio in these regions.

As businesses continue to consolidate IT resources in order to provide centralised control of application and file services, there is an increasing need to manage data storage assets more efficiently and in a cost-effective manner. According to the Enterprise Strategy Group, enterprises want to address these issues with integrated technology solutions that virtualise applications and IT services. For years, F5 has focused on bridging this gap by providing networking technologies that virtualise web and application servers. F5 Acopia Data Solutions help extend this virtual functionality to the file domain by offering automatic, policy-driven migration, tiering, load balancing, and replication across multi-vendor storage environments.

"By optimising the network storage layer that is entrusted with an organisation's data, F5 is able to help companies make information and applications more easily and securely available to its users. F5 Acopia Data Solutions are a natural and important extension to F5's data center vision, and we see great potential in this segment of the business across the region. Coming into this role, Joe will inherit significant market momentum in Asia Pacific and Japan," said Lynch.

"Customers today are wrestling with escalating acquisition and management costs associated with unstructured data, the largest expense in most IT budgets," said Signorelli. "F5 is in a perfect position to help enterprise customers remove the complexity and cost associated with unstructured data, while providing unprecedented levels of service."

Signorelli brings over 20 years of experience in sales, and has held senior management positions at several leading technology companies. Prior to joining F5, he was with Symantec, Japan where he served as director of Enterprise Sales. Previously Signorelli served as director of Network Storage Sales for EMC Japan and as area sales manager in Rochester, New York for EMC USA.

Signorelli attended the State University of New York where he majored in Computer Science and Economics.

Ms Amanda Scott, General Manager of The Excelsior, Hong Kong is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Doris Ip as Director of Human Resources.

Doris has over 11 years of experience, and joins The Excelsior from Global Beauty International where she was Head of Human Resources and Training. In her new capacity, she will be responsible for all of The Excelsior's HR related issues.

Doris spent 12 years with Shangri-La Hotels starting her internship in Beijing, and moving into Human Resources for five years at the Island Shangri-La in Hong Kong. Doris then moved on to the Aberdeen Marina Club as Human Resources and Environmental Management System Manager for six years.

Doris graduated from the University of Hong Kong Polytechnic with a BA (Hons) Degree in Hospitality Management, and also has a Masters Degree in Human Resource Management from Macquarie University. She did her traineeship with Hyatt Regency.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is the award-winning owner and operator of some of the world' s most prestigious hotels and resorts. Mandarin Oriental now operates, or has under development, over 10,000 rooms in 23 countries with 16 hotels in Asia, 14 in The Americas and nine in Europe and North Africa.

Sun Life Hong Kong today announces the appointment of Mr. Andy MP Wong as Senior Vice President, Agency and Retail Distribution. In his new role, Mr. Wong is responsible for supervising a growing agency force, recruitment and professional training and development, as well as support for the sales force.

Mr. Wong has extensive and strong experience in life insurance industry and financial services. Prior to joining Sun Life, Mr. Wong held senior positions at Manulife in Hong Kong and Canada, where he won the Best Agency Builder Award in 1997, Canada. Mr. Wong also worked for AIA as General Manager in Shenzhen and Dongguan, China.

With the theft of intellectual property and brand counterfeiting becoming ever more prolific in Asia, risk management consultancy Asia Risk (HK) has appointed Bob Youill to spearhead its services in this important area of enterprise risk. With a wealth of experience in anti-piracy, intellectual property and brand protection, Bob Youill' s new appointment strengthens Asia Risk' s position in offering businesses comprehensive risk management solutions.

To big corporations in highly competitive markets, the problem of IP and brand theft is a major threat to their bottom line and, in many cases, their very survival. Attacks by organized criminals and opportunists are rife across many sectors, including the fashion and entertainment industries, pharmaceuticals, IT and software, food & drinks and the automotive industries.

Statistics are startling. In some sectors, major companies that rely on the integrity of their brands are losing up to 40% of revenue to these criminal acts. The pharmaceutical sector alone is estimated to be losing US$8bn per annum. The whole fabric of a company is threatened since IP and brand risks interact with other risk areas such as finance, HR, corporate security, R&D, manufacturing and product safety. Both supply and value chains are vulnerable to such threats. Ultimately, but often with remarkable speed and stealth, a company's image and reputation may suffer as well as resulting in permanent damage to its individual brands. An organisation's sales, revenues and share values may be hit to such an extent that the survival of the organization itself becomes uncertain.

Commenting on these threats, Bob Youill said: "IP and brand protection is a vital aspect of the robust enterprise risk management required for an organisation to meet its corporate governance obligations to shareholders and other stakeholders. However, most companies rarely take into account the political, economic, legal, social and global contexts in which the business seeks to sell its products and gain market share. Their IP protection solutions are often reactive and short-term in nature, narrow in scope and lack long-term cost-effectiveness. They often confuse top-down corporate IP and brand protection with low-level security and litigation responses. Asia Risk's 'joined-up thinking' life-cycle approach is different and aimed at tackling the problem throughout all phases of a products life cycle so as to counter IP threats before they have the capability to cause damage.

With 20 years' experience with the Hong Kong Police, leading many successful campaigns fighting organized crime, coupled with a further 10 years as Asia Pacific' s Regional Anti-Piracy Enforcement Director for the global music industry, Bob Youill is well positioned for his consulting role as Head of Enterprise Risk Services at Asia Risk.

Chief Executive at Asia Risk, Dr Alan Waring said: "Intellectual property and brand protection are a major concern for many industries. Bob' s experience in this field will undoubtedly be a great asset to our clients in his new position as Head of Enterprise Risk Services."

Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced that Christopher Chi-Ho Lin has been appointed as president for Greater China. Lin is responsible for all of Sun's business in Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and managing relationships with key customers and partners.

Lin succeeds Lionel Lim who served as acting president for Greater China for the past 10 months. Lim will resume his roles as chief of operations, Asia Pacific, and president, Asia South, Sun Microsystems, effective today.

Denis Heraud, President, Asia Pacific, Sun Microsystems said, "Greater China is one of our fastest growing markets in Asia Pacific. Lionel has done an outstanding job leading many initiatives in Greater China culminating in approximately 15 per cent year-over-year growth in our most recent quarter. I am confident that Chris will continue the strong momentum we are experiencing in Greater China and his extensive experience in the region will further strengthen our relationships with customers and partners."

Prior to joining Sun Microsystems, Lin was senior vice president of Global Sales for Opnext Inc., a fibre optic technology supplier to large optical equipment manufacturers. He was responsible for sales and marketing operations for Opnext in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Previously Lin served as chief operating officer for Lucent Technologies China and as vice president of the wireless networks group. He has also held product development positions at Siemens Telecommunication Systems, Limited (Taiwan) and system engineering positions at Bellcore (now Telcordia Technologies).

Lin has a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Washington and a Master of Science Degree from Colombia University, USA. He is looking forward to moving with his family to Beijing.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), the New Zealand Government's economic development agency, has announced the appointment of Sharon-May McCrostie as its new Trade Commissioner to Hong Kong and Macau, continuing New Zealand's drive to develop trade in the North Asian region.

As Trade Commissioner to Hong Kong and Macau, McCrostie will work to promote trade opportunities and strategic alliances between New Zealand and companies in Hong Kong and Macau. She will also oversee the NZTE office in Hong Kong.

"New Zealand already has strong ties to Hong Kong and we see it as having a very advantageous position in Asia, especially with its strong connections to China. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise has had significant success in Hong Kong in growing trade relationships and creating a presence in Asia, especially in the biotech, food and beverage and creative sectors," said McCrostie.

" I'm eager to build upon this progress and to continue to strengthen the excellent relationships we have already forged."

NZTE established its first concept centre in the world, New Zealand Focus, in Hong Kong in November 2005 and McCrostie says the centre's success shows there is an interest in what New Zealand can offer in Hong Kongs sophisticated market. The centre is now a model for replication in other markets such as Shanghai and Tokyo.

McCrostie has five years' experience with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise in client management roles in the food and beverage sector, with regional responsibility for F&B projects in North Asia. She also spent five years with Enza (previously New Zealand's Apple & Pear Marketing Board), including as the North Asia Marketing Manager based in Singapore.

McCrostie replaces David Wishart, who heads back to New Zealand this month.

HONG KONG, February 11, 2008 -- International arbitration lawyers Steven Y. H. Lim and Alejandro Escobar have joined Baker Botts L.L.P. as special counsel. Both have extensive experience representing clients in international arbitrations, including investment treaty and commercial disputes.

The addition of Lim and Escobar reflects the continued expansion of Baker Botts' international dispute resolution group. Lim, who joined the firm on January 1, 2008, is based in the Baker Botts Hong Kong office. Escobar joined the firm 's London office on February 4, 2008. They will both handle dispute resolution and arbitration matters for clients arising throughout the world.

"The volume and importance of the arbitration matters we are handling created a need to add the legal skills of Alejandro and Steven to our dispute resolution group," said Michael Goldberg, head of the International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution group at Baker Botts. "We are extremely pleased to add such highly-qualified members to our team. Given the growth of our arbitration practice, adding Steven and Alejandro to our group will allow us to continue to provide our clients the best legal counsel in this field."

Lim, who is one of less than 30 international arbitration experts recognized throughout Asia by Chambers Asia, has more than 13 years of experience in arbitration and dispute resolution proceedings. Although previously based in Singapore, Lim has worked throughout Asia and has been recognized as a leader in international arbitration. Chambers Global editors praise him for his "extensive experience of cross-border arbitration." Chambers Asia recently described him as "meticulous, technically-minded and excellent at assessing the merits of a client's position."

"Baker Botts has a global reputation in international arbitration, with a strong practice in Asia-based work," Lim said. "The firm provides solid platform to build on. I look forward to working with my new colleagues in Hong Kong, Beijing and throughout the firm to grow Baker Botts' arbitration practice."

Escobar is a public international law and arbitration specialist. Formerly a senior counsel at ICSID and most recently with Latham & Watkins, Escobar is widely respected for his investment treaty arbitration expertise. In addition to handling more than a dozen of the first investor-State arbitration proceedings ever brought, he has served as an arbitrator in LCIA proceedings and is a Visiting Professor at UCL. Escobar is recognized in leading publications, such as Who' s Who in Commercial Arbitration, Whos Who in Public International Law, Chambers UK and Chambers Global, where he is described as a "leading light."

"Joining a talented and highly respected arbitration team such as Baker Botts' will allow me to continue to represent clients confronted with complex legal issues," Escobar said. "The firm's global footprint provides an excellent opportunity to continue building my practice."

12 February 2008 (Tuesday) - ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Hong Kong is pleased to announce that May Law, formerly the head of ACCA Hong Kong has embarked on a steering role as the director of China with effect from January 2008.

Ms Law joined ACCA as head of ACCA Hong Kong in 2005. Under her strong leadership, ACCA Hong Kong has achieved sustainable development, increased influence and public awareness in this largest centre outside its headquarter in the UK. She has an extensive background in management and marketing, having held senior positions in leading multinational companies prior to joining ACCA. She holds a Bachelor of Laws from London University and a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Communications, from the University of Toronto.

Under the new role, Ms Law is responsible for overseeing the development and strategic direction of ACCA in China and managing offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Ms Law said, "I am honoured and excited to take up this challenge to extend my vision and mission with ACCA to the world 's fastest growing market. China is a market highly valued by ACCA and we have presence in Hong Kong since 1950 and in mainland China since 1988. It is such a special moment for me to take up this new role when ACCA marks its 20 years' presence in mainland China this year. As the world' s largest and fastest growing global professional accountancy body, ACCA will continue our commitment in the development of the accountancy profession. With the enormous opportunities for ACCA to develop in China, I am delighted to lead the team in nurturing and shaping our three-dimensional accountants."

HONG KONG - 31 January 2008 - NetApp has just announced the promotion of Tom Georgens to the newly created role of company president and chief operating officer, overseeing the company's product and field operations. The company also announced that veteran Tom Mendoza, who has served as president since 2001, has been promoted to the newly created position of vice chairman. In this position, Mendoza will focus on customer advocacy, partnering with NetApp sales and channel partners to deliver more value to customers and championing the company's values and leadership to a growing employee population. Both Mendoza and Georgens continue to report directly to NetApp CEO Dan Warmenhoven. These promotions are effective immediately.

"Tom Mendoza is an icon and a legend at NetApp and among our customers and partners," said Dan Warmenhoven. "Our customers know him to be a trusted advisor and listener. Our employees know that he lives our values with passion every day. Freeing him from operational responsibilities to focus his energy on our customers and culture will help us become even more responsive to the market and deeply attuned to the transformation happening in today's data centres.

"Tom Georgens has demonstrated strong leadership and passion for our values and culture," continued Warmenhoven. "As head of product operations, he led the largest rollout of new products in our company's history and expanded our software portfolio, giving our customers greater efficiency, flexibility and functionality in their

data centres. Combining a truly flagship R&D engine in product operations with the sales, marketing and service expertise in our field operations organisation allows us to bring greater focus to our execution. I believe that this will result in NetApp being more competitive, growing faster and delivering greater value to our customers. I am very excited about both of these promotions and for the future of NetApp under their expanded leadership."

"NetApp is a tremendous source of pride for me. I am happy to share my passion and enthusiasm for this company, our solutions and our people with our customers every day," added Tom Mendoza. "We have proven time and again that we deliver superior value for a variety of critical customer needs, and our customers have rewarded us with strong growth. Spending more time with our customers and injecting even more of their feedback into the company will be a true pleasure."

"I am honored to take on these additional responsibilities," said Tom Georgens. "I will continue to focus on creating innovation in product development while extending that innovation into our robust solutions framework, accelerating our time to market with new and integrated offerings, and delivering greater value to our customers. I look forward to working with Dan, Tom, and the entire NetApp team to expand our customer base and deliver industry-leading solutions to the market."

The position of vice chairman is a newly created role at NetApp. This is not a board of directors position, but a company position. The position's charter is to be the chief customer advocate and champion of customer concerns, bringing them back into NetApp to shape product development efforts and spot emerging enterprise trends. The vice chairman of the company is also instrumental in infusing the NetApp culture into our growing workforce around the world.



Mendoza biography
Tom Mendoza joined NetApp in 1994 as the head of North American sales and has served as the companys president since 2000. Mendoza has more than 31 years as a high-technology executive. He has served in an advisory capacity on the board of directors of Netscreen (acquired by Juniper) and Rhapsody (acquired by Brocade) and currently serves on the board of Infoblox. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Notre Dame, is an alumnus of Stanford University's Executive Business Program, and is a guest lecturer at both institutions. In September 2000, the University of Notre Dame renamed its business school the Mendoza College of Business upon an endowment from Tom and his wife, Kathy.

Mendoza has been the keynote speaker for such diverse organisations as Oracle, Gartner, Veritas (now Symantec), Fujitsu-Siemens, and the United States Marine Corps. He is a highly motivational speaker and often speaks about corporate culture and leadership for organisations all over the world.

Georgens biography
Tom Georgens joined NetApp in October 2005 and has served as the company's executive vice president of product operations since January 2007. From October 2005 until January 2007 he served as NetApp's executive vice president and general manager of enterprise storage systems.

Before joining NetApp, Georgens spent nine years at Engenio, a subsidiary of LSI Logic, the last two years as chief executive officer. He also served in various other positions, including president of LSI Logic Storage Systems and executive vice president of LSI Logic. At Engenio, he built the business into a successful OEM storage provider for companies such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, StorageTek, Silicon Graphics and NCR.

Prior to Engenio, Georgens spent 11 years at EMC in a variety of engineering and marketing positions.

Georgens holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Engineering degree in computer and systems engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as well as a Master of Business Administration degree from Babson College.

Hong Kong, January 29, 2008 - Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) today announced that it has appointed Philip Lim as Country Chairman of Chevron Hong Kong Limited.

An industry veteran, Lim has over 19 years' experience working in a number of senior management, sales and marketing roles at Chevron as well as other leading multinational companies. Prior to his current appointment, Lim was General Manager, Retail & Commercial/Industrial for Chevron in Hong Kong and South China, a position he held since May 2007.

"Philip brings with him a sound understanding of the industry as well as our operations, having worked with Chevron in both Asia Pacific and Europe. His strong leadership and commercial skills, coupled with his broad-based international experience, will be vital in helping to build our competitive position in Hong Kong," said Ms Colleen Cervantes, Vice President, Global Marketing, Asia Pacific, Chevron International Pte Ltd.

Lim builds on a strong 10-year career with Chevron. Prior to moving to Hong Kong in May 2007, Lim was Regional Manager, Strategic Growth, Asia Pacific based in Chevron' s regional headquarters in Singapore. Lim first joined the company in April 1998 as General Manager, Marketing for Caltex Corporation. He later became General Manager for the Lubricants business for Singapore and Malaysia and also served as Managing Director for Caltex Lubricants Vietnam Limited. In October 2001, he relocated to London, United Kingdom, as Regional Manager for North and Eastern Europe, ChevronTexaco Global Lubricants. He was later appointed Regional Manager, Marketing, Europe, Africa and Middle East for lubricants finished products.

Prior to joining Chevron, Lim spent seven years working with Johnson & Johnson in the U.S., China and Singapore. Lim began his career in international marketing at Singapore Airlines.

Lim is an alumnus of the National University of Singapore, The University of California, INSEAD and IMD.

Hong Kong, 14 January, 2008 -- China Agri-Industries Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries ("China Agri Holdings" or "the Company"; Stock code: 606.HK), a leading producer and supplier of processed agricultural products in China, today announced the appointment of Mr. Andy Li as Vice President, with immediate effect, responsible for
overall financial management and corporate planning of the Company, as well as handling investor relations and company secretarial duties.
Andy has extensive experience in accounting, financial management, business planning, corporate finance and treasury, have worked for government and statutory bodies, multinational conglomerates, Hong Kong listed companies as well as Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining China Agri Holdings, he held a senior finance executive
position in Esprit Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed company.

Andy holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Toronto and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School of Business, York University. He is also a certified member of each of the Chartered Financial Analysts Institute, Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Institute of Certified
Management Accountants, Certified General Accountants of Canada and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced the promotions of Celestine Tan, Johann Muller, and SeChang Oh to vice president for Marketing, Systems Practice, and Systems Engineering, respectively.

"Sun is committed to developing and retaining talent in the Asia Pacific region. It's one of the fastest growing regions and our top talent is critical to driving this growth," said Denis Heraud, President, Asia Pacific, Sun Microsystems. "Celestine, Johann and SeChang have made significant contributions to Sun's Asia Pacific business and their promotions are recognition of their commitment to our customers, partners and employees."

Celestine Tan, Vice President, Marketing.

In her new role as vice president, Celestine Tan is responsible for all elements of marketing across Asia Pacific, including branding, channel marketing, advertising, promotions, and market research and strategy development. In addition, she is responsible for all product strategy, including pricing, positioning and go-to-market plans.

Tan has more than 20 years experience in the information technology industry. She joined Sun in 1993 and over the last 14 years Tan has held several senior positions in marketing and communications. In 2003, Tan was promoted to director of the Asia South and India marketing team. In 2005, Tan received the Marketing Leadership Award and she attended Sun's Leadership Institute the following year.

Tan was promoted to senior director, Asia Pacific Marketing in August 2006 based in Singapore, managing the region's marketing organization including Australia and New Zealand, Asia South, Greater China, India, Japan and Korea.

Johann Muller, Vice President, Systems Practice

Johann Muller was appointed to the role of director, Systems Practice, Asia Pacific in July 2006, and relocated to regional headquarters in Singapore to drive business across Asia Pacific. His promotion to vice president reflects Sun's increasing focus on its Systems offering in the fast-growing Asia Pacific market.

Previously, Muller was Client Service Director, where he was instrumental in expanding Sun's market presence in the Southern and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Muller joined Sun Microsystems in 1998 in a product sales role where he focused on driving high-end business in the Middle East and Africa region.

SeChang Oh, Vice President, Systems Engineering

Oh manages the Systems Engineering organization in Asia Pacific including Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Great China, Asia South and India, and is based in Korea

Oh is a Sun veteran and has been with the company for more than 18 years. He joined Sun in 1989 as a local engineer and manager for Solaris' presence in Korea. He was personally responsible for pioneering Korean Solaris, a localized version of Sun Solaris, and expanding Sun's presence in the country.

Before taking on the role of senior director of Asia Pacific System Engineering in July 2006 he managed the Professional Services Consulting group in Korea for 10 years.

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced the appointment of Wong Hwa Cheong as Director of Sales and Sales Operations for Asia Pacific. Wong will be responsible for working with in-country teams to drive revenue growth and manage sales operations, and will report to Song Tang Yih, Asia Pacific Vice President at F5 Networks.

"Asia Pacific continues to be a hotbed of opportunity for F5, as businesses realize the need for business resilience to remain competitive and capitalize on new opportunities," said Song."With Hwa Cheong on my management team, we will be able to help our customers understand how best to take advantage of the benefits that Application Delivery Networks bring."

"I'm excited to join a company that has an impressive history of delivering innovative, performance-leading products that consistently exceed customers' requirements and expectations," said Hwa Cheong. "I look forward to helping F5 keep its strong momentum by growing revenue, increasing market share, and deepening F5's account penetration in the Asia Pacific region."

Hwa Cheong brings over 20 years of experience in sales, and has held senior management positions at several leading technology companies. He joins F5 from Mercury Interactive Pte Ltd where he served as Managing Director for ASEAN. By restructuring the frontline sales team and adopting a BTO solution-selling strategy, he was able to close a US$1.6 million deal - the company's largest - in his first quarter. Hwa Cheong also previously served as the managing director for ASEAN at BEA Systems Pte Ltd, where he successfully led a 22 per cent license growth for the BEA Platform suite in 2003.

Barclays Wealth is pleased to announce the appointment of Sandeep Sharma, as Director and Head of South Asia, effective from 16 November 2007. Sharma will leverage the Barclays Wealth Global Service Support hub in Singapore to offer wealth management services to the South Asian community of ultra-high-net-worth individuals. He will report to Didier von Daeniken, Asia Pacific Chief Executive of Barclays Wealth and is a member of the Barclays Wealth Management Committee in Asia.

The high-net-worth (HNW) population in India has been growing at between 19 percent and 22 percent in the past two years, according to the Merrill Lynch Capgemini World Wealth Report 2007. With an estimated US$1 trillion of investable assets, the non-resident Indians (NRI) is definitely a market segment of strategic importance to Barclays Wealth.

"Our strategic focus for the Asia Pacific region is to grow our Greater China and India business which are two very promising markets experiencing unprecedented economic and HNW population growth. To prepare for a strong push in momentum for the South Asian business in 2008, I am delighted to welcome Sandeep to the Barclays family", Didier von Daeniken, Asia Pacific Chief Executive of Barclays Wealth commented.

"With his proven track record and success in starting up new business lines, I am confident that Sandeep will be an invaluable asset to the Barclays team. In particular, his corporate banking background will enable him to fully leverage Barclays Capital's investment banking capabilities", von Daeniken added.

Sharma said, "I am very impressed with the breath of expertise and products that the Barclays Group offers and I am proud to be part of this team. Backed by a rich heritage, and our global network, I am confident that our team of dedicated professionals will be able to offer a differentiated experience to our clients by leveraging the excellent platform that we have in Singapore. "

Sharma has more than 14 years of extensive experience in the Indian market both as a private banker and a corporate banker. He has a proven track record in starting up new business lines successfully which he clearly demonstrated at two major European banks.

SAP Asia Pacific Japan today announced the appointment of Mr. Mark Gibbs as President & CEO, SAP North Asia, reporting directly to Geraldine McBride, SAP Asia Pacific Japans President and CEO.



Gibbs joins SAP from Oracle where he was senior vice president of applications for Oracle's Asia Pacific Division. Effective immediately, Gibbs will be responsible for all aspects of SAP's operations in North Asia, including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea, with SAP's Greater China Managing Director, Lee Boon Lee, and SAP's Korea Managing Director, EN Han, reporting to him. The appointment of Gibbs comes as SAP continues to grow at double-digit levels across the region, driven by strong adoption of SAP business software by customers of all sizes and industries.

Mark's decision to join SAP is further evidence of our ability to attract world-class talent, as we drive towards our vision of dramatically increasing market penetration throughout the Asia Pacific Japan region by 2010," said Geraldine McBride, President and CEO, SAP Asia Pacific Japan. "SAP has the industrys most compelling vision for customers and Im excited Mark understands our potential in the region and has agreed to join."

Gibbs is a 16-year Oracle veteran with more than 12 years in the Asia Pacific region. He was previously responsible for all aspects of Oracle's applications business across Asia Pacific, including sales, marketing and field operations. Prior to his current applications role, Gibbs was in charge of Oracle's Financial Services Industry group in Asia Pacific and served as the chair of Oracle's Global FSI Board. Before joining Oracle, Gibbs was financial controller at Unilever Corporation in London.



"I'm taking over the leadership reins in North Asia at an extremely exciting time for SAP Asia Pacific Japan. This region continues to be recognized as SAP's global growth engine and I am very happy to play a key role in taking that position forward," said Gibbs. "North Asia is already driving a great deal of the region's growth, but there is still much more we can contribute. SAP is a true applications powerhouse in this region and I am confident we can continue to significantly enhance our market leadership position in North Asia."

SAP North Asia veteran moves to SAP ambassador role

'North Asia operations, McBride also took time to recognize the departure of Klaus Zimmer, Chairman of SAP North Asia.

"Id like to express my sincere appreciation to Klaus Zimmer for more than 10 years of dedicated service in the region," said McBride. "Klaus has indicated that after building SAP North Asia into the powerhouse that it is today, he wishes to have more time to pursue his personal interests. The great news for SAP is that Klaus has agreed to an ambassadorial role with us, as we continue to build on the foundation he helped us create."

Friends Provident International Limited (FPI), the international arm of the Friends Provident Group, today announced the appointment of Brenda Lee as Marketing Manager, Hong Kong, with immediate effect. Friends Provident International is part of the Friends Provident Group, one of the UK's major financial services institutions.

Ms. Lee will be responsible for developing FPI's Hong Kong marketing and communications strategies to strengthen the company's market position amidst the highly competitive environment and within the regulatory framework. She will assume overall marketing responsibility for FPI in Hong Kong including public relations, advertising, brand management, events, marketing collaterals and products and services promotions.

Ms. Lee brings extensive marketing and communications expertise to her new position at FPI, having served most recently at American International Group, Inc. (AIG) and CMI Financial Management Services Limited, assuming corporate communications and marketing duties for 6 years respectively.

Based in Hong Kong, Ms. Lee reports to Chris Holland, FPI Manager, International Marketing.

Ms. Lee earned a Bachelor of Commerce and Business Administration degree in Marketing from the University of British Columbia in Canada.

Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR) today announced the appointment of MA Yi Cong as Field Technical Services Manager, North Asia. He will work closely with Rick Chau, Managing Director, Asia North of Compuware to enhance service to locals and regional customers.

Based in Shanghai, Ma joins Compuware with over 13 years of technical support and management expertise across various branches in the IT field. Before joining Compuware, Ma spent ten years at Computer Associates Internationals Inc, where he started as a technical consultant in 1997 before taking on various roles across China and steadily rising up the ladder to Presales Manager for East China.

"YC has extensive experience and an in-depth understanding of the software industry in China and on how we can develop and expand our reach. His knowledge, market awareness and industry expertise will be focussed on reinforcing our sales operations and providing leadership and strategic advice to our local and regional teams," said Rick Chau, Managing Director, Asia North of Compuware.

Working in the Compuware Sales Support division, Ma will oversee Sales Support team activities, assess and organise staff training requirements and provide skilled pre-sales support personnel for all management, salespersons, technical support staff, product managers and software development staff, as well as marketing and R&D departments.

"Compuware is a very well known name in the software industry and is
recognised as a world leader in its field," said Ma. "I am very pleased to
join Compuware at this exciting time and look forward to working with the team to grow our business and enhance our presence."

In his new position at Compuware, Ma will also work closely with external contacts at user and management levels as well as with user groups and other developer networks to increase Compuware's reach and scale of relations.

GolinHarris has appointed Sue So as Director, Corporate Affairs, adding another seasoned veteran to a practice considered to be among the region's most formidable.

Sue brings nearly 15 years of media, corporate communications, financial communications and issues management experience to the firm. A former political journalist with the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong Economic Journal and Sing Tao Daily, she has also previously worked for APCO Asia as well as GolinHarris from 2001, when the firm was known as Golin/Harris Forrest.

At GolinHarris she provides senior counsel to major clients including China Light & Power, Cisco Systems, Hongkong Land and MTR Corporation.

In 2001 Sue was seconded to the office of Tung Chee-hwa, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's first chief executive, to oversee media relations and event management for his re-election campaign. She has also worked with leading companies including Fidelity, Visa International, Ocean Park, Hongkong Electric and Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation.

Sue has significant experience in China, having served as director of investor relations at Mainland Internet company Tencent Holdings Ltd, where she managed the company's IPO in Hong Kong and ongoing investor relations program.

"It is a pleasure to welcome Sue back to the'GH family,' where she has been able to step in immediately and provide valuable counsel for some of our long-term blue-chip clients," GolinHarris regional managing director John Morgan said today. "GolinHarris is expanding rapidly across Greater China, and our recent appointments such as Sue's demonstrate how important this region is to us."


Sue holds a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Communications and a master's degree in Global Business from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She also received a master's degree in Public Administration and Public Policy from the London School of Economic and Political Science.

Hong Kong, October 30, 2007 - American Express today announced the appointment of Mr. Y C Koh as General Manager of Greater China. He is responsible for leading the American Express consumer card business in Greater China to optimize the companys presence and business growth, and providing strategic direction in developing value-added products and services for Cardmembers. He is based in Hong Kong.

Prior to this appointment, Mr. Koh was General Manager Hong Kong, a role he assumed in October 2006. Over the past months, he led the Hong Kong team in driving strong card billings and revenue, enhancing services and benefits for various premium consumer cards, and launching a number of successful Cardmember programs to enhance customer engagement and experience.

The economic outlook of Greater China especially Hong Kong and Mainland China is promising and the premium market will continue its growth momentum. Taiwan also sees strong economic recovery. American Express has been pursuing a successful premium strategy and is the thought leader in the affluent space. With our unique products and services tailored to the affluent segment, we are well positioned to capitalize on the growth opportunities in the Greater China region, said Mr. Koh.

Mr. Koh joined American Express in 1989 and has progressed within the organization with diverse experiences in various areas including Travel Services, Corporate Card, Global Network and Establishment Services, Human Resources and Administration. From 2003 to 2006, he was Vice President and General Manager for Global Travelers Cheques & Prepaid Services for the Japan/Asia Pacific/Australia (JAPA) region. Prior to this role, he was in Hong Kong serving as Vice President, Head of Acquisition JAPA, Area Market Head East Asia for Global Establishment Services.

Mr. Koh graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Statistics from the National University of Singapore and a Masters in Business Administration in the United States.