[Fully Booked] ESG Talent and Leadership: Shaping the Future of Sustainable Business

An International Education and Mobility Expert with over 15 years of experience who has led strategic education initiatives across global markets, focussing on fostering international collaboration and developing strategic partnerships.

He currently supports UK universities with their engagement strategies for the Chinese market, facilitates partnerships between UK and Chinese institutions and carries out market research that delivers strategic insights, aligning educational initiatives with recent developments, including sustainability and governance.

He hopes that education can be used to inspire the next generation of responsible leaders who can take on challenging global issues.

Raluca Popa is the Head of Corporate & Structured Finance for HSBC China based in Shanghai. She leads a team of 80 covering credit structuring and underwriting, sustainable finance, credit analysis and sector insights for Local Corporate and Multinational businesses. Prior to her current role, she has extensive corporate banking and credit risk experience in the UK, US, Mexico and Hong Kong covering M&As, LBOs, Renewables and Infrastructure project finance. She led diverse teams across various corporate sectors including Automobiles, Manufacturing and Consumer Goods. She was awarded the International Banker of the Year Award by Euromoney Mexico for her work in building HSBC’s international franchise proposition in the country.

She is a part-time lecturer in Structured Lending Products with Paris-Dauphine University, her alma matter and a mentor for Young Entrepreneur Accelerator Programme.

In her free time, she enjoys sports and spending time with her husband and 2 boys.

Dr Yan (Kathy) Yang is a partner of Sustainability & Climate at Deloitte Shanghai office. She has a PhD in Economics (on climate policy) from the Australian National University (ANU) and has an extensive sustainability consulting experience in power and new energy, oil and gas, infrastructure, manufacture technology and finance sectors.

Kathy was born in China and holds Australian citizenship, She has over twenty years of academic and industrial experience in climate policy and sustainability consulting in Australia and China, and has led global teams across multi-cultural geographical locations to deliver a range of projects involving climate change policy, business strategy, ESG advisory, environmental evaluation, GHG emissions inventory, SBT and carbon neutral strategy, climate risk assessment, ESG reporting and TCFD disclosure, financial and economic modelling, Mergers & Acquisitions, ESG due diligence, and technical advisory services across China, Australia, US, Canada, UK, Spain, Greece, Indonesia, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the Maldives.

Kathy is a frequent speaker at international conferences and forums on energy, environment, sustainability and investment, and also acts as translation peer reviewer for a series of Global Reporting Initiatives (GRl) Sector Standards.

Ms. Ni Huan is currently the Founding Director of Shanghai Green Light-Year Environmental Service Center, the Chinese expert member of IUCN CEC, and the Director of the ESG Development Promotion Center of Shanghai Pudong New Energy Association. In the past 20 years, she has been working with DFID-aid project, UNDP China, the World Bank Group IFC China Energy Efficiency Financing project and the FCO “Global Prosperity Fund” project (two Sino British green financial policy research projects), UNEP FI and WWF Lake Tai Green Finance project.

Since 2014, as the first civil user of CIGS thin film solar plant in Chinese Mainland, she has actively promoted community and household composting, Waste sorting and the use of new energy in families in the community, so as to drive community residents and school students to practice a green and low-carbon lifestyle.

Marcia Chen graduated from Imperial College London with a Master’s degree in Strategic Marketing. She has worked at DiDi Chuxing and Google China, serving as a senior marketing consultant and overseas marketing account manager.

In 2020, Marcia Chen co-founded China’s first cross-enterprise women’s development and DEI platform—Women Alliance Group (WAG). The platform has gathered notable global companies like Google, McKinsey, Intel, GE, DiDi, Tencent, Amazon Web Services, Tiffany, Nike, Eaton, Sanofi, Kering Group, and Carrier, covering over 250,000 employees, making it China’s largest cross-enterprise platform for women’s development and DEI. The platform aims to promote the development of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) in China.

Previously, with the mission to support more lives to flourish, she introduced Google’s global DEI project #IamRemarkable to China, building it from the ground up. In three years, the workshops have reached over 5,000 participants from more than 50 companies, training over 100 local instructors. During the promotion of #IamRemarkable, she was inspired to establish the Women’s Alliance to gather more strength to support the growth of professional women in China, officially co-founding WAG in 2020.

She has traveled to over 50 countries, and has a deep interest in and practices traditional culture, aesthetics, and mindfulness. In the future, she hopes to integrate Eastern and Western philosophies to find a way to empower personal growth and a diverse and inclusive culture in China, leading businesses towards goodness and achieving sustainable human development.

Dr. Guo joined XJTLU Wisdom Lake Academy of Pharmacy as an assistant professor in January 2024. She studied Biological Sciences at the Sun Yat-sen University before doing her Ph.D. studies in Exercise Physiology at the Pennsylvania State University in the U.S. In January 2024 she finished her postdoctoral training in the School of Basic Medical Sciences at the Southern Medical University with her work on organ crosstalk and bone degenerative diseases.

Partner at X BAG (Surplus unsold food rescue platform). We’re a social enterprise to help combat food waste issues in China. X BAG is a service with a mobile application that connects customers to restaurants and stores that have surplus unsold food. The service covers major Chinese cities, and helps save 10,000 bags of food per day.

Master of Engineering Science & Bachelor of Arts, Pembroke College, University of Oxford. Passionate about exploring solutions related to circular economy, food waste issues and sustainability development. Co-founder of Circular Pie which aims to drive transitions to circular economy through Circular Economy Innovation Consulting, Sustainability Communication and Media Advocacy. Serving as Community Champion of Global Shapers Community (an initiative of the World Economic Forum) in Greater China Region. Honoree in the Forbes 30 Under 30 List and Tatler Gen.T List.

b is Partner at Zhonglun Law Firm, the core member of the research group on “Financial Support for Women’s Sustainable Development” under the China Finance Association Green Finance Professional Committee (leading the topic of “ESG and Women’s Leadership and Employment”), the part-time vice chair of the Women’s Federation of Shanghai Pudong New Area, the part-time deputy director of the Population and Environment Committee of CPPCC of Shanghai Pudong New Area Committee, the president of the Women’s Talent Promotion Association of Shanghai Pudong New Area, the sponsor of the Shanghai Dandelion Women’s Leadership Enhancement Plan, the member of the Promotion of Political Participation Committee of the Shanghai Bar Association, Arbitrator of SHAC/BAC/HAC/NAC and other arbitration commissions, the specially invited supervisor of the Third Intermediate People’s Court of Shanghai, the independent director of XiYuan Environmental Protection. She has been committed to the policy advocacy and practical promotion of sustainable development, especially through ESG sustainable investment to promote an inclusive society.

Lanlan Xu currently serves as the head of ESG Operations at Alibaba, holding a bachelor’s degree from the Central University of Finance and Economics and an MBA from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. With ten years of experience in the financial industry, she has served various capital markets including US stocks, Hong Kong stocks, and A-shares. Driven by the passion for retail and consumer industry, she chose to join Alibaba and embarked on the second half of her career. While working there, she has helped the company set ESG goals, establish governance from scratch, and is responsible for driving the implementation of ESG strategies in various businesses.

For a company, setting ESG goals looks like “dancing with shackles”. The challenge is to balance short-term costs with long-term benefits and to quantify and portray the path to sustainable development using ESG metrics. Her long-term goal is to utilize her diverse background to explore the intrinsic relationship between ESG and finance and make a modest contribution to the development of the industry.

Yue (Shelley) SHEN, currently Chief Impact Officer of APAC in Saint-Gobain, Founder & President of Saint-Gobain APAC Woman Empowerment (WE) Community. Before this, she was Chief Sustainability Officer of Saint-Gobain APAC Region and China Public Relation Director. She is a key driver for the implementation of Group ESG/CSR strategy, leading the APAC sustainability roadmap. Currently, as a CIO, she is also embedding the CSR into the business decision making, promoting diversity, inclusion and CSR solidarity programs through sponsorship & philanthropy projects in Saint-Gobain APAC. Moreover, she has ever worked as HRVP, CHRO for Saint-Gobain pipe business APAC in charge of HR, Communication & Public Relations. Meanwhile, she was the Founder and President of Saint-Gobain PAM LAN Diversity Institute for 7 years to promote DEI. She is an active promoter and a professional supporter to the woman leadership and career development. Also she is keep working on other volunteer projects, like University student mentor for many years and Executive Coach. She has the certificate of Facilitator of DDI Leadership program.

As the head of BritCham Shanghai, Stuart’s ambition is to drive the continued support and growth of the chamber in line with the members’ needs and evolving business and political environment both in China and at home. Examples of these activities include Government to business round tables, regional East China activities and leading the chamber flagship events including the new British Day, the annual ESG Summit & Awards and the British Business Awards.

Stuart brings to his position over 20 years of UK & international leadership experience covering trade & investment, operations, & project-based experience in world-leading hospitality corporations, as an entrepreneur and in Government.  Prior to taking on this role, Stuart was head of Agriculture, food & drink, trade and investment for the UK Department for International Trade.  His China journey started in 2010, moving to Dubai to join the Shangri-la, Pudong as Assistant Director of Food & Beverage during the World Expo followed by several years as an entrepreneur, starting and operating the Tap House bar & restaurant group.

Stuart holds a Degree in International marketing and communications from Staffordshire University in England and is an active member of many community groups including Heart 2 Heart and lives in Shanghai with his wife Emily, daughter Lilli & two dogs.

Grace has been deeply involved in the field of ESG for over ten years, with in-depth research on ESG in capital markets and ESG information disclosure. Grace published various research works and three book on ESG disclosure. Grace has rich experience in ESG, CSR, sustainable investment, media management and corporate governance.

Judy Zhu currently serves as the SHE (Safety, Health and Environment) & Sustainability Director of AstraZeneca Wuxi site. She holds dual bachelor degrees in Food Science and Technology and Business Administration. Having over 19 years of experience in the Environmental, Safety and Health management domains of MNCs, covering  food, cosmetic and Pharma industries.

Judy Zhu is a Certified National Safety Engineer and holds a certification in ESG Investing from CFA.

James Ying, Executive Assistant to Headmaster&University Counseling Lead at WASNJ. Master in Human Resource Management at Purdue University, Visiting Scholar at Columbia University. Years of teaching and management experience at international schools.