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E. Allan Gabor is president of Merck China, and managing director of Merck Performance Materials China. He is also a permanent member of Merck’s Performance Materials Leadership Team, responsible for China. As president of Merck China, he is responsible for developing and driving growth strategies in this key country and building on the company’s 350-year presence and reputation. China is considered one of the Group’s strategic countries, with all three business sectors of Merck developing rapidly in the market.

Prior to this role, he was the president of Asia Pacific for Biopharma, Merck Group from 2016 to 2018. Before 2016, he was the president and chief executive officer for Merck’s Biopharma business in China, and was instrumental in expanding Merck’s Asian footprint. This was achieved through a series of investments, including establishing Merck’s new EUR170 million world-class pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, as well as building an extensive network with leading academic and medical institutions for collaborations.

Before joining Merck, Mr Gabor spent 25 years at Pfizer in leadership roles including chair and general manager for China, and regional president for North Asia, Russia, India, Turkey and Eastern Europe. Mr Gabor successfully launched many of Pfizer's innovative medicines in China, and opened the China Regional Investment Centre and a state-of-the-art research and development centre in Shanghai.

In recognition of his tireless contribution towards the economic construction, social development and international exchange and cooperation of Shanghai, Mr Gabor has been awarded the Magnolia (Baiyulan) Award twice by the Shanghai Municipal Government.

Mr Gabor holds a BA in Communications from the College of Wooster and pursued further education at the University of Tennessee and Harvard Business School.

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Oscar Ramos, Partner & Managing Director of Chinaccelerator, is a "full-stack innovator" with expertise ranging from product development to corporate strategy. He has experience as an entrepreneur, management consultant, and early-stage investor.
A Telecom MEng and Biomedical PhD dropout, Oscar began his career 15 years ago as an R&D engineer in Ericsson’s Research Center, and then later in a similar post at Telefonica. After discovering the concept of Business Model Innovation he transitioned to the world of medtech startups. This propelled his move to China in early 2008, and he has since then been involved in various dimensions of innovation: product launches, go-to market strategies, venture capital
financing, and M&As.

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Mark began his career in London where he spent 5 years working first in audit and then specialising in cross-border transactions across Europe for private equity clients. He subsequently worked in our Paris office for over four years focusing on cross-border engagements, including 6 months stationed in Chicago. In December 2007, Mark transferred to our Shanghai office where he advises multi-national clients on transactions in China. He has advised on over 250 transactions during 13 years based in China. Mark speaks English and French fluently, and is conversational in Mandarin Chinese

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Charlene Liu was born in Malaysia and has lived in the US, Singapore, and now Shanghai, China. She is an engineer, a social change maker, and a community leader.

She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a BSc in Electrical Engineering and has 20 years of working experience in different areas of the Semiconductor & Electronics industry, ranging from design, engineering, manufacturing, project management to sales and marketing. She also has experience with events, corporate innovation, and management consulting
at PwC.

Charlene has 16 years of community leadership, commercial event management, and Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) advocacy experience. In 2009, she co-founded ShanghaiPRIDE, an annual festival run entirely by volunteers that promotes diversity, in 2014 Q-Events, an event management company, in 2016 Ladies Who Tech, a social impact community for women in STEM, and in 2019, D&I Consulting, a consultancy which helps corporates cultivate a more inclusive culture. Charlene is now embarking on a full-time journey managing these platforms.

In 2014, she and team ShanghaiPRIDE were awarded Shanghai Hero by Time Out Shanghai, and in 2018, Best Event Organizer in East China by Huodongxing.

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Dr. Michael Schmidt is the Covestro Innovation Head APAC & Head of the Polymer Research & Development Center (Shanghai), Covestro, China, based in Shanghai. Over the past 18 years Dr. Schmidt has held various leadership positions within Covestro and before that Bayer, from which Covestro was spun off in September 2015. Dr. Schmidt holds a Doctorate in Engineering PhD (Dr.-Ing.) in Polymer materials from the University of Erlangen–Nürnberg, Germany.

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Jin Hu is an Investment Manager based in Shanghai, China. Prior to joining Evonik, Jin Hu established and led bp ventures activities in China since 2018, with focus on advanced mobility, energy storage, digital & AI technologies, bio-products, renewable and low carbon transformation. She also held several board director positions.

In 2008, Jin Hu started her professional career in British American Tobacco in the UK and subsequently joined bp through a leadership program. Jin Hu has over 12 years industrial experience in technology innovation, new product & market deployment, strategy and new ventures. Jin Hu holds a PhD in Nanotechnology and Electrochemistry from University of Southampton and an MBA from the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

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Marie Chavanon, as Head of Innovation in Sanofi China, is leading an agile team, which acts as the spearheads of Sanofi digital transformation and drives innovation internally and with external players. Her mission to inspire innovation across Sanofi, build new competencies, connect with startups and big tech players to accelerate the digitalization of Sanofi’s core business and create new business models.

Previously as Digital Strategy Director of MSD China, Marie lead digital activities and transformation, with capabilities such as digitally enabled Sales Force, digital marketing, digital innovation, Univadis platform and digital content strategy.

In previous 10 years, Marie worked in consumer-facing industries such as cosmetics and fashion, with roles in direct marketing, digital marketing and business analysis and was also the co-founders of a bamboo focused fashion brands. She was also a Client Director in Digitals managing clients and digital projects across many industries including automotive, luxury, sport, pets’ health and more.

In China since 2008, Marie speaks Mandarin fluently.