Simon Baptist is Editorial Director and Chief Economist at The Economist Intelligence Unit. Prior to his current role, he has held a number of other senior management and editorial positions in the business, including Managing Director for Asia, Regional Director of our Asia editorial team, Director of Global Forecasting, and Consulting Director in both Europe and Asia

Simon’s focus is on the global economy, national and international political developments, and public policy. He engages with business, government and international organisations, helping them to understand the operational and strategic implications of the EIU’s forecasts.

He has a doctorate in economics from and was a lecturer at Oxford University, along with degrees in economics and science from the University of Tasmania. His academic research investigated technology and the determinants of productivity in manufacturing firms.

Bettina Schoen-Behanzin speaks Chinese fluently and has around 25 years of work experience in Asia, mostly in China, leading operational business as well as managing corporate functions. As the Regional Representative Asia for Freudenberg Group, she has been leading the Regional Corporate Center and providing guidance and support for strategic planning and business development for the Freudenberg Business Groups in the region since 2012.

From March 2008 to September 2012, she served as the Managing Director of Wittur Elevator Components China. She was the Managing Director of Rittal Electro-Mechanical Technology China from 2000 to 2008, after working as the General Manager of Rittal in China as well as the Sales and Marketing Manager of Rittal in Singapore. She joined the Rittal Headquarters in Germany in 1992.

In May 2021, she was elected as the Vice President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and the Chair of the Shanghai Chapter. From April 2016 to May 2020, she served as the Chair of the Board of German Chamber Shanghai. In addition, she is the Vice President of the Shanghai Pudong Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment.

Bettina Schoen-Behanzin acquired her master degree in Sinology, Business Economics and Political Science at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. She did her post-graduate studies in Chinese and Economics at Fudan University in Shanghai.

In 2019, she became the first German woman to receive the Gold Magnolia Award from the Shanghai Municipal Government.

Carla Tang has over 15 years of professional experience in financial services industry across China, Spain and UK. She joined in Banco Santander since 2007 and has a diverse background in strategic partnerships, governance, risk management and projects. She is currently working as the legal representative and Executive Director of Santander Consulting (Beijing) Co,. ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Santander Group in China, with a focus of strategic collaboration with partners. Before that, she worked as Asia-Pacific Head of Risk Governance and Asia-Pacific Head of Corporate Risk in Banco Santander. Prior to Santander, Carla worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers as an auditor serving banking clients. Carla has a bachelor’s degree in International Finance from Fudan University and an MBA degree from China Europe International Business School.

Audry (Hong) Li is a partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm based in its Shanghai Office and co-heads the firm's Cross-border Investment/M&A practice group. She also sits on the panel of arbitrators at CIETAC, SHIAC and SCIA.

Audry is a leading corporate lawyer with international reputation and highly ranked as a Leading Individual in Corporate/M&A in China by international legal media including Chambers & Partners Global/Asia Pacific and Legal 500 consecutively from 2008 through 2022. She was appreciated as “a leading authority in the market” and “a spectacular practitioner” with “complete understanding of local market and excellent business sense and innovation in transactions”. She was selected as a “Top Woman Lawyer of Shanghai” by Shanghai Bar Association in 2011 and a “Top 15 Woman Lawyer in China” by Asia Legal Business in 2012.

Audry focuses her practice on serving multi-national companies as their “trusted adviser” on long-term basis and has a reputation of being able to find pragmatic solutions for complex and challenging transactions and adding value to clients. Her clients are large multinational companies such as Koch Industries Inc. (including INVISTA, Georgia Pacific, Koch Engineered Solutions，Koch Supply & Trading), Soft Bank Vision Found II, I Square Capital, Allison Transmission, Mason, Halma International, SIG Combibloc and Metall Zug AG .

Audry’s recent notable transactions include advising 1) SIG Combibloc AG on its US$335 million acquisition of a leading industry player’s Asia Pacific Fresh operations; 2) Soft Bank Vision Fund II as a lead investor on more than a dozen of large financing investment projects in Chinese companies of various high tech sectors; 3) Barrick Gold Corporation on the strategic cooperation & US$ 960m sale of Veladero Mine to Shandong Gold Group and US$ 600m cross investment projects between the two companies; 4) Booking.com on becoming the first foreign company to operate independent e-commerce business with intangible goods in China and 5) Christie’s International on becoming the first international fine art auction house to operate independently in China (Shanghai)

Audry has a LL.M. from New York University School of Law, a LL.M. from Wuhan University School of Law, and B.A. and graduate diploma from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Prior to her private practice, Audry worked for 7 years at the legal department of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and CIETAC. Audry was a Global Adjunct Professor in NYU Law School in the Shanghai program, a fellow of Young Leaders Forum of National Committee on US-China Relations and a Asia 21 Young Leader of Asia Society. She also speaks and writes on PRC law topics including co-authored the Guide to Mergers & Acquisitions in China for Foreign Investors on behalf of China Ministry of Commerce as a China–Germany governmental cooperative project in 2015.

Mattie Bekink is responsible for the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network’s China strategy, including programme development and client engagement across China.

Ms Bekink has extensive experience in the public, private and policy sectors. Prior to joining The Economist Group, she was the Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission in the Netherlands. She also ran an eponymous consulting business, advising businesses, universities and non-profit organisations on China policy, strategy, public affairs, and CSR. Ms Bekink practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, has worked with the US-Asia Law Initiative at NYU Law School and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative China Program, and served in the legal department at General Motors China.

Ms Bekink has a BA in International Relations from Stanford University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

James is a Director at Alantra’s Corporate Finance team. His main focus is the cross-boarder M&A activities in China.

Alantra is a global mid-market investment bank and asset manager, with over 500 professionals and 20 offices across Europe, the US, Asia and Latin America.

Prior to Alantra, James has spent significant period of career in the overseas capital market before returning to China to lead Trina Solar’s global M&A team, looking after the company’s strategic acquisitions internationally.

As a corporate finance specialist, he has been engaged to lead negotiation, deal structuring, valuation and execution for various transactions, including M&A, divestment, capital injection and restructure in China. Over the span of 12 years in investment banking and direct investment, James has provided transaction advice for a large number of leading MNCs and funds such as Lear, SKC Group, Kraft Heinz, Lone Star, Investor AB, Bureau Veritas and etc.

Weisi Xie is the Shanghai Director at the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network (EICN), and is responsible for engaging with top executives in the region on key economic and political issues as well as industry-specific analysis to support their businesses in the dynamic Chinese market.

Mr. Xie served as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University before joining EICN. As a trained trade economist, his teaching and research mainly focused on the fields of international trade, industrial economics and economic development, with a particular emphasis on China’s economy in a global perspective. He also possesses extensive expertise in the non-profit sector through work experience with think tanks and international organizations, including the Shanghai Institute for National Economy and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland, where he contributed to multiple government counseling projects and policy studies. His work has appeared in leading academic journals as well as major economic policy publications.

Mr. Xie has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a B.A. in International Business from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.