AmCham China is pleased to announce that Colm Rafferty has been re-elected as Chair of the Board of Governors for 2023. Gloria Xu has been re-elected as Vice Chair, with Roberta Lipson joining her as fellow Vice Chair. All three will serve one-year terms, commencing January 1, 2023. As per the Constitution, the three Officers were elected by the full 2023 Board of Governors.
“The AmCham China Vision remains our guiding principle, namely that we are a member-driven organization dedicated to improving the business environment in China and promoting constructive and sustainable US-China economic relations. In 2023, we will continue this important work of championing our Vision, with another fantastic Board that brings new diverse perspectives and contributions. I’m excited to see what we can do to take things to the next level.”
Colm Rafferty, 2023 AmCham China Chairman
Colm Rafferty is Vice President – Developing Markets and Chairman – China for Vermeer Corporation. Vermeer is a global manufacturer of innovative solutions used to help connect people to the necessities of life, to help manage precious natural resources, and to help feed and fuel the world. Vermeer products are used in a variety of applications from underground utility infrastructure development, to precision mining, to solar field installation, waste material processing, and agricultural mechanization. Prior to joining Vermeer, Colm worked with Cummins and Alibaba.com. He holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies from Brown University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
Colm has served on the Board six times previously, becoming Chair for the first time in 2022 after four terms as Vice Chair. In 2019, he received the Chairman’s Service Award.
Gloria Xu is China Country Manager and Vice President, External Affairs of Albemarle and is charged to develop a strategic vision and effective engagement plans for the company to grow sustainably in the country. Before joining Albemarle in February 2022, Gloria worked for Dow Inc for more than seven years, with her last role as Vice President, Greater China, serving as Dow’s corporate representative with government, trade associations and other key external stakeholders. Before joining Dow in 2014, she led the China government affairs functions of DuPont and Standard Chartered Bank respectively for 13 years. Gloria was China Public Relations Manager of Alibaba.com Group in 2000-2001. From 1993 to 2000, Gloria was a political correspondent with China Daily, covering legislative and foreign affairs, military, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan news.
Gloria now enters her sixth term on the AmCham China Board, and her third year in the Vice Chair role.
Roberta Lipson is the founder of United Family Healthcare (UFH) and the Vice Chair of New Frontier Health. She has over 40 years of experience as a pioneer in the healthcare industry in China. She originally co-founded UFH’s predecessor company Chindex in 1981, expanding the business from China’s top medical equipment distribution company into China’s first and largest foreign-invested healthcare system. UFH now runs 11 hospitals and almost 20 clinics in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, Hainan and Shenzhen.
Roberta is an active leader in the business community in Beijing, currently serving for the ninth year as a director and audit committee chair of the US-China Business Council, and enters her seventh term on the AmCham China Board. In 2009, her outstanding contributions in China earned her “The Great Wall Friendship Award”, and in 2014 Roberta was named the inaugural recipient of the AmCham China Pioneer Award.
Following the conclusion of the 2023 Board of Governors Election, AmCham China announced the following individuals have been elected for two-year terms, to serve on the 2023 and 2024 Boards (in no particular order):
Sherry Carbary, Boeing
Colm Rafferty, Vermeer
Roberta Lipson, United Family Healthcare
Alan Beebe, Individual member
Isabel Ge Mahe, Apple
Jerry Guo, KKR
Tony Jiang, Intel
Existing board members, who will join them on the 2023 Board, are:
Gloria Xu, Albemarle
Allan Gabor, Merck
William Zarit, Cohen Group
Su Cheng Harris-Simpson, SCHS Asia
Jeremy Huff, Morgan Stanley
Two Board of Governors Members from the 2022 BOG will step down after completing one year of their two-year terms. Taking their place to complete the rest of their one year term will be:
Jian Lu, LinkedIn
Roan Kang, Microsoft
The new Board and Officers will take up their appointments on January 1, 2023.