Song Hong is an experienced program facilitator and manager with over 16 years in business education fields, including served as the Chief Representative to China for 8 years first for the Mt Eliza Business School (ranked by the Financial Times as the best provider of Executive Education in the Asia Pacific) and second for Mt Eliza BS’s new owner - the Melbourne Business School (MBS) as part of Melbourne University, Australia.
Prior to joining Mt Eliza/MBS, she was a syndicate leader and lecturer at the Sino-Australia Management Training Centre for senior executives of China’s non-ferrous metals State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) where over 3000 such executives were trained.
She holds a MBA degree from Monash University in Australia and has travelled to many countries to assess cultural differences. In a cross-culture training program, as a Chinese person, she delivers her broad local and international experiences and knowledge to participants.
She speaks very good English. Chinese is her mother tongue.
Nationality: Chinese
Shelley Warner has had 28 years of professional work experience outside her Australian homeland. She is the President of Asia Pacific Access Ltd incorporated in Beijing. She has been engaged for 23 years now in China in high level assessment of, and negotiation with, various Chinese state and non-state agencies, and in consulting and training.
Her first professional assignment to China began in January 1973. She served two terms as a diplomat in the Australian Embassy in Beijing, rising to the position of Counsellor - Economic and Political. In between other consultancy assignments, from 1998-2003 she managed a US$15 million capacity building/training program aimed at developing behaviours and procedures in Chinese national and provincial agencies which would improve the efficiency of their operations.
Shelley has served as a consultant on several DFID projects in China including the SW Basic Education Project and the ACWF-DFID Partnership (as British Council consultant).
She speaks very good Chinese and is an honours graduate (equiv to MA) in Chinese Studies from Melbourne University. English is her mother tongue.
Nationality: Australian
Tony Voutas has been working professionally for 37 years outside his Australian homeland in Asia and the Pacific. He has been training others and consulting in China for 21 years now, including on many development assistance projects. He is the managing director of Asia Pacific Access Pty Ltd which has a wholly-owned subsidiary incorporated in Beijing.
He brings to his cross-cultural training for China a professional and personal knowledge of 28 of China's provinces, four and a half years experience in the highly multi-cultural Asian Development Bank in the Philippines, 15 years sociological and political work in Papua New Guinea, and an academic specialization in Asian Studies (Australian National University). Also of relevance to the British Council, he has had four years experience working in Beijing and Canberra for the Development Studies Centre of the Australian National University (similar to IDSS at Sussex University). His experience was recognized by the local Australian business community when they elected him to be the Chairperson of the Australia-China Chamber of Commerce in Beijing for the 2003-2004 term.
He has a working knowledge of Chinese and his mother tongue is English
Nationality: Australian
Dan Bass served as the Director of Asia Pacific Access Relocation Services Division for one and a half years. He is an American with over thirteen years work experience in China.
His educational background has a strong focus on China - a graduate in Chinese Studies/ History from the State University of New York (Albany), with additional courses in Chinese studies at Beijing University, University of California (Berkley) and San Jose State University.
His experience in China prior to joining APA focused on
1) teaching others in cross-cultural management & communication, and
2) direct hands-on management of HR responsibilities and business development in China.
He speaks fluent Chinese. English is his mother tongue
Nationality: American
Jane Pierini has lived and worked in Hong Kong and Mainland China for the past sixteen and a half years; she has a BA degree in Modern Chinese Studies as well as a Masters in Social Work. Jane communicates fluently in Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese) and has travelled extensively in China.
She brings to cross-cultural training a broad experience of life in this country, and easily shares her enthusiasm with training participants; Jane also puts to good use her social work skills, to stimulate reflection, discussion and help participants get the most from their session.
She speaks fluent Chinese. English is her mother tongue
Nationality: British