Speakers Bio Data (as of September 30, 2014) Thursday, October 16 Fibre Session: Cotton Cotton Market under the “Target Price” Policy Fang Gao, Executive VP & Secretary General, China Cotton Association Australian Cotton: Leading the way in Responsible Cotton Production Eimar McDonagh, Chairperson, ACSA, Australia BCI: Striving for Scale and Impact Patrick Laine, CEO, BCI, Switzerland Fibre Session: Man-made Fibres Polyester & Nylon: Capacity Explosion Hurting Growth Prospects Ashish Pujari, Senior Director, Aromatics & Fibers, IHS Chemical, Singapore Vision on Development of Global and China Man-Made Fibers Industry Xiaoping Duan, Chairman, China Chemical Fiber Association, China Spun-dyed Viscose Fibers – A Possible Solution to Tackle Water Pollution Ajay Sardana, Global Head of Customers, Birla Cellulose, India Friday, October 17 Formal Opening Session Tiankai Wang, President, CNTAC, China Keynote Address Shared Opportunity, Shared Responsibility – Reality and Future of China’s Textile Industry Tiankai Wang, President, CNTAC, China Keynote Address Welcome Note Roberto Azevedo, Secretary General, WTO, Switzerland Josue Gomes da Silva, President, ITMF World Textile Trade and the WTO Xiaozhun Yi, Deputy Director General, WTO, Switzerland Keynote Address China's Economic Situation and Outlook Shijin Liu, VP (Vice Minister), Development and Research Centre of the State Council, China 1st General Session: Textile Supply Chain Comprehensive Optimization and Integration of Supply Chain Structure to Improve Enterprise Competitiveness for Sustainable Development Shizhen Liu, Chairman, Luthai Textile Co., Ltd., China Development Trends in the Textile Machinery Industry Xueping Pan, Chairman, Jinsheng Industry Co., Ltd., China Sustainable Apparel Manufacturing: Genuine Stewardship of Total Supply Chain Garry Bell, Vice President, Gildan Active Wear, Canada H&M’s Sustainability Approach: Supply Chain and Beyond David Antonsson, Supply Chain Manager, Woven, China Region, H&M, Sweden Seeking New Business Opportunities for Traditional Industries Jianhang Jin, President, Alibaba Group, China Saturday, October 18 2nd General Session: Retail Global Sourcing „The Ikea Way“ Calvin Woolley, Dept Trading Area Manager Textiles & Rugs Asia, IKEA, Sweden Retail Supply Chain in Turbulent Market Places Edmin Keh, CEO, Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel Aimer Thinking and Practise of Online to Office Marketing Rongming Zhang, Chairman, Aimer Lingerie, China Moving up the Smiling Curve: The Transformation of a Vertical Textile Manufacturer into Technology + Retail John Cheh, Vice Chairman and CEO, Esquel, Hong Kong Marks & Spencer: Becoming a Sustainable International, Multi-channel Retailer Costas Antimissaris, Director International, Marks & Spencer, UK The Global Textile Machinery Market The Global Textile Machinery Market Situation Christian Schindler, Director General, ITMF 3rd General Session: Technical Textiles & Nonwovens Technical Textiles and Textile Architecture: Nowadays Possibilities and Future Challenges Simon Visser, President, Poly Nederland, Netherlands The Development and Opportunity of China’s Nonwoven & Industrial Textile Industries Lingshen Li, Chairman, China Nonwovens and Industrial Textile Association (CNITA) Advanced Composites in China Raoul Starmans, VP Business Development China, TenCate, China Development of Differential Fibers Wayne C. Hsiao, Senior VP, Formosa Plastics Corporation, Chinese Taipei Fang Gao Ms. Fang Gao is the Head of Cotton and Jute Bureau of All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives. She is also the Executive Vice Chairperson & Secretary General of China Cotton Association. She has years of working experience in the management of cotton industry in government departments. Ms. Gao has a graduate degree in business economy from the Beijing Technology and Business University. Eimear McDonagh Ms. Eimear McDonagh is the General Manager of Export Marketing and Logistics for Namoi Cotton Alliance, Australia. Ms. MacDonagh joined Namoi Cotton in 1999 and has previously held cotton marketing and export positions within Namoi Cotton and with Cotton Trading Corporation Pty Ltd. She has been involved in the agricultural industry in various management capacities since 1992. Ms. MacDonagh has been instrumental in successfully establishing the China and Southeast Asia cotton markets for Namoi Cotton, she is responsible for export sales, client management and logistics from warehouse to spinning mill. Ms. MacDonagh has over 20 years of specialized cotton industry and is currently chairperson of the Australian Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA). Patrick Laine Mr. Patrick Laine is the CEO of Better Cotton Initiative (BCI). Prior to joining BCI in July 2013, Mr. Laine was Director of Corporate Partnerships at WWF, helping the private sector to understand the environmental footprint of their value chain and working with them to develop strategies to reduce or eliminate these impacts. In addition to his sustainability background, Mr. Laine has over 20 years of experience as President for divisions of large multinational corporations. His duties included oversight of factories in the USA, Europe, Asia and Latin America as well as serving as a divisional president of GE Capital for eight years. Mr. Laine has an MBA from Stanford University. Ashish Pujari Education 1994 B.E. Chemical and Polymer Engineering, Pune (India) 1998 Executive MBA, IIM Bangalore (India) Mr. Ashish Pujari currently serves as Senior Director in IHS Chemical and has the responsibility of Asian Aromatics and Global Fibers and Feedstock business. In 2009, he joined Chemical Market Associates, Inc. (CMAI) as a Director with primary responsibility in research and analysis of the Asian Polyester value chain. Mr. Pujari now serves as the Service Leader for three subscription services covering the Global Polyester, Nylon and the Asian Aromatics value chain. Apart from regular market and outlook update, he also leads our effort in creating and updating the long term outlook for the polyester value chain. Mr. Pujari has also been involved in numerous consulting studies in the past four years covering the Aromatics & Polyester value chain. Industry Experience Prior to joining CMAI in 2009, Mr. Pujari gained 15 years of experience with Reliance Industries Limited in India. He started his career in 1994 as a project and operations engineer and was involved in the startup and commissioning of the Hazira complex on the west coast of India. He shifted to the commercial role in mid 1998 after completing a tailor made Executive MBA program from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He started as a Business Analyst working for Reliance’s Executive management, before shifting over to a sales and marketing role handling Fibers Intermediates. Mr. Pujari was also involved in various mergers and acquisitions pertaining to the polyester and raw materials business line. He led the team pursuing M&A in the polyester space from 2007 to 2009 and successfully acquired a major international producer and evaluated several others. Xiaoping Duan Mr. Xiaoping Duan, born in August 1969 in Jiangsu Province of China, Master of Engineering of China Textile University and Master of Management of Fu Dan University, is now the Chairman of China Chemical Fibers Association and the Director of Textile and Chemical Fiber Products Development Center. Mr. Duan has systematic, complete and solid theory foundation and professional technical knowledge on high molecule. He has years of experience in management of chemical fiber and textile industry, industrial development planning and enterprise strategic decision. He successively hold the posts of Vice Division Director of China National Textile Council, Secretary General of China Chemical Fibers Association, Vice General Manager of China National Chemical Fiber Corp., Vice General Manager of Zhejiang Hengyi Group Co., Ltd. And General Manager of China Garments Co., Ltd. Ajay Sardana Mr. Ajay Sardana currently leads Global Customers & Market Intelligence, Liasioning & Sustainability Portfolio of Pulp & Fibre Business of Grasim Industries Ltd. Before this he has held many different positions in the same company where his profile ranged from Heading Textile Research & Application Development Centre (TRADC) to working closely with the Business Director for the overseas spinning business. He has completed his B. Tech. from TITS Bhiwani, M. Tech. from the prestigious institute IIT Delhi and MBA from renowned GlobalNxt U-21 Singapore. Mr. Sardana has rich experience of more than 20 years in the global textile industry. He has an overall exposure of entire textile value chain from Pulp to Garments. He has worked with major textile manufacturers like Reliance, Vardhmann, GPIL and Deepak Spinners at various positions for about 12 years. He also has worked in various global locations like Turkey, Indonesia. Having travelled extensively in Indian Textile Hubs & Globally Textile markets, Mr. Sardana has in depth knowledge about fibre manufacturing, spinning, weaving/knitting & processing and has skills to resolve techno commercial issues. Tiankai Wang Mr. Tiankai Wang is the President of China National Textile and Apparel Council – CNTAC. He is also the Vice President of the International Textile Manufacturers Federation – ITMF. He worked in Shaanxi for 22 years, contributing to the substantial progress in Shaanxi’s industrial and enterprises management and technology. He is devoted to China’s textile industry from 1992 - as Director of Science and Technology Department of Ministry of Textile Industry; Director of Planning Department of China Textile General Association; Deputy Director-General of China Textile Industry Bureau, promoting the economic strategic adjustment of the industry. From 2000, he focused on the supervision and strategic reform of state-owned enterprises. He was the Chairman of State-Owned Key Enterprises Supervision Committee (Vice Minister); and Managing Director, Chairman of China Hi-Tech Group Corporation. He was Vice President of CNTAC from 2008 through Nov. 2011. He was Member of the 11th CPPCC National Committee. As the President of CNTAC from Nov. 2011, he is committed to comprehensively deepening reform and transforming development mode to guide China’s textile industry into a more competitive and sustainable industry. Born in 1946, he has a graduate degree from the China Textile University, now known as the Donghua University. Josué Gomes da Silva Josué Gomes is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Companhia de Tecidos Norte de Minas – Coteminas, the Latin America’s largest textile group and a leading bed and bath home fashion product company, with manufacturing facilities in several countries in the American continent. He is a founder and Chairman of the Board of Cantagalo General Grains S.A., a Board Member of Embraer and of Petrobrás. Josué is also CoChair of the Brazil – United States CEOs Forum; board member of the Instituto de Estudos para o Desenvolvimento Industrial IEDI and was the President of this Institute from 2005 through 2009; member of the Strategic Committee of the Conselho de Empresários da América Latina – CEAL, and Vice President of the Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo – FIESP. Josué Gomes was the President of Associação Brasileira da Indústria Têxtil e de Confecção - ABIT from 2005 through 2007. He is President of the International Textile Manufacturers Federation – ITMF; a member of the Owen School Corporate Council of the Vanderbilt University; and a member of the Board of visitors of the Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo Octavio Frias de Oliveira - ICESP. Mr. Gomes has a graduate degree in civil engineering from the Federal University of Minas Gerais and a law degree from Faculdade Milton Campos. He has a master’s degree in business administration from Vanderbilt University, USA, where he received the Founder’s Medal in recognition for his academic achievement. Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo Mr. Roberto Azevêdo is the sixth Director-General of the WTO. His appointment took effect on 1 September 2013 for a four-year term. Ambassador Azevêdo holds degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Brasilia and in international relations from the “Instituto Rio Branco”, the graduate school of international relations and diplomacy run by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations. He joined the Brazilian Foreign Service in 1984. His first diplomatic posting was to Washington in 1988. He subsequently served in the Brazilian embassy in Montevideo before being assigned to the Permanent Mission of Brazil in Geneva in 1997. In 2001 Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo was named head of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry’s Dispute Settlement Unit where he remained until 2005. During his tenure he acted as chief litigator in many disputes at the WTO and served on WTO dispute settlement panels. From 2006 to 2008 he was Vice-Minister for Economic and Technological Affairs at the Foreign Ministry in Brasilia. In that capacity he was Brazil's chief trade negotiator for the Doha Round and represented Brazil in MERCOSUR negotiations. In 2008 he was appointed Permanent Representative of Brazil to the WTO and other International Economic Organisations in Geneva. Ambassador Azevêdo has been a frequent lecturer on topics related to international economics and has published numerous articles on these issues. He is married to Ambassador Maria Azevêdo. They have two daughters and two granddaughters. Xiaozhun Yi Mr. Yi Xiaozhun has extensive experience in world trade and economics, both as a senior government official and subsequently as China's ambassador to the WTO. He represented China as a key negotiator in China’s WTO accession process, making an important contribution to the negotiations. Prior to becoming China's ambassador to the WTO in 2011, Mr Yi was Assistant Minister and subsequently China's Vice Minister of Commerce in charge of multilateral and regional trade negotiations and cooperation. Besides his contribution to China’s WTO accession, he played a leading role in negotiating numerous free trade agreements (FTAs), including the China-ASEAN agreement, China's first FTA, and advanced China's involvement with Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the 10+3 East Asia Summit (EAS) and related high-level meetings. He also worked as a diplomat at the Chinese Embassy in the United States for more than four years from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. After becoming China’s ambassador to the WTO, Mr Yi was elected as the Chair of the Working Party of the Accession of Lao PDR and showed effective leadership in the process leading to WTO membership for Laos. Mr Yi obtained a Master's degree in economics from Nankai University in China in 1999. He is married to Meng Xiaoling and has one daughter. Shijin Liu Mr. Shijin Liu, Vice President (Vice Minister) of DRC, Senior Research Fellow, Doctorate tutor. Born in Xi'an City of Shaanxi Province in January 1955. Graduated as bachelor of economics from the Department of Economics of Northwest University in February 1982. Worked with Northwest University from March 1982 to October 1986 as lecturer and Director of Teaching and Research Section and studied concurrently in a master's program. Graduated as PhD of economics from the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in November 1989 and worked as Senior Research Associate and Division Director with Institute of Industrial Economics of CASS from December 1989 to March 1994. Started to work with DRC in 1994 and took the posts of Deputy Director of Institute of Market Economy, Deputy Director General of Department of Macroeconomic Research, and Director General of Department of Industrial Economy. Concurrently, he is Executive Director of China Federation of Industrial Economics (CFIE) and Deputy Director of CFIE's Academic Committee, Member of the National Consultant Committee for Industrial Policies, Member of Expert Committee of Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, Member of Academic Committee of China Reform Foundation, and Director of China Development Research Foundation. Advisor to a number of enterprises and professor of a number of universities. Long engaged in the research on economic theories and policies, covering enterprise reforms, evolution of economic system, macroeconomic policies, industrial development and policies. Over 200 of his papers and articles were published on major domestic and foreign journals. He wrote or edited over 10 academic works and finished a series of internal study reports. In 2012, he co-chaired the joint research with the World Bank, China 2030: Building a Modern, Harmonious and Creative Society. Winner of the Prize for Excellent Papers on Economic Science of the Sun Yefang Prize for Economics, CASS Prize for Excellent Papers and the First Prize for China Development Research. Shizhen Liu Mr. Shizhen Liu was born in March 1940. He is member of the Communist Party and a delegate of the provincial people's Congress. Mr. Liu has completed his technical secondary school and is currently the Chairman of Luthai Textile Co., Ltd. From 1968 to 1979 served as deputy general manager of refractory material company in Zi Chuan District of Zibo city; From 1980 to 1988 served as the manager of coal industry company in Zi Chuan District of Zibo city; From 1988 to 1990 served as the director of Zibo seventh cotton textile factory; From 1990 to 2007 served as the Luthai Textile Co., Ltd chairman, general manager; From 2007 March up to now has served as the chairman of Luthai Textile Co., Ltd. Xueping Pan Mr. Xueping Pan,founder of Jiangsu Jinsheng Industry Co., Ltd, is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Group. Mr. Pan holds key positions in several important associations, including vice president of China Textile Machinery Equipment Industry Association, vice president of China Textile Engineering Society, vice president of the Association of Business Management of China’s Textile Industry, and vice president of Changzhou Federation of Industry and Commerce. Mr. Pan has rich experiences in enterprise management, strategy development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, and an EMBA degree from China Europe International Business School. Garry Bell Garry Bell is Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Special Projects for Gildan Activewear Inc, a Canadian publicly-traded, vertically integrated manufacturer and marketer of basic activewear, underwear and hosiery with more than 35,000 employees and a truly global reach. Gildan Activewear Inc has grown, over the last 25 years, from humble Canadian beginnings into one of the world’s leading apparel manufacturers, not only in production volumes but also in the corporate social responsibility platforms. The company has developed a successful methodology which incorporates combining a very broad perspective with intense attention to the smallest details of their operations. This “life cycle approach” has enabled Gildan to become one of the world’s best quality, lowest cost apparel manufacturers while also being a great example of a truly sustainable apparel company. The company’s Genuine Stewardship program has evolved into a comprehensive program encompassing 5 critical pillars, namely • Environmental Stewardship • Labor Relations • Community Engagement • Product Safety • Corporate Governance Each of these pillars incorporates multiple elements which drive the company’s operations, investments and overall business strategies. Mr. Bell has a B.Admin from the University of Ottawa and after spending the early part of his career in the sporting goods industry and another apparel company, he joined Gildan. Mr. Bell has been in various roles within the organization for almost 20 years and has seen the company grow from less than $100M USD in sales to over $2.1B USD in their last fiscal year. Focused initially in sales and marketing management, Mr. Bell has evolved into one of the growing company’s senior executives with areas of expertise ranging across the full spectrum from sales and marketing to operations and CSR. Throughout his career Mr. Bell has been passionate about corporate social responsibility and the conversations surrounding “sustainability” and all of its interpretations. He has collaborated with various participants within the US Cotton industry and spoken at international conferences on a wide range of CSR related topics. Not Yet Available Jianhang Jin Mr. Jianhang Jin joined the Alibaba Group in 1999 as a member of our founding team and has been appointed the president of our company in August 2014. Prior to his current position, Mr. Jin served as senior vice president of corporate affairs from September 2009 to July 2014 and from March 2007 to December 2007. He also served as general manager of China Yahoo! (later Yahoo! Koubei) from January 2008 to August 2009 and was vice president of human resources and the CEO office from January 2006 to February 2007. As a founding member, he has served in a variety of other management roles at different times since our company’s inception, including heading the marketing and website operations functions for one of our marketplaces. Mr. Jin received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Fudan University. Christian Schindler Born in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1968, Mr. Schindler studied economics at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, from where he graduated in 1994. Between 1995 and 1998 he worked as a personal assistant of two Members of Parliament in the German Bundestag, Bonn. In 1998 he joined the Federation of German Wholesale and Foreign Trade (BGA) in Bonn/Berlin as personal assistant and speechwriter of the Association’s President. Between 2001 and 2004 he stayed at the Institute for Economic Policy at the University of Cologne, Germany, and wrote his dissertation receiving a doctorate degree in 2004. Mr. Schindler was appointed Economist of the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) in October 2004. On January 1, 2006, he was promoted to a Director of the Federation by the ITMF-Board. At the ITMF Annual Conference in Dubai 2006 he was nominated by the ITMFBoard and elected by the Committee of Management as the Director General of the Federation as of January 1, 2007. Calvin Woolley Mr. Calvin Woolley is the newly appointed Deputy Trading Area Manager for Textiles and Rugs in the IKEA group Asia Pacific. IKEA is a Swedish home furnishing retailer with a global presence in more than 30 countries. IKEA group employees more than 130,000 coworkers and has an annual turnover of 28 Billion Euros. Last FY the spend for IKEAs textile products and Rugs was 1,3 Billion Euros of which Asia Pacific suppliers accounted for 65%. Mr. Woolley earned a B.Sc Hons in Textile Marketing & Manufacturing from the University of Bolton, greater Manchester UK. He has recently relocated from Sweden with his family to New Delhi, the hub for Asia textiles purchasing within IKEA. Since joining IKEA he spent the past 4 years as Global Category Leader for Textile products, building global sourcing strategies from the Head Quarters of range and development in Almhult Sweden, together with the global trading offices. Mr. Woolley spent more than 12 years in the Swedish Automotive industry where he lead interiors sourcing teams in Global sourcing of plastics, metals, mechanisms as well as Automotive textile upholstery. Previous appointments included Purchasing Manager at Johnson Controls Inc; Key Account Manager, Autoliv Inc; Project manager, Borgstena Textile AB. Mr. Wolley has a passion for Textiles since his youth in Africa where his Father and Grandfather alike ran large spinning, weaving and finishing plants in various countries across southern Africa. Edwin Keh Mr. Edwin Keh is the CEO of the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. He is also on Faculty at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania where he teaches supply chain operations. Until April 2010 Mr. Keh was the SVP COO of Wal-Mart Global Procurement. Prior to Wal-Mart Edwin managed a consulting group that has done work for companies on supply chain, manufacturing, and product design. The practice also did work for non-profit organizations and charities. Mr. Keh co-founded the Consortium For Operational Excellence in Greater China (COER GC). The Consortium is sponsored by the Wharton School and Tsinghua University. Mr. Keh had a career as senior executive with several US consumer goods and retail companies. He was the Managing Director of Payless Shoesource International, Donna Karan International, and Country Road Australia. He also worked for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Mr. Keh serves on multiple industry and educational boards. He advises several other social enterprises. Mr. Keh is the 2011 recipient of the Production and Operations Management Society’s Martin K. Starr Excellence in Production and Operations Management Practice Award. Mr. Keh lives in Hong Kong with his wife Claudia who teaches at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. They have 3 sons. Rongming Zhang Mr. Rongming Zhang is the founder of Aimer brand, the President, CEO, and party secretary of Beijing Aimer Lingerie Co.Ltd. He is also Vice President of China National Garment Association, Vice President of Management Association of China National Textile and Apparel Council, Vice President of China Commerce Association for General Merchandise, Vice President of China National Commission for Color in Fashion and Textile, the Standing Committee member of Beijing Federation of Industry and Commerce, Vice President of Beijing Garment and Textile Association, Vice President of Beijing Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of Beijing and Suzhou Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Zhang has been named as ‘the Labor Model of Beijing’, ‘Golden Award of Beijing Young Entrepreneurs’, ‘the Labor Model of National Textile Industry’, ‘Luminaries of Chinese Textile Brand Culture’. He also won the award of ‘the Innovator of the Year of China Textile Industry’ in 2007 and 2008, ‘the Special Contributor to the Development of Maternal and Child Health Industry of China’ in 2009, he won ‘the Promoter Award of China Color Development’ in 2012, and also named as ‘Beijing Outstanding Builder of Socialism with Chinese characteristics’. Under his leadership, Beijing Aimer Lingerie Co.Ltd is national high-tech enterprise, the design innovation center and technology center of Beijing. Aimer brand also won ‘the Top Ten Fashion Brand of Beijing with the Most Cultural and Creative Elements’ in consecutive years. Aimer brand was also named as the original brand enterprise of Chinese clothing textile that will track and cultivate by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic China in 2012. Aimer won the top industry award in 2011 and 2012 of ‘the Value award of China Fashion Brand’ and ‘Achievement Award of China Fashion Brand’. After more than 20 years brand marketing practices and business operating accumulation, he established the business philosophy of ‘only love could make a better life’. In the future, Mr. Zhang will lead Aimer continually to create the international high-end brand images by fusion oriental aesthetics into Western fashion elements according to the mission of ‘create beauty, spread love’, and trying to make Aimer to become an internationally renowned brand and hundred years history enterprise. John Cheh John Cheh received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Political Science from McGill University and a Ph.D. in Economics from M.I.T. He joined the Canadian Government in 1974 and worked for the Treasury Board and Privy Council Office. From 1981 to 1993, he was with Canada’s Department of External Affairs and International Trade, and served in Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo in senior diplomatic positions. In 1994, John moved to Hong Kong as the President, Asia, of Bell Canada International, in charge of strategic telecommunications investments. In 2001, he became the President of Bombardier China, until he joined Esquel in 2003. John was elected Vice Chairman of the China Cotton Textile Association in 2005 and Vice Chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce for Textile Import and Export in 2009. In 2011, he was appointed a Board Member of the International Textile Manufacturers Federation. In 2012, the University of Western Ontario conferred an Honorary LL.D degree on John in recognition of his expertise in trade and labor issues. Founded in 1978, the Esquel Group manufactures about 110 million cotton shirts annually for leading brands including Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, Hugo Boss, Lacoste and Muji through its 59,000 workers in China, Malaysia, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Its verticallyintegrated operation includes cotton farming, spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing, finishing, garment making, accessories & packaging as well as retailing. Esquel has a long-standing commitment in the areas of social responsibility and sustainable development. Costas Antimissaris Appointed as International Director in June 2014, Mr. Costas Antimissaris was previously responsible for International Business Development at Marks & Spencer. As International Director, he is responsible over 460 M&S stores in over 50 territories across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Mr. Antimissaris has an extensive international background, having worked for Inditex for fifteen years. He was most recently the Managing Director of Uterque, part of the Inditex Group. Prior to that he was the General Managing Director of Zara Spain. Costas has also been the GM of Inditex in Greece and Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary. Prior to this he was a Consultant at Ernst & Young in Greece and a Consultant at the European Commission. He has a Business & Economics degree from the University of Liège, Belgium. He is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Greek. Simon Visser Mr. Simon Visser is president and one of the 3 shareholders of Poly-Ned, together with Mr. Edwin Molenaar and Mr. Bert Boezelman. Poly-Ned, a company in the North of the Netherlands, is specialized in textile architecture. Using technical textile and wire mesh fabric eventually provided with functional or aesthetic coatings, appealing projects are realized such as tensioned membranes, airdomes and permanent textile facades. 25 Years ago Simon Visser started as a young and ambitious civil engineer at Poly-Ned. Nowadays Simon Visser is a known name in the textile fabric industries. And because of his personal and professional interest in architecture, he is also well known with a lot of famous architects in Netherlands and abroad. His main aim is to break open traditional design standards by introducing flexible lightweight solutions made out new developed flexible composites. Furthermore Simon is a R&D expert in innovations, always interested in cooperation with other companies, in acquisition and sales, with a lot of international experience in this field. For example, since a few years Simon has a very good relationship with Ten Cate, to investigate the possibilities in combining light weight composites and technical textiles. And with Philips Lighting he recently developed the new product LEDTex, an attractive combination of LEDs in permanent or temporarily textile facades. For the Olympic Games of this year he created with his team an insulated nonflammable ceiling with specific LowE qualities, of more than 22000 m2 in the Ice Skating ring in Sochi. These projects, only a few are mentioned here, show the possibilities of textiles in the building industry. The goal remains to build lighter and better than traditional building without compromising on quality. And last but not least…….. at a lower price! To reveal the possibilities of building with textile and because of his unfailing enthusiasm in this, Simon is regularly asked for masterclasses and presentations at universities and conferences in and outside of Holland. With an open minded approach of customers’ requests and a creative way of finding solutions Simon and his colleagues of Poly-Ned realized small and big projects in the Netherlands and far abroad. Lingshen Li Mr. Lingshen Li is the President of China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA) and the Director of the Industrial Textiles sub-committee of National Textiles Standardization Technical Committee (SAC/TC209/SC7). Mr. Li has a MBA of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) and a Doctor of Management Science and Engineering of Dong Hua University (DHU). Raoul Starmans As Vice President Business Development of Royal TenCate in China, Mr. Raoul Starmans is responsible for expanding the China footprint of TenCate Advanced Textiles & Composites as well as Xennia Technology Ltd., a subsidiary of Royal TenCate. In this role, Mr. Starmans focusses on building TenCate’s network of partnerships and alliances in China, the setup and management of local sales & marketing operations to leverage TenCate’s existing product portfolio, and further localization efforts to maximize TenCate’s potential in China. He has been with Royal TenCate since July 2012, before that he has performed leadership roles in Procurement and Sales & Marketing in European companies. In these roles he has been working with both multi-national companies as well as local enterprises. He graduated with an MBA at the Vlerick Gent Leuven Management School and Peking University and is an active participant of National School of Development at Peking University and a member of relevant industry associations. Ms. Starmans has lived in China for 9 years and currently resides with his wife and two children in Chengdu. Material technology group Royal TenCate is a multinational company which combines textile technology with chemical process technology in the development and production of functional materials, modules and systems which are an optimum match for specific market requirements. TenCate is the world market leader in technical textiles. TenCate maintains an active portfolio policy and with its advanced technological base is able to offer the widest range of functionalities in materials, modules and systems. It does this independently or in co-operation with third parties. TenCate operates principally in six end-markets reflecting the global trends of safety and sustainability. These markets are mobility, infrastructure, water management, defense, personal protection, sport and leisure. Wayne C. Hsiao Mr. Wayne C. Hsiao is the Senior Vice President of Petrochemical Segment for Formosa Plastics Corporation, Taiwan. He has a graduate degree in chemistry from Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan then joined Formosa Plastics Corporation in 1976 with well experience in R&D, production, inspection and management. Mr. Hsiao is also Director of Taiwan Man-Made Fiber Industries Association
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