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