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Speaker: John Holden, Senior Director for China, McLarty Associates

Holden’s China career spans more than four decades, twenty-eight years of which he spent on the ground in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei.  He most recently served as President and CEO of the US-China Strong Foundation after a decade in Beijing as Managing Director and Senior Counselor for Hill+Knowlton Strategies; Founding Chairman of Shaklee (China) Ltd.; Associate Dean at Peking University’s Yenching Academy and Professor of Practice at its Guanghua School of Management. While at Peking University, Holden received the Friendship Award, the most prestigious honor granted by China to foreigners.

From 1998 to 2005, Holden was President of the National Committee on United States–China Relations. For the twelve prior years, he was employed by Cargill, where he played key roles in the establishment of a wide range of businesses in China and served as chairman of its China holding company.

Holden has been active in the American Chambers of Commerce in both Hong Kong and Beijing, and served as chairman of the Board of Governors of the latter organization. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and serves as adviser to or director of a number of business, philanthropic, and educational organizations.

Also known by his Chinese name 何立强，Holden has a solid foundation in literary and Mandarin Chinese, which he studied at the University of Minnesota (BA magna cum laude) and Stanford University (MA and all PhD coursework).

Part of the Critical Issues Confronting China Series