Asia Society Board Welcomes New Trustees at Fall Meeting in New York | Asia Society

Asia Society Board Welcomes New Trustees at Fall Meeting in New York

NEW YORK; November 1, 2016 — At its fall meeting in New York, the Asia Society Board of Trustees announced the election of the following new members: Nicolás Aguzin, Isaac (Yitz) Applbaum, Francisco Aristeguieta, Guoqing Chen, Duncan Clark, Ambassador John D. Negroponte, Anthony J. Walton, and Kenneth P. Wilcox. 

"We are delighted to welcome this distinguished group of new Trustees to our global board," said Asia Society President and CEO Josette Sheeran. "These new Board members bring a rich variety of experience and knowledge to the Asia Society family. With the addition of this accomplished group, our Board is now made up of over 60 leaders committed to strengthening Asia Society's work in the areas of policy and business, arts and culture, and education. As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of our founding by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, the board will help us chart and execute strategies for our next six decades."

Biographies of the new Trustees follow.

Nicolás Aguzin
Chairman and CEO, J.P. Morgan Asia Pacific; based in Hong Kong

"Nicolás Aguzin and J.P. Morgan have shown great leadership in helping us convene experts in finance and workforce readiness from across Asia," said Sheeran. "We are particularly grateful for his support for the One Step Ahead series begun at Asia Society Hong Kong, and look forward to his continued input in our global business programming."

Nicolás Aguzin is the Chairman & CEO for J.P. Morgan Asia Pacific, overseeing the firm’s overall activities across the Asia Pacific, as well as directly managing the Banking franchise throughout the region. Aguzin chairs the Asia Pacific Management Committee, and is also a member of J.P. Morgan’s firm-wide Corporate & Investment Bank Management Committee. He has spent his career advising clients on strategic and corporate finance transactions.

Aguzin was previously the CEO for J.P. Morgan Latin America, responsible for overseeing all of J.P. Morgan’s activities in Latin America. He was also the Head of Investment Banking Coverage, Mergers & Acquisitions and Capital Markets in the region.

Aguzin joined J.P. Morgan in 1990 in Buenos Aires as a financial analyst in the Credit Group. In 1991, he moved to New York, where he worked in the Corporate Finance Services Group and focused primarily on cross-border mergers and acquisitions for U.S. clients. In 1992, Aguzin returned to Buenos Aires in the Investment Banking team where he participated in several privatizations, capital markets and advisory transactions. In 1996, he moved to the Latin America Mergers & Acquisitions Group in New York, and was appointed head of the group in 2000. In 2002, he was appointed head of Latin America Investment Banking Coverage, Mergers & Acquisitions and Capital Markets, formerly known as Latin America Investment Banking. In 2008 and 2009, in addition to his responsibilities as CEO for Latin America and head of Latin America Investment Banking, Nicolás served as Senior Country Officer for Brazil.

Isaac (Yitz) Applbaum
Principal and Founding Partner of MizMaa Ventures; based in San Francisco and Jerusalem

"Yitz Applbaum is an innovator and investor in high-tech, equally at home in Israel and in Silicon Valley," said Sheeran. "He is also a leader among those building bridges between Israel and East Asia."

Isaac Applbaum is a Principal and Founding Partner at MizMaa Ventures, a fund focused on investing in Israeli technology companies and creating a bridge between those companies and the Asian market. Applbaum also serves as the Chief Evangelist for Radius Technologies, a leading company in the predictive analytics market. Previously, Applbaum was a Partner and Managing Director for Israel at Lightspeed Venture Partners an early stage venture capital firm with over three billion dollars under management.

Prior to joining Lightspeed, Applbaum was the founder and CEO of Concorde Solutions Inc. (CSI). In 1999 he sold CSI to Bank of America becoming a Senior Vice President with responsibility for running the bank’s E-ventures group and as an advisor to the strategic investments group.

Applbaum currently serves as a member of the board of directors of KILI Technologies, and SecureKey Technologies. He is an advisor to EIGHT VC Partners and Owl Ventures. His philanthropic involvements include serving as Senior Advisor for Philanthropy to the Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat. Applbaum is on the board of directors of the California Israel Chamber of Commerce, The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the Shalem Institute, the American Action Network, and the Republican Jewish Coalition. He is also a member of the Young Presidents Organization.

Francisco Aristeguieta
CEO, Citigroup Asia; based in Hong Kong

"Citi has been a pioneer in serving Asian markets for nearly 115 years, and Francisco Aristeguieta's leadership in Latin American and Asia make him an ideal new member of our Board," said Sheeran. "We are delighted that he is joining as a Trustee."

Francisco Aristeguieta is the CEO of Citigroup Asia, responsible for all business in the region's 16 markets. Before assuming this role in June 2015, he served as CEO of Latin America, leading a three-year repositioning effort in the region for the 23 countries where Citi is currently present. Prior to that, he was Citi Transaction Services (CTS) Head for Latin America & Mexico, managing the Institutional Clients Group's core product set: Cash Management, Trade, Custody, Corresponding Banking and Export Agency Finance. He was a member of the Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex) Executive Committee and of the CTS Global Executive Committee. Aristeguieta has also served as CEO for the Andean Region Cluster of countries (Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador & Bolivia) and Colombia directly, following stints as CEO for Citi Venezuela and, before that, Ecuador.

Aristeguieta reports to Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat and is a member of Citi's Operating Committee. He is also a member of the Board of Citigroup Foundation and Citi Ventures and has been a member of the Young Presidents Organization since 2003. In addition, he served as Vice Chairman and member of the Board of Directors of Banco de Chile, the largest financial group in Chile. He has been a member of several other boards, including the Association of American Chambers of Commerce of Latin America, the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, Junior Achievement Americas, Banking Association of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, as well as American Chambers of Commerce of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, and the Consejo de Empresas Americanas of Colombia. 

Aristeguieta joined Citigroup in 1994 as Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager for the Corporate Bank. In 1997, he became Head of the Corporate Bank, Financial Institutions and Public Sector for Citi Venezuela. 

Before joining Citi, Mr. Aristeguieta worked for Vestcor Partners for which he covered debt capital markets for Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil, and, prior to that, for Petroleos de Venezuela's (PDVSA) Project Finance Group.

Guoqing Chen
Vice Chairman and CEO, Pacific American Corporation; based in New York

"Guoqing Chen is a major figure in Chinese business and a pioneering figure in China’s emergence in the global economy," said Sheeran. "Asia Society seeks a full range of perspectives on our board, and Mr. Chen will bring valuable insights."

Chen Guoqing, with his brother, Chen Feng, founded Hainan Airlines, now known as HNA Group in 1993. Developed from a local aviation transportation operator to a conglomerate encompassing core divisions of aviation, holding, tourism, capital, logistics and EcoTech, HNA Group’s business outreach has expanded from Hainan Island around the globe. HNA Group has 12 listed companies with assets valued at over RMB 600 billion, and nearly 200,000 employees worldwide. In July 2016, HNA Group was listed in the Fortune 500, ranking No. 353 with annual revenue of approximately US $29.56 billion.

In addition to serving as a Founder of HNA Group, Chen serves as Vice Chairman and CEO of Pacific American Corporation (PAC), a subsidiary of HNA, based in New York City. He is the Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of the U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce and a Board of Trustees member at China Institute. 

HNA Group has contributed over RMB 1 billion to charitable and not-for-profit causes in the past two decades, including disaster relief in Haiti, Yushu and Quzhou, establishment of scholarships at ten universities, the the establishment of centers for cataract patients in Qinghai, China and Central Africa, the Zhishan Well project serving underdeveloped areas of Hainan, and coastal defense forest construction in Hainan as part of an environmental protection program. 

As a philanthropist himself, Chen has donated over RMB 2.2 million to the construction of Mingxin Colonial Elementary School in Mankang, Tibet, Guoqing Hope Elementary School in Yushu, Qinghai, Xuexiangwan Elementary School in Dazi, Tibet and Middle School Library in Zhanang, Tibet. To help under-privileged youth in urban areas in China, Chen donated over RMB 600,000 to Bainian Vocational School and Dandalion School in Beijing.

Duncan Clark
Chairman, BDA China; based in Beijing and San Francisco

"Duncan Clark is a technology pioneer, a longtime resident of China, and a longtime friend of Asia Society," said Sheeran. "He is an alumnus of our Asia 21 Young Leaders Network, and he has his finger on the pulse of the growing hi-tech space in China, and is a great talent for identifying the next great entrepreneurs in that country."

Duncan Clark is Chairman of BDA China (www.bda.com), the advisory firm he founded in 1994 after four years with Morgan Stanley in London and Hong Kong. With a team of close to 100 professionals in Beijing, BDA provides consultancy services to private equity firms and hedge funds investing primarily in the technology and consumer sectors, in China and neighboring markets.

An early advisor to leading China Internet entrepreneurs, Clark is author of Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built, shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey 2016 Business Book of the Year and appearing in the coming months in over fifteen languages.

He serves on a number of boards including Bangkok Bank (China) in Shanghai, the Board of Trustees of Asia Society and on the international board of WildAid (WildAid.org) whose mission is to reduce the demand in Asia for illegal wildlife products.

He recently commenced a three year position as Senior Visiting Fellow at the new Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics, his alma mater, after several years as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University where he co-founded the ‘China 2.0’ research initiative looking at the rise of China’s Internet sector and its impact at home and on the global technology landscape.

Clark is an active early stage investor in a number of technology ventures including AppAnnie (invested by Sequoia Capital). He grew up in the UK, US and France. He served as Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China from 2010-2012 and was appointed O.B.E. in 2013 for services to British commercial interests in China. 
 
John D. Negroponte
Vice chairman, McLarty Associates; based in Washington D.C.

"At a time of great and sometimes perilous global change, Ambassador Negroponte's four-decade career in public service is a formidable asset to the world and now also to the Asia Society," said Sheeran. "As a member of the Asia Society Policy Institute Advisory Council, he has already lent his valuable expertise to our policy work. We look forward to his continued wisdom and guidance."

John D. Negroponte joined McLarty Associates in 2009, following a distinguished career in diplomacy and national security. Ambassador Negroponte held government positions abroad and in Washington between 1960 and 1997 and again from 2001 to 2008. Since 2009, Ambassador Negroponte has also been the Brady Johnson Distinguished Fellow in Grand Strategy and Senior Lecturer in International Affairs at the Jackson Institute of Yale University, his alma mater.

He has been Ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations, and Iraq. In Washington he served twice on the National Security Council staff, first as Director for Vietnam in the Nixon Administration and then as Deputy National Security Advisor under President Reagan. He has also held a cabinet level position as the first Director of National Intelligence under President George W. Bush. His most recent position in government was as Deputy Secretary of State, where he served as the State Department’s Chief Operating Officer. 

While in the private sector from 1997 to 2001, Ambassador Negroponte was Executive Vice President of the McGraw-Hill Companies, with responsibility for overseeing the company’s international activities. During those years he was also Chairman of the French-American Foundation. He serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Council of the Americas/Americas Society, co-chairman of the U.S.-Philippines Society, and member of the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. He has also served as Chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.

Ambassador Negroponte has received numerous public service awards, including the State Department’s Distinguished Service Medal on two separate occasions, the highest award conferred by the Secretary of State. In 2009, President Bush awarded Ambassador Negroponte the National Security Medal for his outstanding contributions to U.S. national security.

Anthony J. Walton
Vice Chairman, Americas, Standard Chartered Bank; based in New York

"We are grateful to Tony Walton and Standard Chartered for their long-term support of Asia Society," said Sheeran. "Tony himself was introduced to Asia Society by David Rockefeller in 1969; we appreciate Tony's longtime participation on our Global Business Council and are so pleased to have him join the Board."

Anthony Walton is Vice Chairman, Americas for Standard Chartered Bank, based in New York, where he is responsible for overseeing the Bank’s relationships with its key institutional clients, as well as strategic direction for the Americas. He plays a critical role in developing business between the Americas and Asia, in particular China, for the Bank and its clients.

Walton has over 40 years of commercial and investment banking experience. He started his banking career with the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York and undertook multiple assignments worldwide in his 16-year tenure. His final role at Chase was Senior Vice President and CEO of the Global Trade Finance Group, which he founded in more than 40 countries.

From 1983 to 1993, Walton was Chief General Manager, Americas and Europe, of Westpac Banking Corporation and served on the main Board of Directors of Westpac in Sydney, Australia. After his time at Westpac, Walton served as CEO, separately, of two private investment banks – one owned by members of the Wal-Mart Walton family, and then the Caspian Group, an emerging markets investment bank located in 20 countries. Mr. Walton was also a partner at McFarland Dewey and Co., a corporate advisory firm and broker-dealer based in NewYork City.

Walton is active in multiple corporate and philanthropic endeavors. He acts as a Senior Advisor to the New Hope Group, Chengdu, China, one of the largest private enterprises in China with interests in agribusiness, finance and real estate.

He serves on the board of New York City’s Financial Services Advisory Committee, the China Business Initiative Advisory Board of Columbia Business School, the American Australian Association, and the Board of The Volcker Alliance. He is an active Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Asia Society where he serves on the Global Business Council. He is a member of The Economic Club, The Links Club, The Pilgrims, and The Ausable Club, where he serves as a Trustee.

Kenneth P. Wilcox
Chairman, Silicon Valley Bank; based in San Francisco

“Having established Silicon Valley Bank’s presence in China, Kenneth Wilcox has lent invaluable expertise to our work on innovation and hi-tech in China,” said Sheeran. “He has been a longtime supporter of Asia Society Northern California, currently serving as co-chair after a decade on the advisory board. We are delighted to welcome him to our global board.”

Kenneth Wilcox joined Silicon Valley Bank in 1990 as Regional Vice President of the Bank's East Coast Technology Group. He held increasingly responsible positions with the Bank, including Manager of the East Coast Technology Group, Executive Vice President and Manager of the East Coast Technology Group, and Chief Banking Officer. Wilcox was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Bank in 2000 and was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company in 2001. 

Wilcox is a member of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and a member of the Boards of Directors of Silicon Valley Leadership Group, an organization with an emphasis on issues of importance to employers, employees and residents of Silicon Valley (since 2001), the Bay Area Council, a public policy advocacy organization (since 2007), the Northern California Advisory Board of Asia Society (since 2007), the University of California San Francisco Young Adult and Family Center (since 2009) and as an advisory director of the following: Canyon Snow, a consulting firm (since 2009) and the University of California Santa Cruz Graduate School of Business Administration (since 2009).

Previously, Wilcox served on the Board of Directors of Zhejiang Uni-Power Guarantee Limited (during 2008) and the Silicon Valley Education Foundation (from 2007 to 2008). Wilcox will become Chairman of Silicon Valley Bank, and will focus exclusively on the Company's operations in China, with a priority of establishing its joint venture bank.


About Asia Society

Asia Society is the leading educational organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context. Across the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, the Society provides insight, generates ideas, and promotes collaboration to address present challenges and create a shared future. Founded in 1956, Asia Society is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational institution headquartered in New York with new state-of-the-art cultural centers and gallery spaces in Hong Kong and Houston, and offices in Los Angeles, Manila, Mumbai, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Washington, D.C. and Zurich.