Dear Asia Society Northern California members and friends,
 
Thank you for your interest and support. Six months into my new role as Executive Director of our Center, I am excited to share with you our progress.
 
Building on a 20-year foundation in San Francisco, our Center is expanding into Silicon Valley. Over the past year, in addition to our San Francisco programming, we have hosted monthly high-level dialogues and cultivated an audience in Silicon Valley which has effectively doubled our footprint.
 
Now, in these tense times between the U.S. and China, we are diving deeper into what we see as the core issue at the center of the U.S.-China relationship – technology and innovation. Our aim is to offer an informed and constructive dialogue about what China’s rise into the technology space means for the rest of the world and the impact it may have on our local community.
 
Asia Society Policy Institute President Kevin Rudd recently spoke to our largest audience yet in Silicon Valley. He said that the U.S. and China are poised to enter an era defined by ‘strategic competition’ rather than ‘strategic engagement’, especially in the technology sector. We will be covering this closely. 

While China and technology/innovation is our current focus, we will continue to engage the public on all critical issues facing the U.S., Asia, and the world.
 
Stay tuned for announcements about our upcoming programs including: our China SOE Report Launch on November 5, Made in China 2025: The Policy Behind the Rhetoric conference in mid-January, and our Annual Dinner on April 9.

In addition to building our programming, we are also building our team. This Fall, we welcomed two new terrific staff: Chris Hirano joins us as Director of Development from the Exploratorium and Stanford. Matt Rowett joins us as Senior Program Manager of Innovation from CRCC Asia, an international exchange program that brought over 6,000 students to China for professional internships at companies in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzen. We also welcomed a new class of vibrant interns.
 
Please join our membership to help support our Center. To stay updated, you can also follow us on: our new LinkedIn Page, Facebook, Twitter, WeChat group, or Instagram which is procured by our Young Professionals Group.
 
Thank you again from all of us here at the Northern California Center. We look forward to your participation and to seeing you at our events!
 
Best,

Margaret Conley
Executive Director
Asia Society Northern California