View speaker details

Francine Hadjisotiriou is the General Manager of the European Chamber South China Chapter where she manages the Guangzhou and Shenzhen office operations.

She has 25 years’ experience in B to B services of which 20 spent in Asia. After working in Tokyo, Japan, for more than 3 years in the credit-insurance company Coface Japan, she joined the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and established the Nanjing Chapter in early 2004. She took over the newly established South China Chapter at the end of 2006.
The South China Chapter has about 300 corporate members.

View speaker details

George Lau, General Manager of Products Accreditation and Certification Greater China, is responsible for Brand Protection at TÜV Rheinland, where he has worked for 10 years. Since 2011, Lau has held exchanges for authorities, e.g. AQSIQ, Shanghai Institute of Administrative Law, Hamburg Business Development Corporation, and manufacturers (e.g. Lenovo, Supor etc.) regarding EU certification regulations, risk management, receiving unanimous recognition. Previously, Lau worked as an analyst for ZTE Corporation. As a result of his performance regarding African market development – fulfilling Chinese central government’s mission – he was promoted directly to Assistant to the CEO. Since 2004, Lau has been studying the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese-foreign cultural differences, socialism with Chinese characteristics etc., to explore strategies of foreign companies in China. He believes that such knowledge is indispensable for multinationals developing in China. Lau is a German Chinese who immigrated to Germany at the age of 5. He is fluent in German, English, Cantonese, Mandarin, French and graduated from Konstanz University with magister juris in 2003.

View speaker details

Biography:
Born in Germany and graduated in Industrial Engineering. Until late 80's mainly remained in Germany near his hometown in Erlangen, where he had a position at Siemens Healthcare HQ.

From 1993 to 2006 he was based in Hongkong, Malaysia, Germany and China for several executive management positions within the Siemens Healthcare organization, one of which was Technical Director at Siemens Healthineers facility(SSMR), based in Shenzhen's Hi-Tech Industrial Park.

In 2006 start-up and developed from scratch the Shenzhen subsidiary of a Swiss Company, Imedco AG. Imedco is global player involved in the healthcare Industry, manufacturing MRI shielding solutions for hospitals and research institutions.

Involvement at European Chamber South China Chapter board since 2016. As an active board member of the European Chamber South China Chapter he holds the Chair of the board position since 2021. In the capacity as EU Chamber Vice President supports the member companies and meets with government officials on a regular basis to discuss the current economic and technological issues.

In March 2021 Klaus was elected as a Director of the Board at the Swiss Chamber in South China. He is also a member of the German Chamber in South China.

View speaker details

Valeria Manunza is an Italian lawyer, she has obtained a master degree cum laude in Law at the University of Milan in 2011 and was admitted to the Milan Bar in October 2014.

Valeria currently works as Manager in the International Business Advisory team at Dezan Shira & Associates one of China’s most well-known independent business and tax consulting practices, with over 25 years of experience and twelve offices across China. She is based in Dezan Shira & Associates’ Guangzhou office.

Valeria leads the team of South China International Business Advisory providing support to foreign investors aiming at Asia and assistance about legal and management issues affecting foreign Invested Enterprises in China.

Valeria currently covers the role of Chair of Small & Medium Enterprise South China Working Group of the European Chamber of Commerce and the role of the Vice Coordinator of the Intellectual Property Working Group of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Cina.

Her specialization lies on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. She has started her working experience in China at the Italian Economic Development Ministry IPR Desk, where she advised Italian companies on their rights and on the procedures for their implementation. Valeria has been assisting some of the most important European fashion brands in the protection of their IP in China and has engaged in developing business strategy, IP rights registration and enforcement, and also litigations. In addition, Valeria has managed several specific programs on counterfeiting of clients products in the physical and on-line markets.

Valeria currently lives in Guangzhou and spends most of her time around the four Dezan Shira offices of South China.

View speaker details

Alice Li has more than ten years' experience advising foreign companies on all aspects of their contentious and non-contentious IP strategies in China. She is a Senior Associate with extensive experience in patent, trade mark and copyright litigation and enforcement strategies, as well as experience in geographical indications, unfair competition and other, less common, types of rights. She has acted for clients in fast moving consumer goods, mobile technology, retail, automotive and food.

Alice is the chair of the IPR Working Group of the European Chamber of Commerce of South China, and an IP expert at the European IPR SME Helpdesk. She is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

View speaker details

杜茵女士是西门子有限公司中国地区高级人力资源经理。自2007年以来, 她一直为西门子工作，拥有超过20年的跨国公司工作经验，如朗讯、爱立信、飞利浦等。杜茵女士精通人力资源领域的知识，愿意与人力资源社区分享人力资源实践经验。自2015年起，她担任了华南分会人力资源论坛主席，负责支持和组织人力资源活动，例如促进与地方政府的宣传会议，向成员们介绍新的政策和条例；邀请当地政府官员到论坛与成员们进行沟通，并邀请 ER 专家解释新劳动法相关规定等。

Ms. Du Yin (Diana) is the Senior HR Manager at Siemens Ltd China, responsible for Regions. She has been working for Siemens since 2007. With more than 20 years experiences in MNCs, such as Lucent, Ericsson, Philips, etc, Diana has strong HR Know-How and willingness to share HR practices with the HR community. Since 2015, she has taken the Chair role of the HR Forum of Southern China Chapter support on organizing HR activities, such as facilitated the advocacy meetings with local governments, and supported the introducing of new policies and regulations to the members by inviting local government officers to the stage for communication, and inviting ER experts to interpret the new Labor Law related regulations, etc.