Speakers at Tsinghua-PAA Impact Summit 2026

Alasdair joined the AIIB in September 2025 as Principal Partnership Officer leading the Bank's Resource Mobilisation Team which has a focus on mobilising concessional resources at the project and fund level for both sovereign and non-sovereign projects. The team leads on engagement with philanthropies.  Prior to joining AIIB, Alasdair worked for the African Development Bank Group as a Chief Resource Mobilisation and Partnerships Officer where he managed strategic sovereign and non-sovereign partnerships including with Brazil, the European Commission, the Qatar Fund for Development, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and the Gates Foundation. Alasdair has over 15 years of experience designing resource mobilisation strategies, setting up trust funds and mobilising concessional resources. Alasdair holds a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Oxford. 

As Representative, Ms. Sande provides leadership and strategic direction of the Country Programme in delivering results for children. 

 

She brings to the role 30 years of experience and expertise in international development, humanitarian coordination, policy analysis, advocacy, resource mobilisation and partnership. 

 

Prior to joining UNICEF, she was the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Eritrea, coordinating 21 agencies in support of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

 

Ms. Sande led UNAIDS as Country Director in Beijing, as well as in Uganda, Malawi and Lesotho. Prior to joining the UN she worked in renowned international organisations such as Oxfam and ActionAid International where she served as Deputy Country Representative in post genocide Rwanda; Country Representative in Zambia; Regional Programme Manager for the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the former Caucasus (Geogia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) and in the same function covering the Southern Africa Region. Just prior to joining the United Nations Ms Sande was the Director for Actionaid International's Southern Africa Partnership Programme. 

 

Ms. Sande has served on a number of boards and advisory committees, including the Global Campaign for Microbicides; the African Public Health Network; the Southern Africa AIDS Information Service (SAFAIDS); and the China AIDS Fund for Non Government Organisations (CAFNGO). 

 

Ms. Sande received a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from the United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya. 

 

She is a national of Kenya and the mother of two daughters. 

Professor Chong-En Bai is Mansfield Freeman Chair Professor, Dean of the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University. He is also the Director of both the National Institute for Fiscal Studies of Tsinghua University and the Institute for State-Owned Enterprises of Tsinghua University. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Economics from Harvard University. His research areas include Institutional Economics, Economic Growth and Development, Public Economics, Finance, Corporate Governance and Chinese Economy.

 

Professor Bai is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the “14th Five-Year Plan” National Development Planning Expert Committee, the Chinese Economists 50 Forum, the China Finance 40 Forum, and Chinainfo 100. He was a member of the monetary policy committee of the People’s Bank of China from 2015 to 2018.He served as Adjunct Vice-President of Beijing State-Owned Assets Management Co., Ltd. from August 2011 to December 2012. He was a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution from 2006 to 2007.

Ms Charina Chan is currently the Chief People Officer of Temasek Foundation Ltd, where she is responsible for all organisational and talent-related matters at the Foundation. Charina is concurrently Lead, Ecosystem Stewardship at Temasek Trust Ltd.

 

Prior to crossing over to Temasek’s philanthropic ecosystem, Charina was part of Temasek International’s Organisation & People team where she led the Non-executive Talent portfolio. In that role, she was responsible for board governance as well as the management of an extended talent network for Temasek and its portfolio companies. Prior to that, Charina worked for Fullerton Financial Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings.

 

Charina holds an MBA from Imperial College London and a Bachelor of Science degree from the National University of Singapore.

Mr Desmond Kuek is the CEO of Temasek Trust.

 

Prior to this, Mr. Kuek was UBS Global Head of Sustainable Finance and Chairman of UBS Optimus Foundation Singapore from 2019 to 2022. He was President and Group CEO of MRT Corporation Ltd from 2012 to 2018; and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources from 2010 to 2012. He served in the Singapore Armed Forces in his earlier years and was appointed Chief of Army from 2003 to 2007, and Chief of Defence Force from 2007 to 2010.

 

Mr. Kuek holds a Master of Arts (Engineering Science) from Oxford University and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University.

Mr Edmund Koh is a career banker with more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry in Singapore and the Asia Pacific region during which time he garnered a deep understanding of Asian markets and developed a strong track record in leading and building successful businesses in Asia. 

 

A strong advocate of talent development and community involvement; he is always in the front line of providing mentoring to juniors, knowledge sharing and nurturing the next generation of leaders. 

 

Mr Koh is a board/council member of various committees including the MAS Financial Centre Advisory Panel, the Wealth Management Institute, the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research, and the University of Toronto International Leadership Council. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Toronto, Canada.

Jason Knauf is CEO of The Earthshot Prize, the world's most ambitious environmental award driving a decade of action for the planet. Guided by the principle that Urgency + Optimism = Action, Jason leads the Prize to identify, celebrate, and back groundbreaking climate leadership from every corner of the globe. With 20 years' experience in leadership communications across government, finance, and philanthropy, Jason brings strategic insight to mobilising innovators, funders, and communities to solve our planet's greatest challenges. 

Li Haifeng is a Global Partner at Fosun International and currently serves as the Chairman of the Shanghai Fosun Foundation. With over two decades of leadership experience at Fosun since joining in 2001, he has been instrumental in building the group’s strategic global representative systems and overseeing major foreign-related decision-making and cross-sector project implementations. In his role as Chairman of the Fosun Foundation, Mr Li has dedicated years to deep-tier rural health philanthropy. He personally leads the "Rural Doctors Program," a flagship initiative that has covered 78 counties across 16 Chinese provinces, supporting 25,000 rural doctors and benefiting over 16 million residents.

 

Known for his hands-on approach, he has conducted on-site visits to more than 80% of the project counties to supervise the deployment of innovative medical solutions, including AI village doctor assistants and primary healthcare training.  

 

Beyond Fosun, Mr Li holds several distinguished social leadership roles, including Vice President of the China Charity Federation, Executive Director of the China Glory Society, and Vice President of the Shanghai NGO Network for International Exchanges. He is a frequent bridge for international exchanges among social organisations, coordinating multi-party resources for disaster relief, education support, and poverty alleviation.  

 

Mr Li holds an EMBA from Tsinghua University and a Master of Philosophy from Fudan University. He also serves as a Special Advisor to the Board of Directors of Fosun International and Honorary Chairman of Fosun Trade.

Dr. Liu Qiang  is now the Global Director, Climate and Chief China Representative, Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), steering CIFF’s China strategy and portfolios that support climate transition and sustainable development in China and globally. He has worked on research, programme management and international cooperation on climate change and energy since 2001. He holds a Ph.D. on resource and environment economy and is a Chevening Scholar.

Dr. Manchun Lu joined GHDDI in 2016 and currently serves as Chief Operating Officer (COO). She led the Institute's initial setup and manages administration, finance, HR, legal, IT, communications, and external engagement to support R&D. Dr. Lu brings a diverse background across management, scientific R&D, and NGOs, with previous roles at Abbott Laboratories China, McKinsey & Co., Teach For China, and Affymetrix Inc. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University, a Ph.D. from UW–Madison, an MBA from UCLA Anderson, and completed postdoctoral research at Princeton University. 

A global macro investor for more than 50 years, Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates out of his two-bedroom apartment in NYC and ran it for most of its 50 years, building it into the largest hedge fund in the world under his leadership. He is now in a stage of life in which he wants to pass along and help people learn about principles that have helped him, especially in markets and the economy. He is a long-running New York Times bestselling author of Principles: Life and Work, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order, How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle, and Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises. He graduated with a B.S. in Finance from C.W. Post College in 1971 and received an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1973. He has been married to his wife, Barbara, for 49 years and has three grown sons and nine grandchildren. He is an active philanthropist.

Shaun Seow is CEO of the Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA), a Temasek Trust initiative dedicated to catalysing collaborative philanthropy through dynamic multi-sector partnerships. He works closely with members and partners, to accelerate efforts that drive lasting, transformative change, and advance Asia’s role in shaping a more sustainable, inclusive world. In this capacity, he also leads PAA's annual flagship convening platform, Philanthropy Asia Summit.

 

Previously, Shaun held Managing Director positions in Temasek’s Investment Group, Singapore Market, and its Community Stewardship divisions. He joined Temasek in 2017 after helming one of its portfolio companies, Mediacorp Pte Ltd., as its Chief Executive Officer. Earlier in his career, he was a financial editor with The Straits Times and a civil servant in Singapore’s Administrative Service. 

 

Shaun read Economics at Cambridge University and was appointed an Eisenhower Fellow by the Philadelphia-based organisation which engages emerging leaders from around the world.

Dr. Xiansheng Sun is the Chairman of the International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS) and previously served as the fourth Secretary-General of the International Energy Forum (IEF). He has extensive experience with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), where he played a pivotal role in negotiating and signing numerous collaborative contracts for projects both domestically and internationally. Additionally, Dr. Sun served as President of the CNPC Research Institute of Economics and Technology (ETRI), the corporation’s think tank, until the end of 2015. He was deeply involved in the Chinese energy five-year plan and many other major policies.

Prof. Wong is an academic leader, innovator, and physician-scientist. He assumed the role of Chair Professor and Founding Head of Tsinghua Medicine at Tsinghua University in 2022, now serving as Vice Provost of Tsinghua University and Senior Vice-chancellor of Tsinghua Medicine. 

 

Over the past two decades, Prof Wong has held multiple leadership positions, including Arthur Lim Professor and Medical Director of Singapore National Eye Center, Deputy Group CEO (Research and Education) at SingHealth, Vice-Dean of Duke-NUS Medical School, and Chair of Ophthalmology at NUS and the University of Melbourne. 

 

As a practicing retinal specialist, Prof. Wong has a prolific research portfolio on retinal diseases, ocular imaging, AI, and digital technology, with over 1,700 peer-reviewed papers and more than $100 million in grant funding. 

 

His accolades include the Arnall Patz Medal, Jose Rizal Medal, Friedenwald Award, and Singapore’s President’s Science and Technology Award. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine and an elected fellow of the Royal Society. He has received the 16th Beijing Great Wall Friendship Award in 2024. 

Wu Wei graduated from Tianjin Foreign Studies University and holds an M.A. from Peking University. Previously Deputy Director General of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Youth League Central Committee, he has been Secretary-General of Tanoto Foundation China since 2021. The Foundation runs a Talent Development Program and an early childhood development (ECD) program: it has built over 140 “HOPE” ECD centers in 8 provinces, trained nearly 400 parenting facilitators and served more than 20,000 rural families, published China's first Blue Book on ECD, and launched the ECD Collaborative with other foundations. Its Talent Development Program supports master's programs with Tsinghua University and creative talent training with Jinan University.

Xiao Liming serves as Vice President of Tencent’s Sustainable Social Value (SSV), Secretary-General of the Tencent Charity Foundation. A leader in social innovation, Xiao focuses on leveraging Tencent’s core technological strengths to create tangible social value. 

 

In 2025, upon assuming leadership at the Tencent Charity Foundation, he launched the Sustainable Social Value Collaborative/Corporate Philanthropy Action Network, an initiative designed to foster synergy and innovation within corporate philanthropy. 

 

He is also a key driver and practitioner of Tencent’s efforts to support China’s national rural revitalisation strategy. He pioneered an endogenous approach to rural revitalisation centered on talent development, digital empowerment, and institutional innovation. Under his leadership, Tencent’s “WeCountry” (为村) initiative and related programs have reached tens of millions of farmers in China and around the world, cultivated more than one million rural governance leaders, and helped establish rural entrepreneurship and business-oriented talent as a recognised new profession in China. 

 

Xiao Liming holds a Doctor of Laws (Ph.D. in Law) from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. 

Professor Yang Bin is Vice Chancellor of Tsinghua University Council, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Social Value, and a distinguished faculty member at Tsinghua’s School of Economics and Management (SEM). Holding a Ph.D. from Tsinghua, his research focuses on organisational behavior & Leadership, business ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility, and Higher Education Innovation and Management.

 

A pivotal figure in Chinese higher education, Yang served as Vice President of Tsinghua University (2014–2025), Provost, and held various dean positions. He championed nationwide professional degree reforms and successfully advocated for mandatory ethics courses across Tsinghua. Notably, he contributed to drafting China’s first Academic Degrees Law and co-directed a prestigious executive program alongside Harvard Business School and CEIBS.

 

An award-winning educator, Yang received the Grand Prize in the National Teaching Achievement Award (2022) and the “Person of the Year for Responsibility” title. He teaches acclaimed courses like Critical Thinking and Moral Reasoning and Leadership and Organisational Change, Culture, Ethics and Leadership, Managerial Thinking, and Business History.  He has also provided strategic consulting and training for numerous Fortune 500 companies. He is also a prolific author, writing influential books, while translating numerous global management classics.

 

Furthermore, Yang is instrumental in Tsinghua’s global strategy and international education collaborations. He currently leads several major international initiatives, serving as Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Tsinghua Southeast Asia Foundation, Executive Chairman of the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC), President of the UK-China Humanity Alliance, and Secretary General of the World Peace Forum.

Dr. Hongliang Yang is Manager of Investment Solutions at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). In this role, he oversees the alignment of investment operations with AIIB’s sectoral strategies and thematic priorities to maximise development impact. He also leads the design and deployment of innovative financial solutions and new products to deliver added value to clients across members, including climate-focused policy-based financing. With more than 25 years of experience spanning infrastructure investment and policy research, he brings deep expertise in structuring complex projects and advancing sustainable development outcomes. Before joining AIIB in 2016, he worked at the Asian Development Bank in Manila, focusing on infrastructure and regional development. He holds a PhD. from the University of Cambridge, UK.  

Ms. Zhang Fan leads charity partnerships and development at the Tencent Charity Foundation, focusing on advancing high-quality philanthropic development through international collaboration and corporate philanthropy innovation. With over 15 years of leadership in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and philanthropy, she has spearheaded numerous impactful global and domestic initiatives across youth development, social innovation, and internet philanthropy platforms. She holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from New York University. 

As the Director of the China Country Office (CCO) at the Gates Foundation, Zheng Zhi-Jie (ZJ) leads the CCO team to develop and strengthen partnerships across China’s public, private and nonprofit sectors to advance health and development outcomes in China and around the world. 

 

ZJ’s decades-long commitment to global health and development has led him to leadership positions at top research institutions and universities in China and the U.S. 

 

Before joining the foundation, ZJ was K.C. Wong Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health, School of Public Health and Senior Vice Dean of the university-wide Institute for Global Health and Development at Peking University. In these roles, he worked with a wide range of partners to launch high-impact programs and initiatives to promote cross-disciplinary global collaborations and cultivate next generation leaders in global health and development. 

 

He previously served as Dean of the School of Public Health at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, as Supervisory Medical Officer and Senior Program Director at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, U.S. National Institutes of Health, and as Lead Epidemiologist and Section Chief of the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention at U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. 

 

ZJ served in leadership roles with professional organisations including the Chinese Medical Association, Chinese Society of Public Health Physicians, Boao Global Health Forum, and the Chinese Global Health Network, and sits on advisory boards of several national and local entities in China. 

 

He earned his M.D. from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, along with an M.A. in biomedical ethics. He also holds an M.P.H. in health services research and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States.