Dr. Tomas Casas, B.Sc., MBA, Ph.D.

Lecturer, Institute for Leadership and HR Management
University of St. Gallen

Professor Tomas Casas has expertise in theoretical entrepreneurship models, business practices in Chinese firms and behaviorist economics. His extensive business experience includes having founded various IT and software firms in greater China as well as operational companies in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Manila. He has worked as a project manager in international business development for the NEC Corporation in Tokyo and as an international trade consultant for the Wharton Export Network in Philadelphia.

Prof. Elfed Vaughan Roberts

Associate Professor, University of Hong Kong

For most of more than 29 years of working and travelling widely in Asia, Professor Elfed Vaughan Roberts has lectured at the University of Hong Kong in the field of international relations with particular emphasis on East Asia. Since resigning his full-time post in 1996, he has been lecturing primarily on Asian business environments and business communications. In recent years, the Business School of the University of Hong Kong has granted him several best lecturer awards.

Professor Roberts has a distinguished publication record, which includes a large number of articles and books on the region. His work involves regular field trips to the People’s Republic of China, where he was elected honorary professor at the University of Inner Mongolia in March 2004. He regularly briefs both Chinese and Western executives on the various aspects of cross-cultural business communications. He was also a television presenter for ten years.

Prof. Thorsten Truijens, MBA, Ph.D.

University of St. Gallen

Professor Thorsten Truijens is a consultant and practitioner of financial management and value-generation strategies and has worked for large multinationals including Cap Gemini Ernst and Young, DaimlerChrysler, Merck and Novartis. He has taught at Harvard Business School, University Witten/Herdecke, Eidgenössisch Technishe Hochschule, Centre Européen de Management Colmar and University of St Gallen (HSG). In addition, he has worked on several training projects in areas including financial and management accounting training and leads top management seminars in finance and accounting for leading European institutions.

Prof. Christian Wagner, Ph.D.

Associate Dean, Faculty of Business, Professor, Department of Information Systems, City University of Hong Kong

Professor Christian Wagner has more than 20 years of experience in IT research and development. His research interests are knowledge management, information systems for executives, innovation and collaborative systems. He has led numerous funded research projects on these topics and has authored more than 60 related articles. At present, he is completing a project on knowledge management with wikis for the Society for Information Management Advanced Practices Council.

Prof. Wagner received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of British Columbia in 1989. Thereafter he spent seven years as a faculty member at the University of Southern California, before joining City University in January 1996. In 2000, Wagner took leave from CityU to become co-founder and chief technology officer for a venture-capital funded software start-up in California. He returned to CityU after the company successfully received second round funding. Prof. Wagner is a previous CityU Teaching Excellence Award winner and has also taught at the University of British Columbia, Tsinghua University and Fudan University.

Prof. Li Kui-Wai, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, City University of Hong Kong

Economist and Omnium Guest Lecturer Li Kui-Wai is a specialist in Asian financial and economic development, industry and trade. His books include The Hong Kong Economy: From Recovery to Restructure (2005), Capitalist Development and Economism in East Asia: the Rise of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea (2002) and Financial Repression and Economic Reform in China (1994). Professor Li has worked as a consultant to international institutions, foreign governments and business, and is regularly interviewed by local and foreign press, radio and television on Hong Kong, Mainland China and foreign issues.

Prof. Gu Qing-Liang, MBA

Professor, Deputy Director, Institute of Textile Economics, Business School, Dong Hua University, Shanghai

Omnium guest lecturer Professor Gu Qing-Liang is an expert on the Chinese apparel and textile industry. A former visiting scholar at the University of Maryland and Auburn University, Professor Gu has conducted ground-breaking research on Chinese apparel companies who are successfully pursuing corporate social responsibility strategies.