Friday, November 15, 2024
China World Summit Wing, Beijing
北京国贸大酒店
No.1 Jianguomenwai Avenue, Beijing 100004, China
中国北京建国门外大街1号 邮政编码 100004
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Registration & Reception
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Business Dinner
For CCBC’s 46th AGM, Beijing will be the home of our annual business dinner and cocktail reception for those in the China market. We look forward to hosting executives, officials and entrepreneurs from our member firms and beyond on the evening of November 15.
2024 Business Dinner Speakers
Mr. Olivier Desmarais
Chair, Board of Directors, CCBC
Senior Vice-President, Power Corporation
Chairman and CEO, Power Sustainable
Ms. LI Qingshuang
Vice Chairperson
China Council for the Promotion of International Trade
The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
H.E. Jennifer May
Ambassador of Canada to the People’s Republic of China
Mr. Mark Rowswell
大山
Senior Advisor
Cape Breton Language Centre (CBLC) on Cape Breton University Campus
Canadian entertainer, media personality and cultural ambassador
Biography
Mr. Desmarais has been Senior Vice-President of Power Corporation since 2017. Mr. Desmarais is the driving force behind the Power Sustainable vision as a global, sustainability-led alternative asset manager.
He chairs the Canada China Business Council (CCBC) and also sits on the boards of directors of Canada Life, IG Wealth Management, Mackenzie and Lumenpulse.
He is actively engaged in the community as member of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
Mr. Desmarais holds a Bachelor of Civil Law from the University of Ottawa, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Political Science from McGill University, and has been a Québec Bar member since 2009.
Biography
The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay is the Member of Parliament for Cardigan. He was first elected to the House of Commons in 1988, to represent Cardigan in eastern Prince Edward Island, and won his 11th consecutive election in 2021. He has previously served as Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence.
Minister MacAulay’s Cabinet roles have also included Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Solicitor General of Canada, Minister of Labour, Secretary of State for Veterans, and Secretary of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
He has also served as critic for Fisheries and Oceans, and for Seniors. In addition, he was Vice-Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.
Minister MacAulay was born on September 9, 1946, in St. Peter’s Bay, Prince Edward Island, and worked previously as a farmer and businessman.
He and Frances Elaine O’Connell were married in 1972. They have three daughters: Carolyn, Rita, and Lynn.
Biography
Ms. Jennifer May was appointed Canada’s Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China on September 23, 2022. She is the first woman to serve in this position.
Prior to her nomination, Ambassador May served as the Ambassador of Canada to the Federative Republic of Brazil from 2019 to 2022. She was Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Canada to the Federal Republic of Germany from 2015 to 2019.
Ambassador May has extensive Asia experience, having served in political and economic roles at the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong from 1998 to 2000, in Beijing at the Embassy of Canada to the People’s Republic of China from 2000 to 2004 and in Bangkok at the Embassy of Canada to the Kingdom of Thailand from 2010 to 2012, with additional responsibility to Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.
Through her thirty-two-year career with the Government of Canada, Ambassador May has also served as Director of Eastern Europe and Eurasia Relations, Executive Director of the Defence and Security Relations Division at Global Affairs Canada and held overseas assignments in Vienna, Austria and Bonn, Germany.
Ambassador May was born in Toronto, Canada and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and German from Laval University in Québec City. She is married with three grown children. She speaks English, French, Mandarin, German and Portuguese. Ambassador Jennifer May is known as 梅倩琳 in Chinese.
Biography
Dashan, also known as Mark Rowswell, has been called “the most famous foreigner in China,” where he has worked as a media personality and cultural ambassador for over 30 years.
Born and raised in Canada, Mr. Rowswell began studying Chinese in the mid 1980s, first at the University of Toronto and later at Peking University. While in Beijing, he became interested in xiangsheng [she-ang shung], a revered form of traditional comedic dialogue in China, and was soon appearing on national television under the stage name “Dashan.”
Repeated performances to hundreds of millions of television viewers turned “Dashan” into a household name across China, and his media career expanded from comedy to dramatic acting to hosting cultural, diplomatic, educational and commercial programs and live events. Over time, Dashan came to be seen as an all-round cultural ambassador between China and the West and as a symbol of finding common ground between cultures, “a foreigner but not an outsider” according to the People’s Daily.
Dashan is the only non-Chinese performer to have appeared four times on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the largest annual television extravaganza in China with an estimated audience of over 800 million viewers.
Dashan served as Canada’s Team Attaché during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and as Canada’s Commissioner General for Expo 2010 in Shanghai. In 2006 he was inducted into the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour. In 2012, Dashan was named “Goodwill Ambassador to China” by Canada’s Prime Minister. In 2018, the University of Alberta conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters to him in recognition of his contribution to cross-cultural communication.
In recent years Dashan has returned to his comedic roots, combining traditional Chinese comedy with Western stand-up in a ground-breaking solo show “Dashan Live.” Chinese audiences all know the character “Dashan” from TV; over this 60-minute performance, Dashan shares hilarious behind-the-scenes stories of his 30 years between the East and West.
Mr. Olivier Desmarais
Chair, Board of Directors, CCBC
Senior Vice-President, Power Corporation
Chairman and CEO, Power Sustainable
Biography
Mr. Desmarais has been Senior Vice-President of Power Corporation since 2017. Mr. Desmarais is the driving force behind the Power Sustainable vision as a global, sustainability-led alternative asset manager.
He chairs the Canada China Business Council (CCBC) and also sits on the boards of directors of Canada Life, IG Wealth Management, Mackenzie and Lumenpulse.
He is actively engaged in the community as member of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
Mr. Desmarais holds a Bachelor of Civil Law from the University of Ottawa, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Political Science from McGill University, and has been a Québec Bar member since 2009.
Ms. LI Qingshuang
Vice Chairperson
China Council for the Promotion of International Trade
The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Biography
The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay is the Member of Parliament for Cardigan. He was first elected to the House of Commons in 1988, to represent Cardigan in eastern Prince Edward Island, and won his 11th consecutive election in 2021. He has previously served as Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence.
Minister MacAulay’s Cabinet roles have also included Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Solicitor General of Canada, Minister of Labour, Secretary of State for Veterans, and Secretary of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
He has also served as critic for Fisheries and Oceans, and for Seniors. In addition, he was Vice-Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.
Minister MacAulay was born on September 9, 1946, in St. Peter’s Bay, Prince Edward Island, and worked previously as a farmer and businessman.
He and Frances Elaine O’Connell were married in 1972. They have three daughters: Carolyn, Rita, and Lynn.
H.E. Jennifer May
Ambassador of Canada to the People’s Republic of China
Biography
Ms. Jennifer May was appointed Canada’s Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China on September 23, 2022. She is the first woman to serve in this position.
Prior to her nomination, Ambassador May served as the Ambassador of Canada to the Federative Republic of Brazil from 2019 to 2022. She was Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Canada to the Federal Republic of Germany from 2015 to 2019.
Ambassador May has extensive Asia experience, having served in political and economic roles at the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong from 1998 to 2000, in Beijing at the Embassy of Canada to the People’s Republic of China from 2000 to 2004 and in Bangkok at the Embassy of Canada to the Kingdom of Thailand from 2010 to 2012, with additional responsibility to Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.
Through her thirty-two-year career with the Government of Canada, Ambassador May has also served as Director of Eastern Europe and Eurasia Relations, Executive Director of the Defence and Security Relations Division at Global Affairs Canada and held overseas assignments in Vienna, Austria and Bonn, Germany.
Ambassador May was born in Toronto, Canada and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and German from Laval University in Québec City. She is married with three grown children. She speaks English, French, Mandarin, German and Portuguese. Ambassador Jennifer May is known as 梅倩琳 in Chinese.
Mr. Mark Rowswell 大山
Senior Advisor
Cape Breton Language Centre (CBLC) on Cape Breton University Campus
Canadian entertainer, media personality and cultural ambassador
Biography
Dashan, also known as Mark Rowswell, has been called “the most famous foreigner in China,” where he has worked as a media personality and cultural ambassador for over 30 years.
Born and raised in Canada, Mr. Rowswell began studying Chinese in the mid 1980s, first at the University of Toronto and later at Peking University. While in Beijing, he became interested in xiangsheng [she-ang shung], a revered form of traditional comedic dialogue in China, and was soon appearing on national television under the stage name “Dashan.”
Repeated performances to hundreds of millions of television viewers turned “Dashan” into a household name across China, and his media career expanded from comedy to dramatic acting to hosting cultural, diplomatic, educational and commercial programs and live events. Over time, Dashan came to be seen as an all-round cultural ambassador between China and the West and as a symbol of finding common ground between cultures, “a foreigner but not an outsider” according to the People’s Daily.
Dashan is the only non-Chinese performer to have appeared four times on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the largest annual television extravaganza in China with an estimated audience of over 800 million viewers.
Dashan served as Canada’s Team Attaché during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and as Canada’s Commissioner General for Expo 2010 in Shanghai. In 2006 he was inducted into the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour. In 2012, Dashan was named “Goodwill Ambassador to China” by Canada’s Prime Minister. In 2018, the University of Alberta conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters to him in recognition of his contribution to cross-cultural communication.
In recent years Dashan has returned to his comedic roots, combining traditional Chinese comedy with Western stand-up in a ground-breaking solo show “Dashan Live.” Chinese audiences all know the character “Dashan” from TV; over this 60-minute performance, Dashan shares hilarious behind-the-scenes stories of his 30 years between the East and West.
Thank you to our 2024 Sponsors
For sponsorships, please contact sarah@ccbc.com. Sponsorship deadline is November 6, 2024, noon EST, after which sponsorship rates will rise by 20%. Benefits may need to be adjusted if printing deadlines have passed.