Campaign Statement
AmCham China has been a valuable resource for me and my business over the years, and I feel that now is the time to serve the organization that has done so much for us all. With a decade of experience in China and very unique and valuable 关系, I believe as a Governor I can help AmCham China further strengthen its ties with our Chinese government counterparts and effectively advocate for win-win policies that support the American business community here while also creating new opportunities for Chinese businesses. Furthermore, as the owner of a small business in China, I intend to help drive more service to the SME community within AmCham while still fully supporting our large corporate members.
My personal connection to China is meaningful. Most Chinese are aware of the story of how Xi Jinping led a delegation to Iowa in 1985 to learn about agriculture, and he became friends with his Iowa hosts and consider them to be “old friends”. During that 1985 trip, the delegation was housed in homestays during the swing through Muscatine, Iowa. Mr. Xi stayed in my house…in fact, in my bedroom! He has fond memories of that trip, and has a close personal connection with my family. Because of this, our family is well-known in China, with strong relationships at various levels of government.
To give you a feel for the strength of this relationship, I am attaching our group picture from a private dinner we had with the first family in April 2015 when the government hosted my parents’ visit to China.
Biography
Gary is a Managing Director at The Blueshirt Group, one of the leading investor relations consultants in the U.S. capital markets. Gary runs Blueshirt’s Asia practice, which supports the investor communication efforts for Asia-based companies that are listed on the NYSE or Nasdaq stock markets. Before joining Blueshirt from a competing IR firm, he had two decades of experience as a portfolio manager and analyst in the institutional investment management business. Gary co-founded an investment boutique that successfully IPOed a closed-end mutual fund (NYSE:FAV); was a portfolio manager on a long-short equity fund; and was a co-portfolio manager (covering technology) for an institutional small cap strategy with over $4 billion of AUM. Gary started his investment career in research at investment bank Hambrecht & Quist. From 2004 through 2014, Gary was a high profile contributor to Jim Cramer’s Real Money financial news website. Gary earned his MBA at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Before business school, Gary spent four years in the computer industry as a software developer and project manager. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Gary earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1996. Gary resides in Beijing, having moved here with his family in 2013.