On Chinese New Year’s Eve, Ren CuiHua, a foster mother in Half the Sky’s Family Village in Nanjing, sat around the dinner table with her family like so many other moms all across China. But why wasn’t the seated family enjoying the fancy cuisine? What were they waiting for? All eyes were turned toward the doorway where CuiHua’s daughter stood and then started to make her way to the table. As little YanMeng took step after painstaking step toward her family, everyone at the table cheered her on. And when lYanMeng arrived at her seat and sat down, they each raised two fingers in a victory sign and cheered again. Everyone at the table knew that YanMeng’s walk from the doorway to the table was the culmination of a journey that started in 2006 Board
Lou DeMattei, President
A tax attorney who worked for the Bank of America and for Intel Corporation before “semi-retirement”, Mr. DeMattei now counsels select private clients in matters related to tax and finance. He received his law degree from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. Mr. DeMattei and his wife, celebrated writer Amy Tan, travel frequently, often to China, where they have become involved in efforts to help China's orphans. They reside in California and New York and have no children, except for pet Yorkshire terriers. Their beloved cat, Sagwa, is immortalized on children's television.
Nancy L. Spelman, PhD, Secretary
Dr. Spelman lived in East Asia for 25 years, including extended stays in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, and Singapore. She received her doctorate degree in developmental psychology from the University of Hong Kong in 1987, and has taught at several universities including the University of Hong Kong, the National University of Singapore, Petaling Jaya Community College in Kuala Lumpur and George Mason University in Virginia. Dr. Spelman and her husband Doug, a senior foreign service officer with the State Department and former professor of modern Chinese history, have two grown daughters, Brooke and Erin, who still describe themselves as “third culture kids.”
Dana Johnson, MD, PhD
One of the world's foremost experts on health and developmental issues affecting the institutionalized child, Dr. Dana Johnson is the Director of the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota. He is a Professor in that university's Department of Pediatrics and the Director of its Division of Neonatology. Dr. Johnson has published dozens of journal articles and received numerous research grants. He serves as a Medical Consultant on International Adoptions to multiple agencies across the United States, is a Consultant to the Level II Intensive Care Unit International Mission of Hope, Calcutta, India, and is on the Board of Directors of Adoptive Families of America. He has three children, one adopted from India.
Emily Kwong
Ms. Kwong has been a partner with a major international public accounting firm and a seasoned financial executive with a Fortune 100 company. She also lived and worked in China for several years. She has worked extensively on US-Asia transactions, including financings, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings. Ms. Kwong is currently with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). She is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Internal Auditor.
Peter Lighte
Mr. Lighte is the Chairman of JPMorgan Chase Bank (China). Prior to his return to China in 2007, he was associated with the bank in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. He previously lived in Beijing as founding representative of Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, during which time, he served as President of the American Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Lighte joined the bank in 1979. Fluent in Mandarin, Peter is a keen cyclist, calligrapher, mosaicist, painter, writer and traveller. He has served on the board of the London City Ballet, has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Princeton Alumni Council, Director of the Matilda Child Development Centre (Hong Kong) and JPMorgan representative to the Hayward Gallery in London. He is on the Corporate Advisory Board for Hope and Homes for Children (UK) and is a Member of the Advisory Board of China Institute Executive Summit. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University in East Asian Studies and is the father of two daughters, adopted from Hangzhou and Luoyang.
Guy Russo
Mr. Russo joined McDonald’s Corporation in 1974 and eventually went on to serve as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of McDonald’s Australia, then
President of McDonald’s Greater China. In 2007,after 33 extraordinary years under the Golden Arches, he called it a day to pursue more diverse interests of his own. Today he consults with private ventures as well as public companies with commercial interests in China, among other markets, manages his own private equity interests, and pursues his passion for life-saving children’s charities. Throughout his career Mr. Russo has been closely associated with Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). He is currently a member of the RMHC Board in Hong Kong. He has also served as a member of the Business Council of Australia, as well as on the Board of Diabetes Australia. Together with his family, he resides in Hong Kong.
Katherine Shen
Ms. Shen was born in Shanghai and raised in China and Taiwan. She earned her BA from St. Elizabeth College, New Jersey and a Master's Degree in Occupational Therapy from Columbia University. She is married to Pei-yuan Chia and has four children from a previous marriage. She is a Trustee of the Chia Family Foundation, which supports Half the Sky's iniative to provide educational opportunities for children orphaned by AIDS in Henan Province: the Chia Family Fellowship Program.
Half the Sky Advisory Committee
Richard Bowen, Emeritus Director
A founding director of Half the Sky's board Mr. Bowen and wife, Jenny adopted their daughters Maya (Guangzhou, 1997) and Anya (Yixing, 2000) when both were toddlers. Mr. Bowen, a graduate of the University of California, is a feature filmmaker, a motion picture cinematographer and a director-cameraman for television commercials. He lives in Hong Kong with his family and is the author-photographer of MEI MEI (Little Sister): Portraits from a Chinese Orphanage.
Carlos Cordeiro, Emeritus Director
An Advisory Director of The Goldman Sachs Group and Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs (Asia), Mr. Cordeiro is also on the Board of the BHP Billiton Group. He received his AB in economics Magna Cum Laude from Harvard College in 1978 and MBA from Harvard Business School in 1980. In 2002, after 12 years in numerous leadership positions at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Cordeiro retired, but continues an active association with the firm. He resides in Hong Kong.
Carolyn Pope Edwards, EdD, Emeritus Director
A founding board member of Half the Sky, Dr. Edwards is a Professor of Psychology and Family & Consumer Sciences at the University of Nebraska. She has taught at the Norwegian Center for Advanced Study, the University of Kentucky, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and at Vassar College. She has lectured all over the world on early childhood development issues and has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters, and is co-editor of The Hundred Languages of Children, the seminal English-language textbook on the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education.
Robert Eisenberg, Emeritus Director
Building on several years of IT experience at the executive level, Mr. Eisenberg founded and built the hugely successful NaviSite, a complex web hosting and technology services provider. Shortly after that company's IPO, he left and joined Alta Communications Venture Partners as an Entrepreneur in Residence.Mr. Eisenberg and his wife, Leslie have three daughters adopted from China, Meghan (Huazhou, Guangdong), Holly (Wuzhou, Guangxi), and Lia (Nanning, Guangxi.)
Linda Filardi, Emeritus Director
Ms. Filardi is senior counsel for General Electric Global Sponsor Finance in New York City. She relocated from Tokyo, Japan where she lived with her family for almost 5 years. In Tokyo, she was region counsel for GE Capital in Asia, serving Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China. She began her legal career in New York as a corporate lawyer where she represented large corporations in joint ventures, mergers and financings. Ms. Filardi is married with 2 children, Alex and Lily who was adopted at 18 months from Changchun, Jilin.
Ellen Hall, PhD
Dr. Hall is the founder and executive director of Boulder Journey School and also directs and teaches in the Teacher Education Program developed through a partnership with the University of Colorado at Denver, Health Sciences Center and the Colorado Department of Education. She is a founder of the Videatives Project, a founding board member of Hawkins Centers of Learning, and a founding board member of the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA), a network of educators, parents, and advocates seeking to elevate the quality of life, schools and centers for young children.
Kay Johnson, PhD, Emeritus Director
Dr. Johnson is a professor of Asian Studies and Politics at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts where she lives with her husband, son and a daughter, Lili, who was adopted in 1991 from Wuhan, China when she was three months old. Dr. Johnson has been teaching and doing research about contemporary China for 20 years. Her early research concerned women and the family in rural China, focusing on the impact of various policies on women's lives and status.
Scott Kronick, Emeritus Director
President of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, China, Scott oversees the overall Ogilvy PR operation in China, leading a team of 70 in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou . Scott is one of the two founding members of Ogilvy PR in China and plays a pivotal role in the overall leadership and management of the firm. Scott joined Ogilvy PR/ New York in 1987. He writes frequently on public relations and international business issues.