In an increasingly interconnected and volatile global landscape, geopolitical risks and opportunities have become critical considerations for board directors. From shifting trade policies to regulatory changes, political instability, and international conflicts, the global environment presents challenges that can significantly impact business strategy, operations, and growth. This SVDX webinar will address the complex geopolitical dynamics possibly affecting your organization. Through expert insights and global perspectives, attendees will learn how to anticipate geopolitical risks, capitalize on emerging opportunities, and integrate geopolitical considerations into corporate governance and decision-making. Key takeaways will include understanding geopolitical risks, strategic risk management, opportunities emerging from global markets, and the role of the board in geopolitical governance.
SPEAKERS
Cole Bunzel
A Hoover Institution Fellow since 2019, Cole Bunzel is a historian and scholar of the contemporary Middle East, specializing in the history of Arabian Peninsula, Islamic theology and law, and modern Islamic radicalism. His first book, Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement (Princeton, 2023), examines the history and religious doctrine of the controversial Wahhabi movement, a puritanical Islamic reformist movement that arose in central Arabia in the mid-eighteenth century, giving rise to the ancestral polity of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In addition to his scholarly work, Bunzel writes widely about developments in Middle East politics and in the world of Sunni jihadism, including for outlets such as Foreign Affairs and the blog Jihadica, which he edits.
Andy Rothman
With 40 years of experience, Andy Rothman, founder of Sinology LLC, has a unique perspective on China. Andy provides advice to institutional investors and companies on the opportunities and risks presented by China’s economy, and on the impact of changes in US-China relations. He collaborates with Julia Zhu, his China-based research associate for more than 20 years. Andy is a member of the Advisory Council for the Asia Society of Northern California, and is a member of the board of directors of the Coral Tree Education Foundation. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and board meetings, on topics such as prospects for the Chinese economy; US-China relations; China-Taiwan relations; and the global impact of China’s economy.
In 2000, Andy began his private sector career, helping institutional investors and companies understand China’s rapidly changing economic environment. For 14 years, he was the Shanghai-based China macro strategist for CLSA, an institutional brokerage and investment group. After living and working in China for more than 20 years, in 2014 Andy moved to California to become the China strategist for Matthews Asia, one of the largest, active, US-based investors in China’s equity markets. His clients included global wealth managers, pension funds, endowments, family offices, private banks, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds. Andy’s 17-year, China-focused career as a US Foreign Service Officer included serving as the Taiwan desk officer at the State Department in the mid-90s, when China fired missiles near Taiwan. His final diplomatic role was head of the macroeconomics and domestic policy office at the American embassy in Beijing. Andy first went to China as a student in 1980, just a few years after Mao’s death and the end of the Cultural Revolution. In 1984 he began his diplomatic career in Guangzhou, as Deng Xiaoping launched his economic and social reforms. He also attended China’s first rock concert, by Wham!
Marsha Vande Berg
Marsha Vande Berg is a strategic advisor and corporate director with interests focused primarily on the Asia Pacific’s political economy, its capacity for attracting trade and investment, enduring diplomatic ties and cultural exchange with the US. She is a respected writer and thought leader re corporate governance and macro political and economic risk. She will teach a summer class at UC Berkeley on state and local subnational diplomacy centering on California and the world’s fifth largest economy’s relations with key regions in Asia. .
F. Daniel Siciliano, moderator
Dan Siciliano is a successful technology CEO-founder and entrepreneur, as well as Vice Chair of the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, and a recognized expert in corporate strategy and governance, capital financial markets, executive compensation, and technological disruption (including fintech, AI and cybersecurity). He is currently Chairman of SVDX, board member of the Latino Corporate Directors Education Foundation, chair-elect of the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks, and a fellow at Stanford University.