PRESS RELEASE: McLarty Associates expands China practice

February 8, 2019

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McLarty Associates announces an expanded China team.

We bid farewell to Ambassador James Keith, who has retired due to a medical issue affecting his family. Jim will continue to be a close friend of the firm but will no longer lead our China practice.

Our new China team combines decades of experience doing business in China, active current engagement in Beijing on commercial issues, and extensive experience in the US government. This new team also deepens our relationship with The Scowcroft Group.

We are delighted to welcome John Holden, James Green, and Ryan Hass to the MA team, joining our existing colleagues to provide the broadest China coverage we have ever offered from our offices in Washington and Beijing:

John L. Holden joins MA as Senior Director and head of our China practice, based in Washington, bringing three decades of commercial experience in Beijing and Hong Kong. He most recently served as president and CEO of the US-China Strong Foundation and associate dean at Peking University. Previously, he was managing director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies in Beijing and was founding chairman of Shaklee (China) Ltd. John is past president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, served as chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, and worked for 12 years for Cargill in China establishing a wide range of businesses. He first lived in China in 1980 and speaks fluent Mandarin.

James Green joins MA as Senior Advisor, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he will advise clients on China and tech issues. James has worked for over two decades on US-China relations in the government and private sector. For the last five years, he was the Minister Counselor for Trade Affairs (USTR) at the US Embassy in Beijing, deeply involved in all aspects of trade negotiations and enforcement. He previously served on the Department of State’s Policy Planning Staff and as the National Security Council’s China director, and spent three years at an advisory firm helping clients on China. He also established the government relations department at AmCham Shanghai – Asia’s largest AmCham. He speaks proficient Mandarin.

Ryan Hass is a Senior Advisor to MA and The Scowcroft Group, based in Washington. He previously served as Director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the National Security Council, including working closely with US companies to address challenges in greater China. Earlier in his career, Ryan served at the US Embassy in Beijing. He is also a fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution’s China Center and Center for East Asia Policy Studies. He speaks proficient Mandarin.

The Expanded McLarty China team includes:

WASHINGTON

John D. Negroponte, our vice chairman, has engaged with Chinese officials from the early days of his diplomatic career in the 1970s to co-chairing the US-China Senior Dialogue as Deputy Secretary of State.
John Holden leads our China practice, after spending more than three decades working in a wide-variety of roles focusing on US-China, including 25 years doing business on the ground in Beijing and Hong Kong.
Jorge Guajardo served as Mexico’s ambassador to China from 2007 to 2013, has visited every Chinese province and established close relations with provincial authorities as well as with key figures in the Chinese business and financial sectors.
James Green served for the past five years as minister counselor for trade affairs (USTR) at the US Embassy in Beijing.
Ryan Hass previously served as director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the National Security Council.
Tami Overby has 30 years of business experience in Asia and most recently led the US Chamber of Commerce’s Asia program, where she oversaw a robust China program that annually included a small, CEO group meeting with China’s highest leadership.
Rosalind Reischer lived in China for three years working and studying at SAIS’s Nanjing campus. She is proficient in Mandarin.
Victoria Xueqin Ruan, a Chinese national, previously worked as a senior reporter covering China’s economic policy and various sectors, including financial, energy, and automobiles for Dow Jones and Bloomberg News in Beijing.

BEIJING

Lihui Zhang leads McLarty’s Beijing office. A veteran of Warner Bros. in China, she has extensive experience representing foreign corporate interests in China and a broad network of contacts throughout the country.
Brennan Murray works on the ground in Beijing to support business development and client management efforts in China. Prior, he spent over three years working in the firm’s headquarters in DC, supporting both our Asia practice as well as our chairman, Thomas F. McLarty. He speaks proficient Mandarin.
Jing (Vivianne) Yan previously worked for ThyssenKrupp and at an agriculture start-up in Beijing. She graduated from college in the United States, and speaks English in addition to her native Mandarin.

THE SCOWCROFT GROUP

Our continued partnership on China with The Scowcroft Group, led by General Brent Scowcroft and Kevin Nealer, as well as Robert Goldberg, former deputy chief of mission in Beijing.