China was the leading edge of the now-global novel Coronavirus pandemic, facing rising infection rates as it worked to control the spread. While fear of the mysterious fast moving virus raged, China’s vast technology infrastructure shifted into gear, deploying tools for information flow, tracking, and access to daily necessities. In this webinar we hear from experts on China’s technology capability, how it was deployed, and what civic technology is in the works around the world.
Aspen Digital Executive Director Vivian Schiller moderates.
Lydia Lee is President of Weber Shandwick China and co-head of the firm’s global technology practice. Lydia is an experienced marketing communications strategist, and has worked with clients from a broad range of sectors, including Fortune 500 companies such as ExxonMobil, HP, Hyatt, Mars, Mastercard, Microsoft, Nike and Schindler. She has also guided and supported a number of Chinese companies, including China Mobile, Datang Telecom, GoLauncher and Z-Park, with their overseas branding and communications strategy.
Lydia has spearheaded digital transformation projects for B2C, B2B enterprises in China and been instrumental in launching content2conversion solutions for B2B and distributor-heavy industries by embracing the very latest social, digital and mobile trends. Areas of particular expertise include B2B2C marketing communications strategy, brand and creative storytelling, corporate positioning and communications, and cross-cultural communications. Lydia is also a renowned workshop facilitator and public speaking, presentation skills, media handling and crisis management trainer. A frequent speaker at global forums and universities about China, Lydia excels at cross-cultural communication and leadership topics.
Gary Liu is CEO of the South China Morning Post, the leading news media organization reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. Gary is also the Chairman of the WAN-IFRA Asia Pacific Committee, a member of the INMA Board of Directors, and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2019. Prior to joining the SCMP in January 2017, Gary was CEO of Digg, spearheading the New York startup’s transformation from aggregator to a data-driven news platform. Previously, Gary was Head of Labs at Spotify, after joining the company as Global Director of Ad Product Strategy. Gary has also worked at AOL and Google. Born in the United States, Gary grew up in Taiwan and New Zealand, before returning to the American Northeast where he lived and worked for 20 years. He currently lives in Hong Kong with his wife Katrina, a pediatric dentist. Gary is an Economics graduate from Harvard University.
Andrew McLaughlin is a longtime tech exec and public policy nerd. He is president/COO of a venture-backed architecture/engineering/design/tech startup aiming to transform the way we construct high-rise, urban buildings. He is a co-founder and partner at Higher Ground Labs, an investor, accelerator, and start-up studio for progressive campaign and advocacy tech. In the past, he was Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Internet Policy in the Obama White House; head of the global public policy team at Google; CEO at Digg and Instapaper; a senior exec at Medium and Tumblr; and VP of Policy at ICANN. Andrew chairs the board of Access Now, a global digital human rights organization. He has been deeply committed to US-China relations for more than two decades, working on issues ranging across Internet infrastructure and governance, freedom of expression and censorship, surveillance and privacy, national security, and economic partnership.
Vivian Schiller is Executive Director of Aspen Digital. Over the last 30 years, Vivian has held executive roles at some of the most respected media organization in the world. Those include: President and CEO of NPR; Global Chair of News at Twitter; General Manager of NYTimes.com; Chief Digital Office of NBC News; chief of the Discovery Times Channel, a joint venture of The New York Times and Discovery Communications; and head of CNN documentary and long form divisions. Documentaries and series produced under her auspices earned multiple honors, including three Peabody Awards, four Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards, and dozens of Emmys. Schiller is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; and a Director of the Scott Trust, which owns The Guardian. She is also strategic advisor to Craig Newmark Philanthropies.
