Founders

Cheng Yan Davis
Special Advisor to President
University of Pennsylvania
Senior Advisor to Pudong Government
United States

Dr. Cheng Yan Davis served as Special Advisor to the President of Teachers College (TC), Columbia University on international advancement. She is also Senior Advisor to Shanghai Pudong Government (Executive Director of Westgate Group, Inc.) Before coming to TC, Cheng worked at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), where she was the Vice Dean of Graduate School of Education (GSE) as well as Special Advisor to the President of the University of Pennsylvania on internationalization efforts. Before coming to Penn, she served as Vice President of Drexel University.

While working at Penn for 17 years, she founded GSE International in 1993, the first international programs office among graduate schools of education of ivy-league universities. Under her leadership, the office has flourished and earned a reputation for excellence both at home and abroad, and plays a central role in promoting both the school and the university in the area of international development and cooperation. Cheng is the founder of Pre-College Program for Chinese High School students since 2006. The project is the first one in the US Ivy universities. It is a very successful project in US-China Education community.

Following an “East Meets West” philosophy, Cheng established education roundtables with China, France, New Zealand and Thailand, each dedicated to information exchange and joint exploration of the key education challenges facing each participating nation as it faces the demands of the Twenty-First Century global economy. She also pioneered cross-national education research through its groundbreaking Six-Nation Education Research Program and its successor, the Eight Nations Education Research Project, which bring together national-level researchers and policymakers from key nations in Asia, Europe, and North America to conduct cooperative research on education policy. She also initiated the APEC (9 nations) Math & Science Teachers Program, which was funded by the US Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

In addition to working for education practitioners and students, Cheng has developed scores of specialized training programs for groups ranging from government officials and university presidents to finance executives and corporate CEOs. Among the most successful of these programs are the first training programs for CEOs and leading executives in the Chinese securities and mutual fund industries, created in conjunction with the Wharton School. Over the past ten years, the Penn-Securities Association of China Program and the Penn-China Mutual Fund CEO Leadership Program have trained about two hundred Chinese executives in the latest theories and practices of the U.S. finance sector. She also initiated and organized the US-China Future Leaders Program, which strives to develop a close relationship and improve mutual understandings among the rising young leaders of both nations.

Cheng enjoys close relationship with high-ranking officials and researchers in many Asian countries, with especially extensive and strong network and connections in China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Thailand, Singapore and Japan. Among those are Presidents of China, Princess of Thailand, and Ministers of Education and Finance sectors, governors and mayors of major cities. She is also actively involved in fundraising efforts with overseas alumni, friends of the university, and international businesses. She has successfully identified and developed many prospective donating individuals and organizations, domestic and abroad, contributing significantly to the increase in donations to the school and the university.

Cheng’s ability to organize, recruit talent, assess programs’ potential, anticipate professional needs, and establish and maintain high-level domestic and global connections makes her an outstanding leader in international initiatives. As a result, she serves on the advisory board of many educational institutions, corporations, and government agencies. She was Chair of the Board of New York Film Academy, Senior Advisor to Motorola and Oracle on international government relations, and Advisor Professor to East China Normal University. Besides, she has served as the Senior Observer for the Shanghai International Business Leaders Advisory Council for the past twenty years and Senior Advisor to Shanghai Pudong government. She helped to create the Pudong Institute of Finance and successfully recruit Harvard Business School, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Switzerland, and China Executive Leadership Academy (Pudong China) as its initial academic committee. With her effort, Shanghai established friendly and cooperative relations with the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Cheng’s extraordinary achievement in international affairs has earned her numerous recognitions, among which are the President Award for Excellent Leadership from Drexel University. Moreover, as the first international student studying at the Penn GSE from China, Cheng has earned the first–ever Penn GSE Alumni Pioneers Award. She is also the first Chinese alumni who has been ever awarded. In 2012, the Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand gave Cheng the Outstanding Leadership award for very successful the US-Thailand Education Round Table Project. Moreover, as the first awardee in the US, Cheng accepted the Princess Maha Chakri Award to commend her for leading efforts in US-Thai Educational Roundtables in partnership with HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in April 2017..

Paul K. Kelly (1940-2021)
President and Chief Executive Officer – Knox & Co.
Executive Director – Westgate Group, Inc.
United States

• Paul K. Kelly was President and Chief Executive Officer of Knox & Co., www.knoxandco.com, an investment banking firm specializing in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, and international financial advisory services, and President and Chief Executive Officer of PH II, Inc., a privately held investment company engaged in making principal investments on a global basis.  Knox & Co. is active in China and has had a longstanding relationship with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, in regard to jointly pursuing investment banking transactions and other matters of mutual interest.
• Mr. Kelly is Executive Director of Westgate Group, Inc., a strategic consulting firm with an emphasis on cross-border activities between countries, particularly by China and Western nations.  In this capacity, Westgate Group advises various governmental, educational, and corporate entities. Mr. Kelly also served as Senior Advisor to the Government of Pudong, the Core Area of the International Financial Center of China, in Shanghai (see following page).
• Mr. Kelly was a co-founder of Peers & Co., an international investment banking firm, and served as President and Chief Executive Officer until shortly after the sale of his equity interest in the firm to Kemper Corporation during 1990.  Previously, he was Executive Vice President and Director of Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., responsible for all investment banking activities for financial institutions. Mr. Kelly also served as Managing Director and member of the Management Committee of Merrill Lynch White Weld Capital Markets Group, responsible for all investment banking activities for financial institutions on a worldwide basis, and was also senior banker to Merrill Lynch & Co., the holding company for all Merrill Lynch interests.  Prior to this, Mr. Kelly was Executive Vice President, Director and member of the Executive Committee of Blyth Eastman Dillon, where he was co-head of the Corporate Finance Department. He was responsible for all new business activities for the firm and headed the Financial Institutions Group. At age 31, Mr. Kelly was responsible for all corporate finance new business activities at The First Boston Corporation, where he had established the Commercial Paper Department at age 29.
• Mr. Kelly has frequently been identified with the introduction of new financing concepts to the capital markets.  Among such, he originated such financing techniques as commercial paper issuance and publicly-issued preferred stock for bank holding companies, short-term collateral trust notes for mortgage banking companies, floating-rate notes convertible into fixed-rate debentures in the United States and Europe, and was instrumental in developing the computerized book order entry system for syndicating publicly-traded certificates of deposit sold to individuals.  The investment banking groups which he has headed have completed numerous merger and acquisition assignments, worth in excess of $80 billion, for various clients in both the financial and non-financial industry sectors. He has also served as Senior Financial Advisor to a variety of international corporate and governmental entities.
• Mr. Kelly was a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania; former Chairman of the Huntsman Program in International Studies & Business at Penn; Chairman of the Advisory Board of Kelly Writers House, at Penn; and a member of the Board of Governors of the Penn Club of New York.  In addition, he was a Director of the New York Film Academy, a member of the Director’s Advisory Board of the Yale Cancer Center, a member of the Visionary Council of MIT Collaborative Initiatives, and Co-Chairman of the US-China Future Leaders Program. He is the former Chairman and Director of China Ceramics Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq) and a past director of American Life and Health Insurance Company of New York, The Chicago Sun-Times Corporation, Hydrox Corporation, Ltd. (New Zealand), MCR Corporation, Porta Systems Corporation (ASE), and past member of the North American Management Committee (NAMCO) of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. (MUFG).
• Mr. Kelly graduated with an A.B. in English from the University of Pennsylvania in 1962, received an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School in 1964, and holds an LLD (Hon.), 2006, from the University of Auckland.  He has lectured on financial topics before various groups internationally and has contributed articles to a number of professional periodicals. Mr. Kelly is a contributing author of The Treasurer’s Handbook (Dow Jones-Irwin) and has also appeared on a number of television shows in the United States, New Zealand, Japan and China.  Mr. Kelly is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Who’s Who in Finance and Industry.
• In New Zealand, Mr. Kelly was the Founder and former Owner and Chairman of Carrington Resort, www.peppers.co.nz/carrington, an international golf resort located on the 3,000-acre Carrington Farms property on the Karikari Peninsula, and Edgewater Developers Ltd., a real estate development firm specializing in coastal properties.  He was also the Founder and Owner of Karikari Estate, www.karikariestate.co.nz, a vineyard, and winery complex which began production in March, 2003.  Mr. Kelly was an active supporter of the University of Auckland and a former member of the Advisory Committee of its Business School.  He was also a member of the New Zealand Business Roundtable.
• Consulting activities performed by Westgate Group for the Government of Pudong include the establishment of the Pudong Institute of Finance (PIF), to provide executive education and training for corporate executives and government officials.   The Founding Universities of PIF were Harvard Business School, Wharton Business School and Columbia Business School, which were chosen by Westgate Group. A number of additional leading international universities and business schools have since conducted Executive Education and Training seminars at PIF.  In addition, Westgate Group organized Project Outreach, a series of official government delegations to the Middle East, composed of Shanghai and Pudong government officials and financial executives, beginning in 2011.  At the time, these were the highest level delegations from the Shanghai and Pudong governments ever to conduct Official Visits to selected Gulf States governments.
• In addition to his position as a Life Time Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, and his prior Advisory Board positions at the New York Film Academy, the Yale Cancer Center, and MIT Collaborative Initiatives, Mr. Kelly was also Co-Chairman of the Academic Advisory Board of the Western International School of Shanghai (WISS), a leading international school in Shanghai..

Ning Li
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
Extraordinary China Holdings Limited
China

Ning Li, aged 54, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Extraordinary China Holdings Limited and a member of the Executive Committee and Chairman of the Nomination Committee. Mr. Li is the founder of Li Ning brand. He is currently the Executive Chairman, Acting Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Li Ning Co., Ltd., and also serves as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Li Ning Co., Ltd. and a member of the Nomination Committee. It is mainly responsible for formulating the overall corporate strategy and planning of the Li Ning Group and fulfilling the duties of the chief executive officer of Li Ning Co., Ltd. with the support of the current senior management of Li Ning Co., Ltd. Mr. Li is one of the most outstanding athletes of the twentieth century. At the 6th World Gymnastics Championships held in 1982, Mr. Li won six gold medals in the men's gymnastics project, created a world sports history and earned the reputation of "Gymnastics Prince" in China. At the 23rd Los Angeles Olympic Games held in 1984, Mr. Li won three gold, two silver, and one bronze medals, became the athlete who won the most medals in the competition of the year. In 1987, Mr. Li became a member of the Asian Committee of the International Olympic Committee's Athletes Committee. From 1993 to 2000, Mr. Li was a member of the Men's Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation and is now an honorary member of the International Gymnastics Federation. In 1999, Mr. Li was selected by the World Sports Journalists Association as "the best athlete of the 20th century". After withdrawing from sports in 1989, Mr. Li conceived and launched the Li Ning brand, aimed to create the first Chinese national sporting goods brand. Mr. Li has been committed to the development of the Group's business for over 20 years and has made outstanding contributions to the development of the Chinese sportswear industry. Mr. Li holds a bachelor's degree in law from Law School at Peking University an MBA from the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, an honorary doctorate in technology from Loughborough University in the UK, and an honorary doctorate in humanities from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In June 2010, Mr. Li was also awarded the Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Mr. Li actively participates in charitable activities through the "Li Ning Fund" and helps active and retired Chinese athletes and coaches to set up the "Chinese Athlete Education Fund" to provide learning and training support for athletes and support the development of education in poor and remote areas of China. In October 2009, Mr. Li was appointed by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) as the “WFP Anti-Hunger Goodwill Ambassador”..

Christoph Metzger
Professor in Business Education
Former Dean of the School of Business Administration
University of St. Gallen.
Switzerland

Christoph Metzger studied Business Education at the University of St. Gallen / Switzerland where he got his master degree in 1969 as teacher in Business Education and his PhD in 1972. Between 1973 and 1987 he first taught Business Administration, Economics and Law at a High School and then taught as a Senior Lecturer in Business Education at the University of St. Gallen. In 1985 he finished his habilitation on "Formative Evaluation in Higher Education". In 1987, after a stay as visiting scholar at the University of Texas in Austin, he became Associate Professor of Business Education and Business Administration at the University of St. Gallen and in 1989 Full Professor in the same field. In St. Gallen he taught courses in Vocational Education, Performance Assessment, Learning Strategies, Didactics of Business Education, Marketing, and Research methods.

From 1993 to 1995 he acted as Dean of the School of Business Administration. From 1988 to 2009 he was also Director of the Institute of Business Education and Educational Management at the same University. Since August 2009 he is Professor emeritus of the University of St. Gallen, since 2011 he is Professor of Business Education at the Steinbeis University in Berlin. He was acting as visiting professor at the universities of Vienna (Austria), Innsbruck (Austria), Göttingen (Germany), Berlin (Humboldt, Germany), Pecs (Hungary) and Zürich (Switzerland).

His main interests and activities in internationally oriented research, development and consulting, also shown by his publications, are in the fields of Vocational Education, Higher Education, Curriculum, Educational Evaluation and Performance Assessment, Learning Strategies, and Teacher Training.

Most recent international activities on research and development, consulting and teaching focusing on Asian compared to Western countries have been:

• Conference on School-Enterprise Cooperation in Vocational Education, Yantai Vocational College, China: Speaker and expert.
• Hospitality Program Thailand: Consulting the Ministry of Education.
• Eight-Nation Education research Project (including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, South Korea, Thailand, USA): Member of the steering committee and leader of the project "A Comparative Study of Educational Systems and Secondary to Postsecondary Transitions in Six Nations", chair of several conferences.
• Six-Nation Education Research Project on Education and economic growth (including China, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, USA, Germany): Member of the steering committee and leader of the project "Vocational education and economic growth", chair of several conferences.
• Conference on Enhancing Quality and Building the 21st Century Higher Education System, Hiroshima University: Chair and presenter.
• International Conference on 60 Years of Korean Education, Seoul: Achievements and Challenges: Chair and presenter
• Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok and SWISS-Asian Institute of Technology-Vietnam Management Development Programme: Teaching, Counseling a doctoral student.

Main publications in English, related to the activities above, have been:

• Grin, F., Metzger, C. & Grüner, A. (1997). Current Issues in Higher Education. RIHE International Seminar Reports, 10, Academic Reforms in the World: Situation and Perspective in the Massification Stage of Higher Education (pp. 95–126). Hiroshima: Hiroshima University.
• Metzger, C. (1997). Self-Directed Learning in Continuing Education – a Report from Switzerland. In G.A. Straka (Ed.). European views of self-directed learning: historical, conceptional, empirical, practical, vocational. Münster/New York/München/Berlin: Waxmann. S. 6–25.
• Metzger, C., Fujita, H., Law, S.S., Zemsky, R., Berset, J.E. & Iannozzi, M. (2001). Different Paths, Similar Pursuits. The Economic and Personal Potential of Vocational Training and Education in an International Context. Six-Nation Education Research Project: Vocational Training and Education. Studies and Reports, 12, St. Gallen: IWP.
• Metzger, C. (2001, March). Different Paths, similar pursuits. The Economic and Personal Potential of Vocational Training and Education in an International Context. Paper presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society, Washington.
• Metzger, C., Fujita, H., Law, S. S., Zemsky, R., Berset, J. E. & Iannozzi, M. (2004). Vocational Training and Education. In N. F. McGinn (Ed.). Learning through Collaborative Research. The Six Nation Educational Project (pp. 91–145). New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
• Metzger, C. (2005). Different Paths, Similar Pursuits: Alternatives to College-Bounded Secondary Education – the Experience of Switzerland. In Korean Educational Development Institute, & Korea Institute of Curriculum & Evaluation (Eds.), International Conference on 60 Years of Korean Education: Achievements and Challenges (pp. 123-137). Seoul: KEDI.
• Hasanbegovic, J., Zellweger Moser, F. & Metzger, C. (2006). Developing Swiss Students' Learning Strategies. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 10(4), 90–94.
• Truong Quang Duoc & Metzger, C. (2007). Quality of business graduates in Vietnamese institutions: multiple perspectives. Journal of Management Development, 26, 629–643.
• Metzger, C., Daizen, T., Kin-Yuen Ip, K., Maynard, R., Promboon, S. (2007, December). High School to Higher Education Transition: General and Vocational Education - A Comparative Study of the Role of Secondary and Tertiary Education Practices in Six Nations and the Implications for Policy. Paper presented at the First Conference on the Eight Nations Education Research Project, Chingmai, Thailand.
• Zellweger Moser, F., Hasanbegovic, J. & Metzger, C. (2008). Fostering learning strategies in universities to prepare a self-regulated workforce. International Journal of Human Resources Development and management, 8, 332–345.
• Metzger, C., Maynard, R., Vultaggio, J., Promboon, S., Daizen, T., Kin-Yuen, I., Park, S. Y. (2009, January). Secondary and Post Secondary Education Systems in 6 Countries. Paper presented at the Asian Social Protection in Comparative Perspective Conference. Singapore..