MR MATHEW BENJAMIN ACYD'18

Mathew Benjamin was elected Executive Director of the Australia-China Youth Dialogue in 2019, having been a delegate in 2018, and speaker in 2017.

In 2014, Mathew founded a company to accelerate the connectivity of people, ideas and capital between Australia and Asia across the areas of science, technology and entrepreneurship. Since its inception AsiaRecon has identified, built and maintained long-lasting strategic relationships that have led to AU$600 million of foreign direct investments being made into Australia’s leading technology backed startups that today employ thousands of Australians.

Mathew holds a Master of International Business and Law from the University of Sydney. Mathew has also undertaken coursework at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, and was awarded the Taiwan Ministry of Education MTC Scholarship to undertake Chinese studies at the National Taiwan National University, Taipei.

MS YUN JIANG ACYD'21

Yun Jiang is the inaugural AIIA China Matters Fellow. She was the co-founder and editor of China Neican, and a managing editor of the China Story blog at the Australian Centre on China in the World. She has published and been cited widely on China-related topics, with a focus on Australia's policies on China.

She is also a former researcher in geoeconomics at the Australian National University and a former policy adviser for the Australian Government, having worked in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Treasury and the Department of Defence. Her policy experience covers economics, national security, and foreign policy.

MR LIAM TAY KEARNEY ACYD'17

Liam is a current Fulbright Scholar pursuing a double Master's in economic policy and applied data science at Columbia University. He specialises in data-driven approaches to tackle business and policy problems, but also has broad competencies across communications, advising, research and stakeholder management.

Liam holds a Bachelor (Honours) degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Western Australia, having received the Economic Society of Australia Honours Prize and Best Thesis. He also maintains active involvement in SinoAustralia relations as Partnerships Manager for the Australia-China Youth Dialogue (ACYD), and possesses a Diploma of Chinese-English Interpreting.

MS EDWINA KWAN ACYD'15

Edwina Kwan 关凯丽 is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution group at King & Wood Mallesons. Edwina is an international law specialist focusing on China cross-border and regional Asian disputes. She has extensive experience in international arbitration, mediation, litigation and commercial negotiation and risk mitigation. Edwina also advises clients on global compliance and regulatory issues around climate change, anti-bribery and corruption, modern slavery, sanctions and international trade law obligations.

Edwina’s international arbitration practice includes both commercial and investorstate arbitration. Edwina is qualified to practice law in Hong Kong and Australia. Currently based in Sydney, Edwina has practiced in Beijing, Hong Kong and Perth. Edwina's working languages are English and Mandarin.

Edwina co-founded the China Young Arbitration Group in Beijing and has lectured at the Tsinghua University Master of Laws Program in International Arbitration & Dispute Settlement in Beijing, as well as the University of NSW and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Diploma in International Arbitration. Edwina has been recognised for her expertise in international arbitration Legal 500 (Band 1), Who's Who Legal "Future Leader" in International Arbitration and Doyle's Leading Arbitration Lawyers Australia and she regularly publishes and lectures in the field of international arbitration and climate change litigation.

MS ANNA LIN ACYD'17

Anna Lin is a dynamic leader with extensive international and public sector expertise. She is currently employed at Austrade, the Australian government’s trade and investment promotion agency. Anna has completed diplomatic postings as Trade and Investment Commissioner and Commercial Consul in Guangzhou, China and Trade Commissioner in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Anna has strong strategic leadership experience and has led a number of sector teams including medical and healthcare, education, agribusiness and mining teams. While working in China, Anna supported ACYD on the Shenzhen technology-focused program and was an ACYD delegate in Beijing in 2017.

Anna is passionate about supporting young professionals and is a mentor on the Macquarie University Lucy Mentoring Program. Another passion is championing cultural diversity which led Anna to complete the Dr John Yu Fellowship in cultural diversity and leadership in 2020.

Anna holds a Masters of International Business and Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Sydney.

MS TRACY JIN CUI ACYD'16

Tracy Jin Cui works on Energy Policy at the Australian Capital Territory Government, where she leads the renewable energy and net zero innovation policy and initiatives, including the delivery of Australia’s first hydrogen for mobility pilot. Over the past decade, Tracy has worked across climate change adaptation, renewable energy transition and earth observation for sustainable development projects with stakeholders globally and regionally. In her spare time, Tracy also leads the Oxford Climate Alumni Network, curating a network of informed changemakers throughout Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

MR JAMES TANG

James is a Chinese Australian who is passionate about cultural exchange and sustainability. His interest in fostering the Australia-China relationship has taken his career all around Asia where he spent 4 years based in China for work as a consultant.

His career has spanned across engineering, management consulting and start-ups working for companies including Rio Tinto, RPMGlobal, Deloitte Consulting and Fortescue Metals Group. His most recent endeavour has been building a start-up called Ready Team One that develops virtual reality experiences for social teambased gaming. James completed studies in Engineering (Mechanical), Arts (Chinese) and MBA from the University of Western Australia.

MR HARRISON CHEN ACYD'21

Harrison is a lawyer based in the Sydney office of Baker McKenzie, the world’s first global law firm. Having also previously worked at the Baker McKenzie Fenxun Partners Joint Office in Shanghai, a world leading integrated international and PRC legal services platform, he has represented both Australian and Chinese counterparties on a diverse range of cross-border transactions. Harrison’s practice focuses on advising multinational Big Tech companies on their online and offline media interests, including data privacy, content regulation and consumer protection. Prior to being a lawyer, Harrison worked as an Associate at a top Australian Investment Bank.

Outside of work, Harrison has represented Australia in basketball as a sponsored athlete and also maintains an active involvement in Sino-Australia relations having been selected as a delegate to ACYD’21 in Hobart, and joining the ACYD Team as a Partnerships Associate in 2022. While at university, he was named as a Top 100 Future Leader in Australia by the Australian Financial Review and featured on the cover of the AFR Magazine.

Harrison holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and is an admitted legal practitioner in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia. He speaks English, Mandarin and Bahasa Indonesian.

MS JESSIE HU ACYD'21

Jessie Hu is currently a finance business partner at Paragon Care, where she works closely with senior leadership to drive strategic business improvements and performance initiatives. Prior to this, she kickstarted her career with KPMG Sydney - working on a diversified portfolio of clients, ranging from ASX-listed entities and financial service companies to not-for-profit organisations.

Born and raised in China, she came to Australia in 2013 to pursue a Master of Professional Accounting degree at the University of Sydney. Her passion for strengthening people’s connections from diverse backgrounds enriched her university life and later career. She was an active member within KPMG’s Asian Female League and China Club supporting others in career advancement, helping to strengthen crossborder relations between Australia and China. She is also an industry mentor at the University of Sydney Business School.

Jessie was a delegate at Hobart 2022. The experience inspired her to return as a treasury associate and contribute towards creating this opportunity for future emerging leaders from different industries to connect.

During her remaining spare time she wields a dragon-boat paddle and climbs rock.

MS CINDY GOTTINGER ACYD'13

Cindy is the Global Product Marketing Lead at Google in San Francisco where she is responsible for bringing new global innovation to market. Recognised by the industry as a leader in her field, she is passionate about leveraging technology to foster sustainable economic and social development.

Prior to moving to the United States, Cindy spent eight years in China where she was an industry manager at Google China in Shanghai advising leading brands on their digital transformation strategy. She also worked as a brand manager at Volkswagen Group China in Beijing where she was part of a team that relaunched the Skoda brand to Chinese consumers.

Cindy has been an active participant in the Australia China community for the past 17 years. She is a Board Member of the Australia China Youth Dialogue (ACYD) a track two Dialogue for emerging leaders in Australia and Greater China affairs. Cindy was also the Executive Director of the Australia China Young Professional Initiative (ACYPI) in Greater China where she successfully established a platform for young professionals to engage in bilateral discussions and exchange. In 2017, Cindy was nominated as a finalist for her category (ICT and New Media) in the prestigious Australia China Alumni Awards where she was awarded a Judge’s Commendation.

Cindy graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics) and Bachelor Arts (Chinese).

DR JADE LITTLE ACYD'12

Jade Little was elected Chair of the Australia-China Youth Dialogue in 2019 after having served as Executive Director since January 2016. Prior to that she was a delegate in 2012.

Her career has been focused in the resources industries. She is currently employed by BHP as Head of Growth for Operations Services. Previous work experience has included working for UBS as an Analyst in their Mining Research Team, a consultant in Mining and Oil & Gas for McKinsey & Company, and a Project Manager compiling independent technical reviews used for mining related Initial Public Offerings for RungePincockMinarco based in Beijing. Prior to Jade’s move to China, she worked in Queensland and New South Wales as a mining engineer both on site and in corporate offices.

Jade holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Mining Engineering), a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) and a Bachelor of Arts (Chinese) from the University of Queensland (UQ).

She also has a Master of Science in Global Finance jointly awarded by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and New York University’s (NYU) Stern Business School. She is a member of the UQ’s School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering Industry Advisory Board. She was awarded The Australian Financial Review BOSS Young Executive of the Year in 2017.

MS MANELLE ISSA

Manelle is a marketing and analytics expert currently working as the Senior Advisor Digital Capability at Suncorp Group, one of Australia's largest insurance companies. Her remit is working within the digital distribution channel to advise on the skills, training and capability uplift for the team, aligned to strategy. Within this she manages strategic research partnerships to facilitate and deliver business intelligence and insights to influence data-driven decision making. She held previous roles within marketing, planning and governance working in strategic investment planning and performance reporting for the portfolio of brands.

Prior to this, Manelle held previous roles in the Chamber of Commerce network within Australia and China, working on international trade projects and with delegations, with a particular focus on export growth for Queensland business in China. She was project manager of a Queensland Government initiative providing education and advisory services to help SMEs across Queensland improve their environmental sustainability and productivity. She has also managed corporate partnerships with Deloitte, BDO and Shell providing key relationship management to digital and strategic campaigns. Having worked in education and training managing state and federally funded initiatives across Australia around digital enterprise, she is passionate about big data, technology and strategic marketing.

Manelle holds a Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics (GPA 6.25) to complement her Bachelor of Business / Creative Industries (with distinction) majoring in Marketing and Media Communications from the Queensland University of Technology.

Manelle was appointed to the board in 2018, after her contributions to the management team since 2016. Her connection to China stemmed from being immersed in the language and culture while growing up in the Asian-centric suburb of Sunnybank, Brisbane and she is constantly brushing up on her basic Mandarin skills.

She has been a Mentor through the Queensland University of Technology Career Mentor Scheme since 2014 and is passionate about contributing to the community. She has a regular segment on local ABC Radio Brisbane and runs a trivia company in her spare time.

MS GABRIELA POWELL THOMAS

Gabriela is a postgraduate student at the ANU's Australian Centre on China in the World. Gabriela completed her Bachelor degree majoring in languages at the University of Sydney in 2020. As part of her degree she undertook language exchanges at Peking University (China), Leipzig University (Germany), and Rikkyo University (Japan). She was awarded several language prizes and scholarships during her undergraduate studies, including second place in the NSW Chinese Bridge competition in 2019, for which she was selected to attend the 18th Chinese Bridge Summer Camp held in Changsha, Hunan. These immersive overseas experiences fostered Gabriela’s interest in China, the Asia-Pacific region, and Australia’s relationship with its near neighbours.

Gabriela is currently a tutor of Chinese language and Asian economies at the ANU. She joined the ACYD in 2022 as Special Projects associate.