The Sport Business Summit
体育商业峰会

Dr. Weili HONG (David) has over 20 years of rich experience in finance and investment in both China’s and overseas financial institutions and capital markets. He now takes the position as the president and chief research officer of CMC Holdings. Prior to CMC, he was a partner of the Gopher Asset Management (China’s largest and leading FOFs management company) in charge of PE/VC FOFs and direct investments. David also served as the managing partner of KTB  China from 2008 to 2012 and the president of KAIBO Investment Management Ltd.

David was one of the pioneers of China’s capital market since he joined the Shanghai Stock Exchange at its forming stage in 1992, where he served in several important positions and developed China’s first financial futures product. From 1997 to 2003 he had served as the managing director of the securities business of China Venture-Tech Investment Group (China’s first VC firm, and one of China’s top tier financial conglomerates in the 1990’s), managing research, equity investment, and sales and trading. He was one of the youngest leaders of China’s securities firms at that time.

As President & Managing Director, Vega is accountable for all operations across Australia and New Zealand; leading Dow’s 400 employees, four manufacturing sites and seven business centers.  He is charged with the Region’s growth strategy, revenue and profitability, ‘go to market’ strategy, business development, investment decisions and multiple third party collaborations.

In his role as Vice President of Olympic & Sports Solutions, Vega is responsible for extracting the full business and brand value of Dow’s partnerships with the Olympic Movement, NASCAR Racing, the PGA and all of Dow’s sports franchises to drive revenue growth for the Company. Vega has established a business structure uniquely positioned to harness the combined power of the Dow brand, the Olympic Movement and Dow’s sports partnerships to drive revenue opportunities for Dow and value for Dow stakeholders. In this role, Vega serves as the primary focal point to the International Olympic Committee, sports federations and Host Committees for upcoming Olympic Games.

Vega joined Dow in 1998 and has advanced through a variety of roles in the Company from public affairs and government affairs to general business management where he is driving corporate strategy & business development through his extensive international experience; augmented through his postings in Horgen, Switzerland; Washington D.C.; Dubai, UAE; Midland, MI and New York, NY.

As Chief Operating Officer of NBA China, Collins Qian oversees the NBA’s business operations in China, including Marketing Partnerships, Merchandising, and Content and Media Distribution, as well as executes key components of NBA China’s business development.  Qian also leads the NBA’s youth development efforts in China through the Jr. NBA, which implements basketball classes using a curriculum developed in cooperation with China’s Ministry of Education.

Since assuming his current role in 2010, Qian has orchestrated key NBA partnerships with leading Chinese enterprises, including China Central Television (CCTV); Tencent, which encompasses live game broadcasts, NBA LEAGUE PASS subscriptions, mobile gaming and official NBA destinations on Tencent digital platforms; SMG/BesTV, which includes IPTV and game console platforms; NBA e-commerce; and social media offerings.

Prior to joining the NBA, Qian served as Partner and Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he opened the firm’s China office in 1993.  Over his thirteen years at BCG, Qian served as co-head of TMT (Technology, Media and Telecom) of Asia Pacific, head of Corporate Development and Private Equity Practice, and Career Development Committee Chair in Greater China.  Prior to that, Qian co-founded an internet startup in Beijing, and served as a sales manager at Proctor & Gamble.

Jay came into his role last year and is a senior executive who has held multiple leadership positions in key industries in China and the U.S. He leads WWE’s strategic business development initiatives and day-to-day operations in China and works in conjunction with local government authorities and partners across all of WWE’s lines of the business including television, live events, marketing, sponsorship, new media, licensing and merchandising.

Robert Klein joined the Bundesliga in April 2017 and his role focuses on the international expansion of the league and in particular their efforts in China. The German league is seen as one of the most innovative and forward thinking rightsholders. In the Chinese digital media, for the second time in succession the Bundesliga is Number 1 among Europe’s football leagues. It is the only European football league that has a Chinese-language website and is present among its fans in the Weibo and WeChat social networks.

Robert was previously the Head of Sports Rights for Red Bull Media House, a multi-platform media company that creates authentic entertainment inspiring a way of life. Robert was responsible for growing the company’s global sport portfolio. His main responsibilities included: assessing and implementing global business partnerships within sport, acquiring live sports and cultural content for Red Bull Media House and global commercial distribution of Red Bull-owned properties. Before Red Bull Media House he worked as Executive Director for International Sports Multimedia (ISM), UEFA New Media and NBA Europe Events. He holds a Masters’ Degree in Leisure Policy and Planning from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

A former English footballer, Roy was Manager of the England national football team from May 2012  to June 2016. He started his managerial career in Halmstads BK in 1976, proving himself as a successful coach by winning the league championship in 1976 and 1979. He has led a number of European clubs including: Malmo FF, Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers, Grasshoppers, FC Copenhagen, Fulham and Liverpool. He led the Malmo to two Swedish championship wins (1986 and 1988) and also to win the Svenska Cupen in 1986 and 1989. It was under the guidance of Roy that the Switzerland national football team reached the round of 16 at the 1994 World Cup, whereas prior to that Switzerland had failed to reach the World Cup finals for eight years. He also led the team to qualify for Euro 1996. Roy led England to Euro 2012 and also sealed their position in the 2014 World Cup, by leading them to six wins and four draws, finishing top of their group.

Brian has been in his current role since May 2016 and has been with Adidas overall for 4 years, progressing from a Merchandising Director to a Senior Director, with a focus in Basketball. Before joining Adidas, he worked for Li-Ning which is China’s biggest sports apparel firm, where he led negotiations, signing, business planning & execution for Landmark Dwyane Wade Partnership. Overall Brian has spent 8 years in China so far in his career.

Sarah Lewis has been involved with skiing on both a competitive and administrative level for over 30 years. She was a member of the British Alpine Ski Team from 1982-1988 and competed in the 1987 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships and 1988 Olympic Winter Games, as well as many FIS competitions including World Cup and Continental Cups.

After 10 years of working in the ski industry both during and after her competitive career, Sarah Lewis took over as Alpine Director of the British Ski Federation from 1990-1994 during which she served as the Alpine Skiing team captain at two World Championships and two Olympic Winter Games. In this period she also spent two years as a member of two FIS Alpine Committees. Sarah Lewis began working for FIS in 1994 and for four years served as Co-ordinator for the Continental Cups covering the series in Europe, North America, Far East, South America and Australia New Zealand. She became FIS Director in 1998, before being appointed Secretary General by the FIS Council at its meeting in Melbourne in 2000.

David Proper currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Media & International Strategy for the National Hockey League. In this capacity, Proper oversees all of the League’s TV rightsholder relationships including the NHL’s comprehensive broadcast agreements with NBC, Rogers Communications and MTG.  In addition, he is charged with the development and execution of the NHL’s international media strategy as well as the League’s broadcast business affairs, footage and photo licensing, and scheduling. Most recently, Proper has been a key figure in helping to accelerate the development of hockey in China, including securing media partnerships with CCTV and Tencent, as well as helping to establish the 2017 NHL China Games presented by O.R.G. Packaging – the first NHL games in China – in addition to a variety of initiatives that will inspire generations of Chinese players and fans.

In 2016, under Proper’s leadership, live coverage of the World Cup of Hockey 2016 (a two-week best-on-best international hockey championship featuring eight teams and 150 of the NHL’s best players, which helped the NHL relaunch its overall international strategy and commitment to growing the game globally) was broadcast on television networks serving more than 200 regions and territories across six continents. Several of these networks carried the tournament in countries for the first time, including China.

Fahri joined Wasserman in 2010. In his role as Global Football’s Chief Operating Officer, he is responsible for the division’s worldwide operations, including domestic and international integration, development, strategy and infrastructure. Fahri is a practicing lawyer in the U.K. and served as the Division’s Legal Counsel prior to his role of COO, Global Football. The Wasserman Global Football team represents circa 600 clients across the globe, comfortably making them the most established sports agency business within the industry. Before joining Wasserman, Fahri trained and qualified as a commercial lawyer. He is also a registered lawyer with the Football Association, a Director of the Association of Football Agents, and a Director and Treasurer of the British Association for Sport and Law.

Mathieu Ficot joined LFP in March 2013 as Chief Commercial Officer. From Paris, he manages LFP’s media and international activities in relation with Ligue 1, Ligue 2, Coupe de la Ligue and French Supercup.
Prior to joining LFP, Mathieu’s experience included various positions in the sport business area. In 1996, he spent one year in the legal department of The French Olympic Committee. The following year, he joined one of Paris’ professional clubs, the “Paris Saint Germain Omnisports”, as General Manager. His field of responsibilities covered sports issues (player management and recruitment), commercial strategy and financial controlling. During the summer of 2000, Mathieu joined the public broadcasting group “France Televisions” as Deputy Head of Sports. His role was based on the acquisition of broadcasting rights, from both rights holders and agencies, of sports events for the benefit of the television channels France 2 and France 3. Further to this, Mathieu was elected Vice President of the European Broadcasting Union Sports
Group in 2002, chairing the “new technologies and development” commission for two years. In January 2005, he joined SPORTFIVE SA in Paris. As Vice-President Media he was notably responsible for international acquisitions and tenders. In 2009, he was made Executive Vice President at SPORTFIVE INTERNATIONAL. From Geneva, Mathieu has led for 18 months the worldwide Media activities of SPORTFIVE group; he was notably in charge of the management of major accounts (including IOC and
UEFA).

Wendy secured a 10-year content partnership with a video service pioneer in China. This is a first of its kind partnership for the WTA in China. This platform will reinvent WTA’s digital offer in China through providing fans with never-before access to women’s tennis action, including, the live transmission of over 2000 women’s tennis matches

Based in Singapore, Beatrice has over 16 years’ experience in the sports marketing industry. She joined Aser Group in October 2016 as the CEO of Baofeng Sports international, a JV between Aser & Baofeng China. She manages the company business expansion and operations globally. Beatrice was with MP & Silva for 7 years since October 2009 as the Managing Director, Asia Pacific, where she managed all commercial & operations across the region, excluding Japan and Korea. Previously, she was the Commercial Director at Infront Sports & Media’s Beijing office, where she was in charge of the commercial rights for the Chinese national football and basketball teams and assisted in the sale of FIFA archive rights across Asia. Prior to Infront, Beatrice spent five years at the Total Sports Asia agency, at first in regional sales and latterly as the Senior Manager for Business Development

Responsible for domestic and international sports content acquisition; strategic partnerships with rights holders, teams and individual athletes; international sponsorship and marketing.

Key partnerships established include English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Bundesliga, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), MUTV, Australian Open, Roland Garros (French Open), Dakar Rally, International Premier Tennis League, training platform featuring IMG Academy, Monster Jam, MXGP, Visma Ski Classic and others.

Han Mu, previously a business reporter, co-founded Lanxiong Sports along with Li Shuangfu in 2015. Lanxiong Sports are China’s first integrated service platform in the sports industry, providing services like industry news, research reports. networking, branding and project promotion through media, events financial services and think tanks.