At a time when citizens are more aware than ever before of the benefits and disadvantages of globalization, America and other countries are considering the best ways to face the future in a global world. A key piece of this conversation is education—how do we best prepare all individuals to be globally competitive? Answering this question requires awareness, investment, and efforts from stakeholders and leaders across all sectors. Join Asia Society and prominent leaders and thinkers in education, business, philanthropy, and public service to discuss the trends in civic life, commerce, and employment that are affecting education and America’s competitiveness in a global economy.

This program is being offered in recognition of the 10th annual National Chinese Language Conference (NCLC), being held in Houston on April 6-8, 2017. NCLC is dedicated to enhancing the nation’s capacity for the teaching and learning of Chinese language and culture by sharing cutting-edge practices and examples with educators and policymakers. 

About the Speakers

Ronnie Chan is the Co-Chair of Asia Society Global and Chairman of Hang Lung Group Limited and its subsidiary, Hang Lung Properties Limited. Both are publicly listed companies in Hong Kong, dealing in real estate investment, development, and management. Founded in 1960, the Hang Lung Group expanded its reach into mainland China in 1992. Following successes in Shanghai, from 2005 to 2009, Hang Lung has been investing US$5 billion and building commercial complexes in several Chinese cities, including Tianjin, Shenyang, Jinan, Wuxi, and Dalian. Chan also co-founded the privately held Morningside group which, in the past two decades, has owned and managed businesses in manufacturing, public transport operations, outdoor advertising, media, healthcare, online game operators, high-tech and biotech investments, developmental capital investments and other venture capital investments around the world. In addition, Chan is actively involved with many non-profits, philanthropic endeavors, and educational organizations.

Albert Chao is President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Westlake Chemical Corporation and its limited partnership, Westlake Chemical Partners, LP. In addition, Albert is a Director of Suzhou Huasu Plastics Co, Ltd. of China. Albert serves on the Board of Directors of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association, Greater Houston Partnership, Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas, Houston Grand Opera, Asia Society Texas Center, and Houston Methodist Research Institute. His career spans over 35 years in international business activities in the petrochemical industry working with Mobil Oil Corporation, Hercules Inc., and Gulf Oil Chemicals. He was also the Assistant to the Chairman of China General Plastics Group in Taiwan and the Deputy Managing Director of a plastics fabrication operation in Singapore. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Titan Chemicals Corporation in Malaysia and is member of the Committee of 100. He is a Board Trustee of Asia Society New York and Rice University.

David W. Leebron has served as Rice University’s seventh president since 2004. Prior to taking the helm at Rice, Leebron was dean of Columbia Law School. A native of Philadelphia, he is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was elected president of the Law Review in his second year. After graduating in 1979, he served as a law clerk for Judge Shirley Hufstedler on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles. He began teaching at the UCLA School of Law in 1980 and at the NYU School of Law in 1983. In 1989, Leebron joined the faculty of Columbia Law School, and in 1996 he was appointed dean and the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law. In 2006, Leebron was presented with France’s Commandeur de l’Ordre national du Mérite, and in 2008, he received an honorary doctorate from Nankai University. In 2010, Leebron and his wife, University Representative Y. Ping Sun, were selected by the Greater Houston Partnership as the city’s International Executives of the Year for helping make Houston a center of international business. He was also selected as Asia Society Texas Center’s Huffington Award Honoree in 2015.

Horacio Licon is Vice President of International Investment and Trade at Greater Houston Partnership. He is responsible for developing and implementing initiatives to attract FDI to Houston and for promoting trade development. Prior to joining the Partnership in March 2015, Licon worked with Mexico’s national oil company, PEMEX, where he was responsible for supplier research and analysis in its Houston international procurement office. There, he assisted many Houston-based firms with innovative technologies for the oil and gas industry to enter Mexico. His 15-year international economic development career started with the City of San Antonio in its Monterrey office in 1999. He then worked as trade officer for TradePartners UK before moving to Mexico City as Deputy Head of Trade and Investment for the British Embassy. Licon came to Houston in 2009 as Energy Sector Lead for UK Trade and Investment, and later served as Head of Trade and Investment for the British Consulate General, where he was responsible for attracting investment and promoting British companies in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. He has a B.S. from Tecnológico de Monterrey and speaks fluent Spanish, English, and French.

About the Moderator

Dr. Anthony Jackson is Vice President for Education and Director of Center for Global Education at Asia Society. He leads Asia Society’s work in education which strives to enable all students to graduate high school prepared for college, for work in the global economy, and for 21st century global citizenship. Jackson oversees the Center for Global Education at Asia Society, which includes the International Studies Schools Network, Global Learning Beyond School, the Global Cities Education Network, and China Learning Initiatives. Trained in both developmental psychology and education, Jackson is one of the nation’s leading experts on secondary school education reform and adolescent development. Jackson directed the Carnegie Corporation’s Task Force on the Education of Young Adolescents which produced the ground breaking report Turning Points: Educating Adolescents in the 21st Century, and co-authored the seminal follow-up blueprint Turning Points 2000, considered one of the most influential books on middle school reform. His most recent work is Educating for Global Competence: Preparing Our Youth to Engage the World.

Asia Society Texas Center Business & Policy Programs, Endowed by

Huffington Foundation

Muffet Blake, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, United Airlines, and Vinson & Elkins LLP are presenting sponsors of Business & Policy programs, with lead support from Nancy C. Allen, BP America, Nancy T. Chang, Anne and Albert Chao, Eagle Global Advisors, and Wells Fargo. Generous funding also provided by the Friends of Business & Policy at Asia Society Texas Center, a premier group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing the best in public programming.

Presenting Sponsors