CLIFF BUDDLE
Editor, Special Projects, South China Morning Post
Cliff Buddle has been a journalist for more than 30 years. He began his career as a news agency reporter at the Central Criminal Court in London, where he worked for 12 years before being brought to Hong Kong by the South China Morning Post in 1994. Cliff was the Post’s chief court reporter for six years, during which he covered a wide variety of cases including the landmark constitutional legal battles following Hong Kong’s return to China. Since then, he has worked as an editor of the opinion pages, news editor, chief leader writer and deputy editor. Cliff spent 11 months as Acting Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper, overseeing its relaunch in 2011. He was appointed Editor, Special Projects, South China Morning Post this year. Cliff passed the Common Professional Examination (post-graduate diploma in law) in 2000. Then, in 2005, he graduated from the Master of Laws (Human Rights) programme at the University of Hong Kong. His dissertation was on the legal framework underpinning Hong Kong’s political system.
WEI GU
China Wealth and Luxury Editor , The Wall Street Journal
Wei Gu, CFA, is the Wall Street Journal’s China Wealth and Luxury Editor, and head of original reporting for the Journal’s Chinese website. She writes a weekly column on spending and investing for wealthy Chinese called “People’s Money”. Wei joined the Journal in 2013 from a decade at Thomson Reuters, where she was most recently China columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. Before that, she was a reporter in the U.S., covering tech and stocks and handling important China-related stories. Wei began her journalism career in 1998 at China Business News Television, where she produced a weekly show. Born and raised in Shanghai, she earned a master’s in business journalism from New York University.
VIVIAN KWOK
Editor-in-Chief, Bloomberg Businessweek (Chinese) 彭博商業周刊 / 中文版
Vivian Kwok is the Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher of Bloomberg Businessweek (Chinese) 彭博商業周刊 / 中文版 , a Chinese weekly which launched in June 2013 and built on the agreement between Bloomberg Businessweek and Hong Kong-listed Modern Media.
Prior to her existing role with Bloomberg Businessweek (Chinese), Vivian was Deputy Editor-in-Chief with Next Magazine, Hong Kong’s highest circulation news weekly, overseeing two teams of journalists covering Greater China.
Before that, Vivian spent a year with the South China Morning Post where she broke front-page investigative stories on university scandals, land deals, and a secret agreement between the Hong Kong government and developers. Her series about private clubs in Hong Kong won a Society of Publishers in Asia award for investigative reporting in 2011.
From 2006 to 2009, Vivian was the News Editor with Forbes.com in Hong Kong. She wrote on mergers and acquisitions, pollution and corruption, and financial markets across Asia.
Vivian has a BSSc in Economics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a MJ in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong.
LOUIS LUCAS
Journalist, Financial Times
Louise Lucas has worked for the Financial Times for 16 years, initially in Hong Kong before postings in London & Tokyo. She is now Asia news editor based in Hong Kong. Previously she worked for two years at the South China Morning Post in HK
international affairs from the University of Hong Kong.
PHILIP McCLELLAN
Asia Editor at International New York Times
Philip McClellan is chief editor for Asia and deputy managing editor. Working out of the Hong Kong newsrom, he is responsible for the IHT’s editorial operations in Asia. Mr. McClellan joined the IHT in 2001 and spent three years in Paris as a financial editor before moving to Hong Kong to head the Business Asia partnership with Bloomberg News. He has also served as news editor and business editor for the IHT’s Asian operations.
Mr. McClellan began his career in journalism in Hong Kong in the 1990s, reporting for a local newsweekly before working as a correspondent for Agence France-Presse in Hong Kong and Bangkok. In 1997, Mr. McClellan moved to the San Francisco Bay Area at the height of the tech boom and spent two years working as a freelancer, covering technology and Asia-related topics, before joining the San Jose Mercury News. Mr. McClellan grew up in Asia and Europe. He has a BA in history from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and a MA in international affairs from the University of Hong Kong.
CAROLYN QU
Deputy Editor, Reuters Chinese News Service
Carolyn Qu is the Deputy Editor of Reuters Chinese News Service. The 70-member strong team reports on China’s financial markets and global news in Chinese. Before taking up her position in Hong Kong, Carolyn worked in mainland China for 10 years as a financial news reporter at Reuters. She has a track record of breaking news and her market-moving scoop on China’s surprising fuel price hike was nominated as Reuters best scoop of the year in 2008. Carolyn’s graduate degree major is in Electrical Engineering. While working at Reuters in Shenzhen, Carolyn took a part time MBA course offered by the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.
YIN-CHUEN WU
President, CommonWealth Magazine
Yin-Chuen Wu has 32 years of journalistic experience working in CommonWealth Magazine, Taiwan, covering subjects from technology, political economics, nations’ competitiveness, to healthcare system. She’s led CommonWealth Magazine to win international and domestic prestigious honours within her service as the Managing Editor of CommonWealth Magazine since 2008, including the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) and Golden Tripod Award, Vivian Wu Journalism Award, and Excellent Journalism Award in Taiwan.
From 1995-2011, she’s conducted 5 TV documentaries featuring the political economic, educational, and environmental development of Taiwan (1995: “The Making of A Little Dragon” 4-hour documentary ; 1996: “Environmental Taiwan” 5-hour documentary ; 1997: ”Impact 1997 of Hong Kong Takeover” 1/2 hour documentary ; 1997: “The Rising Generation” 6.5-hour documentary ; 2011: “Beautiful Formosa – The Road Less Traveled＂3.3-hour documentary).
Born in Taiwan, Wu has a BA in Journalism from National Chengchi University of Taiwan; and a MA in Asian Studies from University of California, Berkeley, of the United States.
TOM LEANDER – CHAIRMAN
Editor-in-chief for Asia, Lloyd’s List
Tom Leander is the editor-in-chief for Asia for Lloyd’s List, the maritime daily newspaper. Tom moved to Hong Kong to head up the Asia bureau in January 2010. Prior to that he was the chief editor of Lloyd’s List in London for two years. He also served as editor-in-chief for CFO Asia magazine from 2001 and CFO China magazine from 2003, both published by the Economist Group in Hong Kong. He started his career in journalism in New York City, working for Global Finance magazine and American Banker, a daily newspaper. Tom had a two-year stint in corporate life at Stern Stewart & Co in New York, an economics consulting firm, as a marketer.
JEFFREY TIMMERMANS – HEAD OF JUDGES
Lecturer and director of the undergraduate journalism program, The University of Hong Kong’s Journalism & Media Studies Centre
Jeffrey Timmermans is a lecturer and director of the undergraduate journalism program at The University of Hong Kong’s Journalism & Media Studies Centre. He has more than a decade of experience in Asia as a financial and business journalist, having worked as a reporter in Tokyo for The Wall Street Journal and as a managing editor for Dow Jones Newswires in Hong Kong and Singapore. He also worked for Bain & Company, leading the global strategy consulting firm’s public-relations efforts in Asia, before joining the JMSC in 2008. Jeffrey holds a BA in Asian studies from Colgate University and a MS in journalism from Columbia University.