During the first Clinton administration, Professor Blacker served as special assistant to the president for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC). At the NSC, he oversaw the implementation of U.S. policy toward Russia and the New Independent States, while also serving as principal staff assistant to the president and the National Security Advisor on matters relating to the former Soviet Union. From 1998 to 2003, he served as co-director of the Aspen Institute's U.S.-Russia Dialogue, which twice each year brings together prominent U.S. and Russian specialists on foreign and defense policy for discussion and review of critical issues in U.S.-Russian relations. He was a study group member of the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century (The Hart-Rudman Commission) throughout the Commission's tenure. Professor Blacker has brought his expertise to the Stanford community as the director of FSI, the Olivier Nomellini Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, an FSI senior fellow, and a professor of political science, by courtesy. He has also held fellowships at Harvard University and the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1993 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Russian Academy of Sciences for his work on U.S.-Russian relations. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, he also serves on the Board of Directors of the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) in Washington, DC. Currently, he is also co-chair, with Professor Elisabeth Pat Cornell, of the Faculty Steering Committee of the International Initiative.

In his position as Vice Provost, John Bravman draws on a history of being well acquainted with the ins and outs of Stanford life. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University in 1979, 1981 and 1985 respectively. Currently, he is also Dean of Freshman / Sophomore College at Stanford and Senior Associate Dean for Student Affairs in the School of Engineering and chairman of the Materials Science and Engineering department. He also serves on the advisory board of two other student organizations, Democratic Partners and Asia Technology Initiative.

Bravman's strength as vice provost is complemented by his outstanding reputation in the classroom. Between 1997 and 2000, Bravman was named to the Bing Centennial Professorship, a university-wide position that recognizes the highest level of excellence in teaching. He has also received 7 other awards for teaching: the School of Engineering Distinguished Advisor Award, the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Engineering Teaching and a Bing Teaching Fellowship. He has also received special honor for his teaching from the Society of Black Scientists and Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, and ASM International.

Richard B. Dasher is concurrently Director of the US-Asia Technology Management Center (USATMC) and Executive Director of the Center for Integrated Systems (CIS), which are education and research centers in the School of Engineering at Stanford. Dr. Dasher is an advisor to the International Business Incubator, San Jose, California, the Venture Academy Foundation, Palo Alto, California, and several start-up companies. He is also an advisor to several other Stanford student-led programs, including the Asia-Pacific Student Entrepreneurship Summit (ASES) and the Stanford Society of Asian American Engineers (SSAE).

As Consulting Associate Professor at Stanford University, Dr. Dasher plans and leads seminar series with distinguished guest speakers on topics in International Technology Management and International Advanced Technology Research. Before coming to Stanford, Dr. Dasher directed the U.S. State Department's Foreign Service Institute training centers in Japan and Korea, where he had executive responsibility for advanced training programs in language and area studies for US diplomats. In addition, he was a salaried Board Director for two Japanese corporations in Tokyo, at which he developed successful new business areas involving international IP licensing.

John Holden is the head of the company's China division. Prior to joining Shaklee in 2005, Mr. Holden served as president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, working to promote understanding and cooperation for the mutual benefit of these countries. Before leading the National Committee, he ran the Chinese holding company of Cargill for 12 years and served in various leadership positions at BankAmerica and other financial companies. Early in his career, Mr. Holden worked as a translator for National Geographic Society delegations and Chinese scientists researching the Yellow River and Tibet. Mr. Holden is a past president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing and also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, the Bretton Woods Committee and many others. He holds a B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature from the University of Minnesota and a Masters in the same field from Stanford University. He speaks fluent Chinese.

In addition to directing the China Services Group at Deloitte and Touche, George Koo is Managing Director and C.E.O. of International Strategic Alliances, Inc., which assists American high tech companies and major international corporations in forming cross border strategic alliances on the Pacific Rim. Koo is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy as well as the Committee of 100, a national organization of prominent Chinese Americans. Previously, Koo founded Bear Stearns China Trade Advisors, served as chairman of the Asian American Manufacturers Association, and was a founding member of Aeolus-Thompson Corporation, a Sino-American joint venture in Hubei, China.

Born in China, Dr. Koo immigrated to Seattle as a child. He received his S.B. And S.M. Degrees in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sc.D. from Stevens Institute of Technology and a M.B.A. from Santa Clara University.

Dr. Min has served as Chairman of the Expert Panel for the implementation of World Bank Education Development in Poor Provinces Project in China since 1992. Dr. Min worked full-time at the headquarters of the World Bank in Washington D.C. during 1991-92 as a higher education specialist. He joined more than thirty World Bank missions to Eastern Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China since the early 1990s for higher education development projects. Dr. Min has been responsible for a wide range of operations of the university since 1995, including academic affairs, faculty development, personnel, finance, and university high-tech industry programs, and is also a faculty member in the Economics of Education. He received his Ph.D in Economics of Education from Stanford University in 1987. He joined the faculty of the university in 1988. He is currently also serving as Director and Professor of the Institute of Higher Education of Peking University. Concurrently, Dr. Min serves as the president of the China National Association for Research on Study Abroad, Vice President of China Higher Education Research Association, Vice President of China National Association of Economics of Education, Senior Research Fellow of National National Education Development Research Center of the Ministry of Education of China, and Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the international journal of Higher Education.

Jean Oi is the William Haas Professor of Chinese Politics, a professor of political science, and an FSI senior fellow by courtesy. Her work focuses on comparative politics, Chinese political economy, and corporate restructuring and governance in Asia. She is currently working on a project that examines restructuring and corporate governance in China's state-owned enterprises. She is also conducting a project on village elections in China and the broader question of the relationship between levels and types of economic development across different areas of the countryside and the structure of decision-making. She has done extensive fieldwork in China since the mid-1980s, and she previously conducted fieldwork interviews in Hong Kong.

Oi was a Crocker Faculty Scholar at Stanford from 1998 to 2001. She has taught courses in Chinese politics and the Era of Reform in China. In 1999, her students selected her as an Outstanding Faculty Adviser. She received a BA with a double major in political science and Asian languages and literature from Indiana University, and a PhD in political science from the University of Michigan. She speaks Mandarin, and some Cantonese.

Henry Rowen is a national expert on international security, economic development, Asian economics and politics, and US institutions and economic performance. From 1989 to 1991, Rowen served as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs in the US Department of Defense. Previously, he was chairman of the National Intelligence Council (1981-83), president of the RAND Corporation (1968-72) and assistant director of the US Bureau of the Budget (1965-66).

Currently, he is also a professor of Public Policy and Management Emeritus at the Graduate School of Business, and has research interests in economic growth prospects for the developing world, political and economic change in East Asia, and the tenets of federalism.

Dingli Shen is a professor and Deputy Director of Fudan University's Center for American Studies. He co-founded and directs China's first university-based Program on Arms Control and Regional Security at Fudan. Shen has extensive experience with and specializes in nuclear arms control and disarmament, specifically as it relates to nuclear weapons policy in the United States and China and U.S.-Chinese relations. He has written numerous articles on the subject of disarmament and has been an active participant in the Carnegie Endowment's International Conference for Non-Proliferation.

Andrew Walder is the director emeritus of Shorenstein APARC, a professor of sociology and an FSI senior fellow. He is an expert on the sources of conflict, stability and change in communist regimes, and his current research focuses on the impact of China's market reforms on income inequality and career opportunity. He is also conducting historical research on the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1969, with an emphasis on the Beijing Red Guard movement during 1966 and 1967.

Before coming to Stanford in fall 1997, Walder was a professor of sociology at Harvard. He was also a professor and head of the Division of Social Sciences at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 1995-1997. His recent publications include "Career Advancement as Party Patronage: Sponsored Mobility into the Chinese Administrative Elite," in the American Journal of Sociology (co-authored with Bobai Li, 2001); "Politics and Life Chances in a State Socialist Regime: Dual Career Paths into the Urban Chinese Elite, 1949 to 1996," in the American Sociological Review (co-authored with Bobai Li, 2000); Property Rights and Economic Reform in China (co-edited with Jean Oi, 1999); and Zouping in Transition: The Process of Reform in Rural North China (1998). He received his PhD in sociology from the University of Michigan.