Productivity: Building Professional Communities That Excel

As the Managing Director, Travis is responsible for CCBC’s operations in China. He leads the teams in Beijing and Shanghai to execute strategies and initiatives to achieve the overall mandate of the organization as set by the Executive Director and the National Board of Directors. Through this role, Travis helps to coordinate and organize high-level events and visits for both Chinese and Canadian government officials of key federal, provincial and sectoral trade missions. He advises companies through China briefings, policies and regulations, market entry strategies, and regularly participates in speaking engagements with Chinese industry associations and other business groups across China.

Since 2001, Travis’ keen interest in Canada-China relations has led him on many trips to China as an academic researching Chinese medicine and martial arts history. He lived in Tianjin and Beijing, working in areas related to culture as a teacher, project manager, art consultant and curator. Travis has published articles on Chinese history and society, and remains a board member of the Arts Contraste Association, where he helps Canadian artists to visit China and hold exhibitions. Travis first began his work with CCBC in Toronto in 2010 as marketing manager for the Canada Centre. He helped establish CCBC’s Quebec Chapter in 2011 before relocating to China to manage the Shanghai office in 2013. Fluent in Chinese, French, and English, and holding a Masters degree in East Asian Studies from McGill University, Travis is well positioned to help Canadian businesses further develop their relationships in China.

James Flanagan, TEDxBeijing founder, and Curator of the Beijing hub of the World Economic Forum Global Shaper community
James Flanagan works at the intersection of technology and media, has lead and helped the development of media platforms in China and internationally, and is active in the development of the US-China innovation system.
Mr. Flanagan has helped developed large and small media platforms and events series. He has lead the TEDxBeijing team in creating conferences and online video programming. He has hosted people like the Prince of Monaco, world famous artists like Botero, and well known Chinese media figures. The TED and TEDx platform is world famous for bringing the best and brightest minds to talk about new discoveries, to creativity and art, to improving the lives of people around the world.
During his time in Beijing, he has worked closely with Yang Lan, one of the most well-known media figures in China, by developing forums and events for her company, Sun Media Group, and leading its international development, working with the AOL platform.
More recently, Mr. Flanagan has also led the development of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Beijing Hub for a few years. The Global Shapers is a global network of rising leaders in all fields working to develop regional and global conversations like engaging with the One Belt One Road Initiative.
In the startup space, James has helped to build both for-profit and non-profit organizations focused on developing activities for startups, connecting investors and startups, creating incubator exchange programs, and others exploring the interactions between the US and Chinese innovation systems.
Currently, Mr. Flanagan is developing content focused on US-China interaction to be broadcast in the US.
James grew up in Singapore, and has lived in Asia for more than 15 years, spending his most recent time in Beijing and Hong Kong. He was born to French-American parents, and is a graduate of McGill University

After graduating from a BA in International Studies from RMIT in 2011, Tash moved to Beijing to complete a Masters in International Relations at Tsinghua University. Whilst completing her thesis on refugee policy and geopolitics, Tash received a scholarship from the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network and UNHRC to undertake studies in Thailand on refugees and statelessness, and interned at the UNDP in Beijing.

She is an enthusiastic advocate of women’s leadership and empowerment through education, and has been on the organising committee of the Beijing Mentor Walks since 2014.

In her spare time, Tash performs with her band The Groove Collective as part of Beijing’s thriving music scene.

Olivia is the COO and co-founder of EventBank, a relationship engagement software platform integrating event and membership management, CRM, email marketing, and project management into one effective event solution. She has almost 20 years of experience in marketing and media, both as an entrepreneur and executive. Before co-founding EventBank, she was running CEBEX Group that consults for companies like Haier and Greenland and hosts hundreds of industry conferences under the China Entrepreneurs (CE) brand. Olivia was involved with successfully incubating multiple start-up companies and has assisted other companies in raising venture capital and private equity. She holds a Masters in Marketing and Accounting from the University of Sydney.

I've previously worked at a PR company, organizing running events for several big sport brands in China. I became the Head of HEY (Heyrobics & HeyRunning) community in Beijing as of February of this year, after four years of working for this organization.

HEYROBICS & HEYRUNNING are among China’s largest international sports communities involving thousands of participants on a yearly basis. You'll find us everywhere - from parks to schools, on streets, in companies and even with 30,000 cheering Chinese at Tiananmen Square!

From the moment I first tried Heyrobics, I knew I was addicted! Going from being a participant, to helping the HEY founder, Linus Holmsater, to spread this "World’s Happiest Sport" in China, to now managing our big community of volunteers, staff and interns, I'm always looking for ways to grow this community to be sweatier, happier and even bigger!

Roger has helped more than thousands of companies and individuals become more efficient at time and information management. The “wake up early movement” he co-founded has changed the life of more than 250,000 participants. Currently he is helping companies building the foundation of data based decision making with the help of GrowingIO.com. Prior to joining GrowingIO, Roger was heading up Evernote Business, the biggest productivity tool in the world, in China.