Donna Orem

President, National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)

Donna Orem was named President of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in November 2016. NAIS provides services to more than 1,800 schools and associations of schools in the United States and abroad, including 1,500 nonprofit, private K-12 schools in the U.S.

Orem served as the Chief Operating Officer for NAIS for 11 years before becoming president. She joined NAIS in 1998 as the Vice President for Educational Leadership, later becoming the Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Research. Prior to joining NAIS, she served as the Vice President for Products and Services Development at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She also served as Associate Director for The American Association of University Women (AAUW).

Orem speaks frequently about leadership, governance, trends in independent education, and workforce development and is the author of numerous books and articles.

Ambassador Ford Hart

former U.S. Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau

Ford Hart worked on U.S. China policy at the White House, the State Department, the Pentagon, and for extended periods in Greater China over a 33-year diplomatic career. His final posting was as Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau, an ambassadorial-level position, and he served as the National Security Council’s China Director.

Ford was the Special Envoy for the Six-Party Talks on North Korean nuclear weapons, for which President Obama accorded him the personal rank of ambassador. At the Pentagon, Ford was foreign policy advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations.

Ford is a Director of HLS Asia, a North American firm that markets products in China and elsewhere in Asia. He also is Senior Advisor to Bower Group Asia, a government relations consultancy. Ford was an advisor to Fluidity, LLC, a blockchain technology company subsequently acquired by ConsenSys. He is a frequent speaker on foreign policy, including for Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and Forsyth Barr.

Ford began his foreign policy career as a foreign/defense policy staffer in the office of then Senator Joseph Biden in 1980.

In addition to three diplomatic postings to Mainland China and his appointment in Hong Kong, Ford served overseas in the USSR, Iraq, and Taiwan. At the State Department, he also worked on Asia regional policy, Taiwan, Kazakhstan, crisis management, and post-conflict stabilization.

Ford is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Wellington Club, and the American Foreign Service Association. For Ford’s analysis of Chinese politics, the State Department gave him its highest award for diplomatic reporting, and the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong conferred on him its award for championing women in business.

Ford holds a master’s degree from the University of Virginia. He resides in Wellington with his partner, Ms. Gabrielle Rush, a New Zealand diplomat.

Clifford.Hart.Jr@Gmail.com | +64-21-065-2315

Jennifer Van Dale

Partner, Eversheds Sutherland, Hong Kong

A resident of Hong Kong for nearly 30 years, Jennifer Van Dale started her education in the US with degrees in French and Chinese and has an LLB from the University of Hong Kong. She is a partner at the global law firm Eversheds Sutherland, where she heads the labour and employment practice in Asia and manages the data privacy practice in Hong Kong.

Jennifer co-chairs the Future of Work committee at the American Chamber of Commerce, where is is a former governor. She frequently writes about technology issues from the "people" angle, touching on the future of work and smart cities. She advocates ethical technological advancement for the benefit of humans and is currently working on a book that analyses how societies make technological choices and the outcomes of those choices.

Governmental advisory bodies and NGOs frequently consult with Jennifer on diversity, technology and employment issues, and she has been recognized as one of Hong Kong and the region’s leading employment lawyers.

Michael Nachbar

Head of Global Online Academy

Prior to founding GOA, Michael served as Lakeside School’s middle school assistant director, and worked for seven years at Village Community School in New York City in a variety of roles, including teacher, curriculum coordinator, and director of technology. Michael started his career in education as a Teach for America corps member, teaching high school English in Roma, Texas.

He is a frequent speaker and workshop facilitator at national and international conferences, and has presented dozens of times on such topics as educational trends impacting schools, modern teaching and learning, and global education.

Michael is an active board member for several education organizations, including the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), Independent School Association Network (ISAnet), and Jump! Foundation, and serves on the advisory board for Sea Change Mentoring. Previous boards include the Mastery Transcript Consortium and Summer Search. He lives in New York with his family.

Jen Flowers

Global Head of Strategy and Business Mgmt, Partnership Development & Innovation, at HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Mgmt

An advocate for design thinking, Jen leads Partnership Development & Innovation in Asia for HSBC Retail Banking & Wealth Management. She has 16 years in the professional services business focused on business development, market strategy, client relationships and building new services and products across digital, data, customer and emerging technology.

Currently she is leading a team in Asia looking at how partnerships help bring digital-led innovation to HSBC's core business as well as push the boundaries of how they operate. Jen's customer led approach to delivering business results includes surfacing services across digital platforms to create relevance, opportunity, new products and entirely new businesses whilst building new distribution for existing products and services.

A mother of two, she was raised in Hong Kong and speaks conversational Mandarin. She is one of the founders and chair for both TEDxShanghai (2011-2016) and TEDxTinHauWomen. (2017-2020) She is a frequent speaker on innovation, digital transformation, team culture, design thinking and women empowerment.

Jen Flowers and family are no strangers to Asia International schooled. She herself attended HKIS ’92-’96. In addition her mother attended ASIJ and TAS in the late 50’s-60s. Her family has been working and living in Asia for over 70 years and her son is at 2^nd grade currently at HKIS.

Jane Lam

ASP Business Management and Operations Manager

A tech enthusiast and passionate in digital transformations.

Jane is driven by her passion and joined the Partnership Development & Innovation in Asia for HSBC Wealth & Personal Banking as the lead strategy and operations manager after being in the consulting industry for 6 years.

Jane primarily focuses on managing the day to day operations of the team with a focus on leading propositions in customer experience, digital strategy, building innovation programs and advocates design thinking within the bank.

Born and raised in Hong Kong with a hint of “the kid that has been away for school abroad for most of her childhood”, Jane is active in participating in movements that empowers women and promotes innovation. She has been on the committee for TEDxTInHauWomen for the past 3 years planning and supporting the events.

Chris Joffe

CEO of Joffe Emergency Services

Chris got his professional start saving lives in EMS (Emergency Medical Services), but if you know Chris, you know that it wasn’t on a large enough scale to satisfy him. Chris has helped protect millions of lives since 2007 based on the simple belief that people have the power to save lives through education and training. Through his commitment to that mission and his leadership, Joffe Emergency Services has become the leader in school safety programs, event safety, and disaster preparedness.