John Pomfret is an award winning journalist with The Washington Post. He is currently reporting on U.S. relations with Asia for the paper. This beat follows many years covering China, from being on the spot at Tiananmen Square to Beijing Bureau Chief.
He has received the Osborne Elliot award from The Asia Society for the best coverage of Asia and The Shorenstein Award from Harvard and Stanford Universities for lifetime coverage of China and Asia.
John speaks and writes Mandarin. He lived and worked in China for over a decade. As a twenty year old exchange student from Stanford, John spent a year at Nanjing University. His fellow classmates were among the first people allowed to test for university following The Cultural Revolution and their extraordinary lives reveal the forces in government and private industry that are shaping China's future.
Reuniting with his classmates at a 20th reunion inspired him to write Chinese Lessons, a critically acclaimed, riveting portrait of the Chinese people and the kind of lives that are making the China of tomorrow.
The book is a first hand account of China's remarkable transformation over the past 40 years. It is also an indispensable corrective to the myths and misconceptions that tend to shape our approach to Chinese business, society and politics.
John is an engaging, articulate speaker who will offer our FCS audience of financial marketers a fabulous opportunity to take away insights about a country with which we compete, but at the same time offers US enterprises, including financial institutions, tremendous opportunities.