Arriving in the UK almost 30 year ago, Laura has built her own successful business in the EFL industry and now runs the Cambridge Centre for Languages. She has also considerable experience and connections in China, Turkey, Spain and Italy through her work. Laura is keen to see Crayfish providing more real life work opportunities and educational benefits for young Chinese talent who have overcome many challenges to come study in the UK.

Peng Zhi has over 15 years’ experience in Chinese technology market investment, from start-up businesses to early stage grown. She worked for Microsoft R&D and gained investment experience with London based VCs and Angel technology funds.

She holds an MPhil Industrial Systems, Manufacture and Management (ISMM) from the University of Cambridge.

Dr David Cleevely is the Chair of Advisory Council, Centre for Science & Policy at the University of Cambridge. As a serial entrepreneur, he has invested in over 35 companies and is co-founder and Chairman of five of them, including the award-winning restaurant “Bocca di Lupo”. He is the Chairman of CRFS, which he co-founded in July 2007, and Chairman of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the Cambridge Science Centre, as well as being an Ambassador of the Cambridge Humanitarian Centre.

He was the founder and former Chairman of telecoms consultancy Analysys (acquired by Datatec International in 2004). In1998, he co-founded the web based antibody company Abcam (ABC.L) with Jonathan Milner and was its Chairman until 2009.

He has been a prime mover behind Cambridge Network, co-founder of Cambridge Wireless, co-founder and Chairman of Cambridge Angels and is a member of the IET Communications Policy Panel. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the IET.

Dr Jonathan Milner, co-founder and currently Deputy Chairman of Abcam plc, is an experienced entrepreneur and investor and is passionate about supporting UK healthcare and high-tech start-ups. He has provided considerable investment and support to over 30 companies and has assisted three technology companies to IPO on AIM. In 1998, he identified the market opportunity for supplying high-quality antibodies to support protein interaction studies and founded Abcam with David Cleevely and Professor Tony Kouzarides.

Jonathan is currently Chairman of Axol Bioscience, Cambridge Allergy Therapy Limited and PhoreMost Limited and a non-executive director of Horizon Discovery, Frontier Developments, Syndicate Room Limited and GeoSpock Limited. He also sits on the advisory boards of Desktop Genetics Ltd, Repositive Ltd, HealX Limited and Definigen Ltd. In addition, he co-founded the Milner Institute for Evolution at the University of Bath.

Linda Jiang is a strategy, business development and product management expert. She has a proven track record in building developer ecosystems and data driven products to international market. Linda co-founded UMENG, the largest mobile big data and advertising platform in China (acquired by Alibaba). She previously worked for Samsung Mobile UK and CGI Europe. She is bilingual in English and Chinese and is a specialist in China business expansion.

Qin is the founder of the QED Education Group, promoting mutually beneficial business relationships and economic growth in the UK and China.

The first and only British Diplomat born in China, Qin worked as a UK government trade and investment professional and diplomat for 16 years in China and London. Her most recent role was leading the UK Education supply chain interest for China and Hong Kong at the Department for International Trade. Building on her long experience in government, she continues to develop close cultural relationships and facilitate successful UK-China trade agreements and is passionate about finding new ways to facilitate business opportunities to China.

Qin began her civil service career in 2000 in the Home Office’s Commercial and Procurement Unit. She joined the Department for International Trade HQ (formerly UKTI) in 2003 as China Market Unit Manager, responsible for developing UK-China trade through UK government initiatives, in collaboration with other government departments, industry associations and businesses. From 2004 to 2008 Qin led on all business programmes for UK Prime Ministers’ China visits. From 2008 to 2015, when she was posted in China as a diplomat, she developed and implemented UKTI China technology strategies.

With her extensive knowledge and understanding of Chinese culture, business environment and etiquette, Qin has advised hundreds of British businesses on their China strategies and market opportunities, providing invaluable expertise and insight on governmental policies affecting education trade with China, and guidance on operating in a highly unique context.

Terry has over 30 years of experience in finance and capital market specialising in IPO, fund raising, investor relations, corporate restructuring and strategy advisory. He also possessed world class professional experience through his managerial role with Ernst & Young Hong Kong after he gained his qualification as a Chartered Accountant in England and Wales in London. In particular, Terry was the director and CFO of a listed company* in the Main Board of Hong Kong Stock Exchange for over 10 years. During that period, Terry has won over 100 awards for the listed company and personal awards which includes: Best Listed Company Executive Director, Best CFO, Best Investor Relations, Best Corporate Governance Listed Company, Best Value for Shareholders and Best Listed Company Annual Report. Terry has extensive network resources in the PRC and Hong Kong SAR and now acting as Corporate Strategy Advisor for various companies.

*Xtep International Holdings Limited – one of the top sportswear brands in the PRC. IPO market capitalisation in 2008 exceed US$1 billion.

Based in Beijing, Estella is responsible for our Asian business development.

She is a global-minded, forward-thinking professional with fifteen years experience in the biotech and healthcare industry, investment management and business consulting, mainly responsible for facilitating cross-border trades and investments and fund raising for high-tech companies. She has worked in multiple roles for public organisations, NGOs, and private enterprises from institutional investors with different investment strategies to biotech companies at all stages globally.

Estella received her Bachelor of Science degree in Life Sciences from China and an MBA degree (with distinction) from the United States as a member of Beta Gamma and Sigma. Estella was certified by CFA Institute in 2018.

Juho is our China expert currently based in Finland. He works for our Nordic & European market development, as well as other markets beyond UK.

He has nearly 20 years of experience in the fields of technological innovation and international business. Having spent many years in China, he divided time between Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other major cities. He has collected multidisciplinary business insights (and languages, including Chinese) also from other countries in Asia and Europe, plus USA.

Having worked in a variety of roles in government, startup company, university and entrepreneurship, he possesses a rich understanding of different business perspectives and needs.

His education includes two graduate degrees – in business and cultural studies – and a stint in engineering.

Connie, a fellow of Chartered Accountant, has 15+ years’ experience in key finance management roles, mainly from FTSE 250 listed companies and large corporates.

After joining Anderson and qualified with Deloitte Audit Division., she spent 6 years in Internal audit and financial reporting with MedImmune Ltd (subsidiary of AstraZeneca) where she played a key role in swiftly transiting the Antibody Technology Plc into MedImmune Ltd. Connie later took on the role of Financial Controller with Cambridge University Press in Journals and Education divisions respectively, managing the day to day running of the finance function and set up many key business processes, policies and reporting modules, successfully acquired a group of Australia based publishing journals. The most recent corporate role she took on was with the Inca Digital Printers where she was a financial controller as well as a business partner, played a key role in the management team, engaging and providing solutions in shaping company-wide projects and operational modules.

Jiao Li is Co-Founder of Crayfish.io, the leading multi-platform service provider offering expertise, connections and capital to enable businesses to achieve better engagement with China.

Jiao joined Crayfish.io as the co-founder in 2018 and has led the marketing, sales, platform and product development for the company. She also assists clients with their China-related research, strategy development and marketing initiatives.

Having studied for a Finance degree at Nankai University, Jiao completed her MA (Operational Research) at London School of Economics before joining Unilever, where she spent six years working as E-Commerce and Digital Manager, leading cross-functional teams in the UK and China. She is a highly experienced ecommerce and digital marketing specialist, passionate about helping brands reach out and interact with Chinese audiences in a smarter and more engaging way.

Jiao is a captivating and informed speaker in both Chinese and English, and has featured on BBC World Service and has presented at events run by CBBC, Cambridge Network, and UKIE.

Expertise: Chinese business communication, business/marketing strategy, customer insights, ecommerce, digital marketing, branding, financial reporting, product development, culture understanding.

Jane has 18 years of experience in strategy, business development and international trade. Working closely with clients, she manages the growth operations including marketing, BD, product development at Crayfish.io to cater for client’s full cycle of doing business in China, delivering successful services through efficient use of resources available at Crayfish.io ecosystem.

Prior to joining Crayfish.io in 2019, Jane had worked in international companies, SMEs and start-ups in both China and the UK, which gave her hands-on knowledge of both the East and the Western markets. Having worked in some of the most rapidly changing industries such as education, publishing and international trade, Jane embraces technologies and she enjoys exploring their underlying strengths and applying emerging industrial trends into actionable plans.