GIA SHEN

Gia Shen is currently Strategic Investment Director of Beijing World Affairs Press, the publishing company under the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs which was established in 1934, and over the past three years since creating the Strategic Investment Division, have transformed the traditional state-owned publishing firm to launch new business lines in the film, education, digital media, and embassy and corporate gifting industries.

Prior to joining Beijing World Affairs Press, Gia had over 10 years of real estate research, portfolio management and private equity investment experience, first as an equity research associate at Susquehanna Investment Group in NYC and later as Associate Director for Jones Lang LaSalle, leading a team of 50 research analysts across China in its quarterly REIS research publications for the Chinese real estate investment sector. Gia was also previously a member of and in charge of fundraising activities for the first Special Situations Fund for Hony Capital, which is one of China’s most established buyout, state-owned enterprise restructuring and growth capital private equity fund managers.

Having lived and worked in New York, Shanghai, France and Switzerland, Gia has been involved with the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards, and the Brussels-based European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) where as a student fellow at the 10th annual conference in Berlin, assisted with the planning and development of the special session on Women in Venture Philanthropy. Gia is also an active member of the Real Estate Committee at AmCham Shanghai, and the Family Business Committee of INSEAD.

Gia graduated from Wellesley College with a BA in Economics, with a year of exchange at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University, and received her MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.