Jim Wagstaff is the Managing Director of Jam Factory Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based consulting and education technology firm. He is also an active judge for the 2016 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. In 2015, he participated in judging for the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

The 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards is currently accepting entries. Find out how to enter here.

We asked Jim about the Stevie Awards judging process, what it is like running a business in Singapore, and for his insight into the contrasts between working in Asia-Pacific and the West.

A Strong Endorsement

Jim would most definitely recommend being a Stevie Awards judge to others. As he told us: “I was initially invited to be a judge by someone who is a friend and colleague. The judging process really gives you a sense of the variety and creativity in how companies are approaching business challenges and opportunities in various parts of the world.”

Jim Wagstaff has called Singapore home since 2007. He had been living and working in Shanghai for a number of years when an opportunity to relocate to Singapore with Hewlett-Packard came up. Since 2010, he has been the Managing Director of Jam Factory in Singapore. We asked him about his decision to relocate to Singapore.

“There were a number of professional reasons I chose to move to Singapore,” Jim explained. “The job, the breadth of the role, and a promotion … but also, from a personal perspective, I really enjoy the quality of life in Singapore: the year-round warm weather, the food, the location, and the concentration of so many businesses’ regional headquarters in one city.”

The Asian Century

Jim is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in business administration with a research emphasis on cross-cultural leadership and organizational development. We asked him if he could provide us with some insight into differences between the ways companies operate in the Asia-Pacific region that Western businesses should be aware of (and vice versa).

Commented Jim: “As an American who has spent half my career in various cities in Asia, the need for cultural intelligence and cross-cultural leadership skills has been close to my heart for quite some time.”

“As a source of research, study, and practice during my doctoral studies, there are a few important points for anyone looking to do business internationally … but especially in Asia, or moving out from Asia,” continued Jim. “The twenty-first century has often been characterized as the ‘Asian Century.’ Rapid economic growth in East Asia has created opportunities and challenges for multinational corporations, particularly Western multinationals. Western businesses have largely been predisposed to using a “one-size-fits-all” approach to management in their international locations. This strategy can pose a number of particular cultural contradictions for team members in East Asia.”

Working Outside the Cultural Comfort Zone

“My research has uncovered a number of specific areas that can be used as a model for leadership development by local, regional, and global managers,” Jim explained. “The model centers on the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required to align, relate, and communicate more effectively by anyone who needs to work within and outside their own cultural ‘comfort zone’ in a multinational environment–particularly as a local subsidiary of a Western multinational company.”

Solving the Tough Issues

With the start of a new year, we asked Jim what he most looked forward to in the year ahead. “I love working with my clients,” he told us. “Since moving out of HP, I have become an entrepreneur and an active board member in a number of companies. The variety of work and its challenges really keeps me motivated. I am constantly looking for opportunities to help my clients solve their toughest issues … cost, complexity, process, organization, leadership … and to put them in a better position to be successful in their markets.”

About Jim Wagstaff:

Jim Wagstaff is the Co-Founder, Managing Director, and Content Guru of The Jam Factory in Singapore. Jim leads the consulting part of the business, and has a wealth of experience in executive roles in various companies. He loves working with clients to help them identify their learning needs and map their plans so as to positively impact their business. He also leads content development, and has designed many training programs for different customers and industries.

Jim also serves as Managing Director of Renewtrak Asia, a fully managed, white-label renewals platform-as-a-service where the business model is 100% focused on helping clients increase their service contract renewals at no additional operational cost to the client. In addition, Jim is an active board member at Up 2 Speed Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based organization focused on crafting customized learning and development approaches for multinational and global companies.

Jim was previously Vice-President and General Manager of the StorageWorks Division for Hewlett Packard in Asia Pacific and Japan. His responsibilities while leading this business unit encompassed all aspects of the organization including sales, marketing, finance, operations, public relations and analyst relations, delivering around $800 million in revenue annually.

Prior to HP, Jim was at Dell in Shanghai, where he was General Manager of the server and storage business for China and Hong Kong. Jim was also responsible for Dell's alliance with EMC across Asia Pacific and Japan.

Jim has a BSc, an MBA, and is currently a doctoral researcher in the management school at the University of Liverpool with emphasis on the practical application of cross-cultural leadership approaches in multinational corporations. He is a runner and loves to travel.

About Jam Factory:

The Jam Factory enables businesses to enhance their workforce through training and development. Jam Factory provides learning and enablement solutions to businesses and professionals. The company believes in an integrated learning approach that is interactive and engages learners. It enables businesses to leverage technology to enable employees to learn, experience and engage. For more information, go to: www.jamfactory.net

Mireille Gillings, Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer, and Executive Chairman of HUYA Bioscience International in San Diego, California, USA, won a Gold Stevie Award in the Management Awards categories of The 2015 American Business Awards. HUYA Bioscience International also won the Bronze in the Company/Organization Awards categories of the 2015 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

We asked Mireille what winning her Stevie Awards has meant to her and her company.

“Winning a Stevie Award was a resounding endorsement of HUYA’s business model,” Mireille told us. “Our aim is to enable and accelerate global development of innovative biopharmaceuticals originating in China.”

“This prestigious award, with its recognition of outstanding performance in the workplace, came at a pivotal point in HUYA’s evolution,” added Mireille. “Our novel anticancer therapy, HBI-8000, had entered clinical trials in Japan, plus it had been approved as Epidaza^® by the Chinese FDA. HUYA’s drug has immunomodulatory properties, which are important to the clinical development of immuno-oncology therapeutics. The Stevie award was a much-appreciated affirmation for our team, and represented another stepping stone towards HUYA’s future success.”

The 2016 American Business Awards will be accepting entries through February 18 and late entries (with payment of a late fee) through March 16. Find out how to enter here.

The 2016 Asia-Pacific Awards is now open and will be accepting entries through March 23. Find out how to enter here.

The Benefits of Additional Exposure

Mireille was also appreciative of the broader awareness a Stevie Award can provide. “As we continue to build our presence in the Asia-Pacific region, the additional exposure that the Stevie award has given HUYA continues to be extremely helpful,” she told us. “Since receiving the award, HUYA has opened new offices in South Korea, taking our proven business model to that country. The recent agreement between HUYA and the Korean Drug Development Fund (KDDF) will facilitate partnerships with local companies and research institutions to accelerate the development and commercialization of Korean pharmaceutical discoveries for global markets.”

“This expansion into South Korea adds to our presence in the U.S., Japan, and eight strategic locations throughout China,” continued Mireille. “This builds on HUYA’s overall strategy to be the partner-of-choice for innovative pharmaceutical companies in emerging centers of excellence worldwide.“

Wellspring of Innovation

We asked Mireille what new areas of biopharma innovation her company would be working on in the coming year. “Looking ahead, we see China and other Asia-Pacific countries as a wellspring of innovation. In the coming year, HUYA will continue to implement its uniquely cost-efficient, reduced-risk model for drug development to advance promising molecules from this region,” she explained. “This model includes using preclinical and clinical results from tests carried out in China to create the most time, cost, and risk efficient therapies to be brought to the United States and other major markets. We will also continue to expand our activities in other Asian centers of biopharma research excellence, including South Korea and Japan, to source and add value to promising molecules.”

Continuing Success

In addition to her successes at the beginning of the year, Mireille went on to win two Silver and one Bronze Stevie Award in the 2015 International Business Awards, presented in Toronto, Canada, in October; and two Silver and one Bronze Stevie Award at the 2015 Stevie Awards for Women in Business in November.

“Warmest congratulations to Mireille on this well-deserved recognition," said Clem Gingras, HUYA’s Chief Technology Officer & Chief Operating Officer Asia. “As the first person to identify China’s potential to meet global demand for innovative medicines, Mireille founded HUYA to increase the speed of development and value creation for China sourced innovations in worldwide markets. These awards acknowledge several major recent milestones that have been achieved by HUYA.”

Accelerating & Streamlining Global Development

Mireille founded HUYA to accelerate development and value creation for China-sourced innovations worldwide. Many such compounds have been validated through a rigorous discovery, selection and development process in China, so this model streamlines and accelerates development globally, while lowering risk. HUYA has:

• A database of ~14,000 China-sourced compounds–the world’s largest;
• 110 agreements with Chinese academic & commercial organizations;
• 80 scouts in China, more than top 5 global biopharma firms combined;
• Access to 55% of the biopharma innovation in China;
• Eight strategically located offices across China (Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, China Medical City [Taizhou], Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Wuhan);
• Joint headquarters in Shanghai and San Diego, California.

HUYA opened an office in Japan in September 2014 to support future expansion in that country.

The Value of Cooperation

Looking ahead, Mireille will lead HUYA’s efforts to continue building relationships to make candidate compounds more accessible internationally, bringing value for both innovators and developers. Mireille and HUYA aim to be recognized as a main driving force that brings out the value of the Tripartite Cooperation between China, Japan, and South Korea in developing novel therapeutics to benefit patients in the three countries and worldwide.

Building Momentum in the Asia-Pacific Region

“I am inspired every day by the talented people who surround me, including HUYA’s dedicated employees and the world-class advisory boards who share their passion and talents,” explained Mireille. “In future, it will be exciting to watch as biopharma R&D continues to build momentum in the Asia-Pacific region. The HUYA teams in San Diego, Tokyo, Seoul and our eight China offices remain committed to globalizing Asian innovation.”

Concluded Mireille: “By building relationships and employing approaches such as in-licensing, alliances, co-development, research funding, and creative financial partnerships, HUYA is poised to bring pharmaceutical discoveries to benefit patients around the world.”

About Mireille Gillings:

Mireille Gillings, Ph.D., a visionary leader with 22 years of scientific and operational experience in the biotech sector, has been the driving force in establishing HUYA Bioscience International. At Quintiles, a Fortune 500 company, she was the first woman to be appointed to the Board of Directors since the company’s privatization and subsequent IPO. Mireille is Co-founder of GHO Capital, a private equity fund specializing in global health opportunities. She serves on the Board of Senté Inc., a science-based skincare company, and is a member of the U.S. Pasteur Foundation Board. Mireille has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and has held post-doctoral fellowships at Bordeaux University and Scripps Research Institute. She speaks fluent English, Dutch, French and Spanish.

About HUYA Bioscience International:

HUYA Bioscience International is a leader in enabling and accelerating the global development of novel biopharmaceutical product opportunities originating in China. HUYA has established extensive collaborations with Chinese biopharmaceutical, academic and commercial organizations to speed development and value creation in worldwide markets for China-sourced product candidates. With the largest Chinese compound portfolio covering all therapeutic areas, HUYA has emerged as the partner of choice for building and maximizing the value of biopharmaceutical innovation in China. HUYA has offices in the U.S., Japan, and eight strategic locations across China, with joint headquarters in San Diego and Shanghai. With the largest team of scientists working with Chinese innovators, HUYA identifies and advances promising drug candidates globally. For more information, go to www.huyabio.com.

TORII HALL in Osaka, Japan, won the Silver Stevie Award for Services Company of the Year–Japan in the Company/Organization Awards categories of the 2014 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

The 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards is now open for entries.  Find out more here.

We talked with Torii Kosho, the Founder of Torii Hall, about winning a Silver Stevie, his views on the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards; and what plans the management of Torii Hall had for improving awareness of Japan’s traditional culture in 2016.

As Torii Kosho explained to us: “Our ‘Kamigata Culture Revitalization Forum,’ which received the 2014 Stevie Award, has been promoting traditional Japanese cultures of the Osaka region, both domestically and internationally, for some time, and will continue to delve deeply into this culture until the end of this year.”

Editor’s Note: Kamigata is a region of Japan including the cities of Kyoto and Osaka; it is also the term used to describe a prolific period of urban culture in that region from the 17th-19th centuries.

Kosho further explained: “The Forum is a cooperation between enterprises, the government, and the people of Osaka; and includes Waseda University in Tokyo, which has the largest theater museum in the East. The aim is to revitalize and preserve the cultural power of Kamigata, which in the past has originated several forms of traditional Japanese entertainment, such as kabuki theater.”

Introducing Traditional Japanese Culture to Paris

We asked Kosho what benefits his organization had experienced through its efforts to heighten international awareness of these traditional cultures.

Kosho explained that members of Torii Hall were invited to a jazz concert in Paris, France, in March 2014, shortly before the Asian-Pacific Stevie Awards ceremony the following month in Seoul, South Korea. “I have been thinking since then that Montmartre in Paris and Minami in Osaka have a lot in common: they are both downtown areas and cradles of culture and art,” he explained. Following the trip to Paris, an exchange of video letters started between elementary school children in Paris and Minami, Osaka. Consequently, Kosho told us, “We are planning a special performance of Bunraku (a traditional form of Japanese puppet theater, which also originated in Osaka) for the schoolchildren in Paris in 2016 to commemorate this interaction.” This gesture takes on even more significance in light of recent events.

Kosho feels that the Kamigata Culture Revitalization Forum has been successful in raising awareness of such art forms as Bunraku and Kabuki theater, both of which are now registered as a cultural heritage by UNESCO.

Editor’s Note: UNESCO established its lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage with the aim of ensuring the better protection of important intangible cultural heritages worldwide and the awareness of their significance.

International Friendship

Osaka Minami, which is where Torii Hall is located, is an international area, and 42% of students at the South Elementary School nearby are foreign, coming from 15 different countries. The country with the largest number of students is the Philippines, with more than 30 students.   2016 marks the 60th anniversary of friendship between Japan and the Philippines. On March 30, 2016, in cooperation with the consulate of the Philippines, the children will travel to an elementary school on the Philippines’ Bataan Peninsula.

“I met some people from the Philippines who were attending the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards ceremony in Seoul, and when I mentioned to them that I support Filipinos, especially single mothers, in Osaka, I received a lot of praise,” said Kosho. “The feeling that this gave me at the time made me realize the value that this friendship event in March 2016 will have for our two countries. I would now like to plan a Bunraku performance in Manila to commemorate the anniversary.”

Continued Kosho: “The people who live or work in Osaka are largely unaware of the fact that the popular tourist destination of Dotonbori is the place where Kabuki and Bunraku first started. I think that winning our Stevie Award has been effective in letting those people know that.”

Another Anniversary

2015 is also the 400th anniversary of one of the main attractions for visitors to Osaka, the Dotonbori Canal, that was completed in November 1615. This November, Torii Hall held a special multi-religious memorial service to commemorate the event.

“We forget the differences between Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity,” Kosho commented. “We ride together on a boat and pray for those who sacrificed their lives during open-cut construction of the Dotonbori canal, yet some of them might have been workers who had apostatized Christianity. I believe that we stand today upon foundations that were built by those who lived here during the past 400 years, including both Japanese and Europeans, and upon the traditional cultures such as Bunraku and Kabuki that flourished here. We should give thanks for that.”

Heightening Awareness of a Rare Disease

“Torii Hall will continue its role as a traditional cultural platform in 2016,” Kosho concluded. “At the same time, we also have plans to reach out to the community. We will launch a Kansai Branch of the Sakura Association to support the patients and families of an incurable form of porphyria that has recently been discovered. There is, as yet, no known treatment for this rare disease, but we can express our deep compassion for those who suffer from it–and help them avoid becoming isolated–by encouraging people with this disease to come and talk about their experiences.”

About Torii Kosho:

Torii Kosho was born in Osaka. He grew up as an heir to the traditional ryokan hotel Kamigata in Sennichimae, Osaka. After graduating from Konan University, he worked for a department store before starting work on the Torii building in 1989. With the completion of the Kamigata building in 1991, he opened TORII HALL, of which he is now the director. Kosho entered the Buddhist priesthood in 1994. He founded the Sennichizan Kosho temple of the Shingon Yamashina group in 2012 and became a chief priest.

About TORII HALL:

TORII HALL is a theater with 100 seats on the fourth floor of the Kamigata building. It retains the atmosphere of yose (a Japanese style of comedy theater), and is designed like a traditional storyteller's house so that microphones aren’t needed during performances. ‘TORII yose’ is a showcase held on the first day of every month. It provides a place to train young rakugo (a traditional Japanese sit-down comedy) artists. It is also used as a venue for seminars, plays, and music events. To find out more, go to www.toriihall.com/.

Clean Air Task Force (CATF), a nonprofit environmental organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, believes that partnerships between companies in China and the West are crucial to accelerating the commercialization of low-carbon, coal-based energy generation. To that end, CATF is working in China and elsewhere in Asia to facilitate the development of joint business ventures between innovative energy companies and research institutions.

CATF is represented in China by Dr. S. Ming Sung, its Beijing-based Chief Representative for Asia-Pacific. CATF and Sung’s efforts in China focus on developing partnerships and knowledge-sharing that build on the country's current leadership in low-carbon coal technologies essential to addressing climate change and energy security.

Working Together

Beyond simply importing Western technologies, Chinese firms are working side-by-side with U.S. companies to learn how to adapt technologies to their needs and train new workforces. “The United States is more innovative,” said Sung. “But China tends to execute projects faster and cheaper than anyone else. So, if we can get the United States and China working together, everyone will benefit, and those concerns will also make a lot of money.”

Sung is profoundly aware of the importance of his work. As he put it: “CATF has a unique role to play in protecting the environment and addressing global climate change by catalyzing these business-to-business collaborations between the U.S. and Asia.”

Averting the Worst Consequences of Climate Change

Reliance on coal creates many challenges—along with some critically important opportunities. Energy companies in North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia have enormous experience and expertise working with coal, and are similarly motivated to develop technologies and techniques that will preserve a role for cleaner coal in a carbon-constrained world economy.

Business-to-business collaborations hold the potential to:

- Mitigate the cost of developing highly advanced clean energy technologies;

- Shorten the deployment time of clean energy systems;

- Decrease the world's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

The environmental and economic benefits of transitioning to clean energy will be smaller and slower to materialize if western and Asian companies do not work together. Investments by both countries will reduce the cost of that technology worldwide, increasing the likelihood that low-carbon technologies such as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) will be widely deployed in time to help avert the worst consequences of climate change.

Developing Partnerships in China

Together, the U.S. and China account for about 40% of the world's CO2 releases. Both countries are heavily reliant on fossil fuels, so the challenges they face are the same: How to cut CO2 emissions without harming economic growth and national security. CATF therefore believes that in developing climate change solutions, the U.S. and China are natural partners, not rivals.

Dr. Sung has helped CATF to facilitate several joint ventures between U.S. and Chinese technology companies to get low or zero carbon coal deployed quickly. (Find out more about these projects on the CATF website.)

Dr. Sung has worked with Chinese energy industry leaders to draft energy proposals. He serves as the Senior Economic Advisor to the Chinese city of DaQing, and has been a keynote speaker/moderator at many international conferences.

China’s giant state-owned companies are taking the lead on these projects, and many also involve major international partners. “If CCUS is to succeed, the U.S. and China must share more technical information on clean-coal technology,” says Sung.

A Thirst for Cleaner Energy

China's thirst for cleaner energy and the targets established in its 12th 5-year plan are pressuring the major companies operating in China to ramp up their efforts to explore for natural gas in shale formations and rapidly scale up production. But haste may risk environmental degradation and adverse human health impacts as reported in the press (e.g. The New York Times article "China Takes On Big Risks in Its Push for Shale Gas" from April 11, 2014).

CATF's vision is that by learning from the experiences of modern shale developers, China can leapfrog to more advanced, cleaner, safer practices proven in the U.S.

Moving Forward on Solar, Nuclear and Renewable Energy

Taking the "all of the above" approach to clean energy, CATF has also worked on helping China’s industry develop nuclear and solar capabilities. For example:

• As part of U.S.-China collaboration on nuclear energy development, CATF is helping Chinese nuclear operators receive training in U.S. facilities run by Duke Energy and Southern Companies. Trainees shadow U.S. nuclear operators for a 3-6 months program;

• Working with Duke Energy, Huaneng Group, and others, CATF is evaluating and validating the technical and economic feasibility of advanced small modular nuclear reactors for the global market, including China;

• CATF recently held a solar thermal technical conference in China for potential Chinese market development, and facilitated a meeting between Huaneng Group and a major solar thermal plant operator in Nevada;

• This past year, CATF helped General Compression, an energy storage company based in Massachusetts, to partner with Huaneng CERI to develop a commercial demonstration facility in China.
  

About Dr. S. Ming Sung:

Dr. S. Ming Sung joined the Clean Air Task Force as its Chief Representative for Asia-Pacific shortly after the 2008 ACEII Roundtable event in Beiijng. An American citizen, Dr. Sung was born in Shanghai and is fluent in all three major Chinese dialects. He is well connected with China energy companies and relevant public officials, and has deep ties to the global coal gasification and large chemical/energy project development communities. Dr. Sung's experience and connections have proven a perfect fit with CATF and he has immeasurably expanded ACEII's ability to achieve its objectives.

Dr. Sung's professional experience extends over 40 years in the energy and IT industries. He has worked for a handful of the world's leading companies and institutions, including Shell (where he spent 25 years), AspenTech, BASF, Monsanto, US DOE, and XinAo Group (a division of China's ENN Group). His experience covers management, engineering, operations, and marketing in coal, oil, chemicals and related areas.

Dr. Sung earned his BS and MS in Chemical and Petroleum Refining Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. His Ph.D. research was in asphalt rheology at the University of Florida.

About Clean Air Task Force:

Clean Air Task Force is a nonprofit environmental organization with offices across the U.S. and in China. CATF works to help safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid global development and deployment of low carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies through research and analysis, public advocacy leadership, and partnership with the private sector. For more information, please visit www.catf.us.