Joachim C. Bartels, Managing Director of BIIA. Bartels is an information and business development specialist with 35 years of global experience. He spent most of his career in senior management positions at Dun & Bradstreet. He has served as volunteer in major industry associations in Europe and the USA since 1975. Joachim C. Bartels owns and operates Intrepid Explorers, Inc. a global information business consultancy. www.intrepidex.com

Mark Cochrane is the Managing Director of Business Strategies Group (BSG), a business intelligence and strategy consulting firm which specialises in business media, information and events in Asia. BSG also represents UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry in Asia. Through its consulting practice and its relationship with UFI, BSG works with major exhibition organisers, venues and governments across Asia.Mark has been based in Hong Kong for 13 years and joined BSG in 2006. Prior to BSG, Mark worked in a variety of roles primarily focused on B2B media and market research including three years at Global Sources in marketing roles and three years at The Gartner Group as a senior research analyst.Mark earned an MBA from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management, in 1997.

Gareth Jones joined Dun & Bradstreet Australia and New Zealand as Chief Executive Officer in February 2012, after serving as President of D&B Europe and Managing Director of D&B United Kingdom and Ireland. Mr. Jones joined D&B International in 2002 as Human Resources Director and has subsequently served in senior leadership roles throughout Europe. Prior to joining D&B, Mr. Jones worked in general management, sales and human resource leadership roles I the pharmaceuticals, industrial and hotel industry.

David Knowles is Marketing Director at Creditsafe Group, Europe’s most used provider of business information. Before joining Creditsafe David gained significant experience of building brands across borders, notably in the international drinks business, where he worked on high profile beer and cider brands from Spain, Germany, Holland, France and Iceland as well as within the UK.
In the last seven years he has overseen the re-launch and development of the Creditsafe brand under its “Simply Smarter” strap-line building a point of difference against its competition while also managing launch marketing strategies as Creditsafe expanded into France, Benelux, Germany, the USA and Italy.
A graduate of the University of Wales, David lives and works in Cardiff. David can be reached at: david.knowles@creditsafe.com

Enrico Lodi, General Manager, CRIF Credit Bureau ServicesEnrico Lodi is the General Manager of CRIF Credit Bureau Services at the group headquarters in Bologna, with management over Credit Bureau Services in Italy and worldwide. CRIF is a global company which supports and creates value for financial institutions, businesses and consumers, all over the world with a range of information services and solutions for credit and commercial risk management and for marketing.After graduating in Economics from the University of Bologna, Enrico studied in Milan for a Master in Advertising, and afterwards worked for various advertising agencies. He started working for CRIF in 1994, initially in marketing and sales.Enrico is a world class expert on Credit Bureau, with over ten years of experience in Credit Bureau Projects and Management, in countries such as Italy, Bangladesh, Benin, Czech Republic, Hungary, Jamaica, Morocco, Slovak Republic, Tajikistan and Vietnam.Enrico is currently 1st Vice President of ACCIS, the European Association for Consumer Credit Information Suppliers and holds the position of Director of SCB – Slovak Credit Bureau, Member of the Board of Directors of CCB – Czech Credit Bureau, Member of the Board of Directors of CRIF Beijing Credit Risk Consulting and President of AISReC, the Italian Association for Consumer Credit and Mortgages.

John Roberts, Managing Director, New Zealand & InternationalJohn Roberts joined the Veda Group in February 2006 with a background spanning more than 25 years of business and leadership experience. John’s career embraces the communications and marketing sectors, and most recently, the financial industry in New Zealand and internationally.John was a founding partner and Chairman of Rialto Advertising Limited, which during the 1990’s, was one of New Zealand’s most successful integrated communication companies. He then held CEO roles with Saatchi & Saatchi in New Zealand, and was CEO/Regional Director for Saatchi & Saatchi Asia Pacific, based in Singapore for a number of years. Most recently, John was MasterCard International’s Vice President for International Card Services Limited, managing and developing MasterCard’s relationships with major financial organizations in New Zealand. John is also Chairman for The Centre for Applied Cross Cultural Research, a division of Victoria University.

Ruth P. Stevens consults on customer acquisition and retention, teaches marketing at Columbia Business School and is a guest blogger at HBR.org and Biznology. She is past chair of the DMA Business-to-Business Council, and past president of the Direct Marketing Club of New York. Crain’s BtoB magazine named Ruth one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Marketing. She is the author of Maximizing Lead Generation: The Complete Guide for B2B Marketers, and Trade Show and Event Marketing. Ruth serves as a director of Edmund Optics, Inc. She has held senior marketing positions at Time Warner, Ziff-Davis, and IBM and holds an MBA from Columbia University.Ruth is BIIA’s contributing editor on the subject of B2B marketing and eMarketing Strategy. Learn more at www.ruthstevens.com

Lawrence Tsong is president of TransUnion’s East Asia operations. In this role, Mr. Tsong is responsible for promoting and growing TransUnion’s credit information and analytic and decisioning business throughout the region. In addition, he is the Managing Director of TransUnion’s Hong Kong operations, TransUnion Limited. TransUnion Limited is a majority owned subsidiary of TransUnion, LLC.Prior to joining TransUnion in 2007, Mr. Tsong was First Vice President of United Overseas Bank group where he was responsible for establishing and managing the credit card business. From 1988 to 1998, Mr. Tsong was Director of Relationship Management for American Express in East Asia. In this role, he was accountable for long-term strategic card and merchant partnership programs, concentrating in the airline, hotel and retail merchant sectors.Mr. Tsong holds a Bachelor of Social Science degree from the University of Hong Kong.

David Worlock is Chairman of BIIA. He is Chief Research Fellow of OUTSELL INC., a USA and UK based information consultancy and founder member of BIIA. David Worlock has wide experience of print and electronic publishing in educational, academic and professional information fields. He has worked for the major international players in the information content industry, as well as many of the middle-ranking and smaller players across the UK, continental Europe and the USA. David Worlock is active in the information industry association world, serving currently as the Chairman of the UK based Digital Content Forum. He also is an advisor to the European Commission. He was founder and Chairman of EPS Limited, a founder member of BIIA until the company was sold to OUTSELL INC. in 2006. www.outsellinc.com

Lawrence Yee is co-founder and Director of Value Creation Center Co. Ltd. in Hong Kong, while serving as advisor to D&B Greater China region since March 2011. Value Creation Center (www.vc2.asia) builds on a new model investing in small and medium sized enterprises in China through strategic management, globalization, technology and funding leading to IPO. Its network of experts and advisors is mostly former senior executives of MNC’s with Asian exposure.Prior to Value Creation Center, he has been Sr. Vice President, Business Development of D&B International since Dec. 2006, after serving as Vice President & Managing Director for D&B Greater China Region for seven years during which its business has undergone successful turnaround and significant growth.Mr. Yee is a board director of BIIA – the Business Informational Industry Association Asia Pacific and Middle East Ltd and Shun Lee Catholic Secondary School in Hong Kong. He serves on the advisory board of the faculty of Business Administration of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.Prior to joining D&B, Mr. Yee has held senior management positions in Motorola and Tandem Computers in China. Preceding this, Mr. Yee has had long experience in sales and marketing management with Philips Electronics and NCR in Asia and Canada.Mr. Yee graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree majoring in Mathematics and holds a M.B.A. from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Ex Officio Board Members

Hans P. Belcsak is President of S.J. Rundt & Associates, Inc., headquartered in New York City, a country risk and corporate intelligence consultancy. Since 1973 he has been President of S.J. Rundt & Associates, Inc., as which he is the active principal of that organization. Dr. Belcsak, is publisher of Rundt’s World Business Intelligence dealing with global political and economic trends, Rundt’s World Risk Analysis Program of country risk assessments, The Financial Executive’s Country Risk Alert, and Rundt’s FXPRO Foreign Exchange Rate Forecasts.His firm ranks among its clients the top names among multinational corporations and banks in Europe and North America and is well known in Latin America and Asia. He is a regular contributor of articles to international trade & financial journals and has made contributions on foreign exchange strategies to several books on international finance.He is a member of the International Advisory Council of the American Management Association and a past member of the Board of Directors of the FCIB-NACM Corporation. Dr. Belcsak represents the credit profession as an important user group of credit information. Hans P. Belcsak can be reached at: HBelcsak@rundtsintelligence.com

Christine Christian is recognised as one of Australia’s leading authorities on business information & debt management practices. As CEO of Dun & Bradstreet Australasia Pty Ltd (DBA), Ms Christian has specialised in this rapidly growing industry for over 15 years, both in Australia and overseas.Throughout her career, she has been noted for pioneering numerous groundbreaking services and setting benchmarks for standards within the industry.Today, Ms Christian is one of Australasia’s most respected business commentators. She is frequently quoted in national and international media and is a sought-after keynote speaker at conferences and seminars throughout the region. She holds a BA from the University of Melbourne and is a member of a number of associations both in Australia and internationally. Christine Christian can be reached at: Christinechristian@bigpond.com

Phil Cotter has been appointed Managing Director Financial Crime & Reputational Risk at Thomson Reuters. Until recently he managed his own consulting firm Cotter Consulting Ltd. He is based in the UK.Phil Cotter has extensive general management experience of driving profitable growth through innovation and leading change to adapt to market trends in the information industry. He served as Managing Director of Experian’s UK Credit Services and Business Information and Experian’s global leader of its Business Information line of business with responsibility for defining and executing global strategy. He was a former Director of BIGNET, a consortium of international Business Information providers. Phil was recently nominated to serve on the Board of Directors of BISNODE, a leading European business information supplier.Phil comes with a wide range of expertise in consumer and business information, data integration, analytics, decision systems, workflow, identity verification and fraud prevention.Phil Cotter served as deputy managing director of BIIA and represented BIIA in many external events. BIIA thanks Phil for his dedicated service on behalf of the membership of BIIA and the industry as a whole.

Dr. Chris Kuehl, Managing Director — Armada Corporate Intelligence Chris Kuehl is the co-founder (with Keith Prather) and Managing Director of Armada Corporate Intelligence, a company created in 1999 to provide strategy foundation, competitive intelligence, business analysis and economic forecasting for corporate clients.Armada’s clients include YRC Worldwide, TranSystems, Spencer Fane Britt and Browne, KPMG, Hallmark International, Weitz Industrial among others.Chris is the editor and primary writer for several publications:

• Business Intelligence Briefs – a daily distributed through Chambers of Commerce throughout the US focused on US economic and business issues
• Strategic Intelligence Briefs – a daily distributed through World Trade Centers and international business organizations focused on global economic and business trends
• Fabrinomics – a bi-weekly industry analysis produced by the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association
• Daily industry analysis and assessment for clients such as TranSystems and YRC Worldwide

Chris is the Chief Economist for Fabricators and Manufacturers Association. This includes writing Fabrinomics and serving as a keynote speaker for their conferences and meetings through the year. He is also Chief Economist of the National Association of Credit Management (NACM). Chris Kuehl can be reached at: ckuehl@armadaci.com

Luz María Salamina has joined the staff of the International Finance Corporation (IFC World Bank Group). She will be based in South Africa.Luz was General Manager of Asociación Panameña de Crédito (APC), the leading credit bureau of Panama.  Prior to becoming general manager, Salamina worked as an auditor for KPMG and later entered the banking sector, where she stayed for 15 years, at The Chase Manhattan Bank and later HSBC, in the accounting and budgeting areas; Credit Card Center, Marketing and Data Base, serving last as the Vice President of Business Banking and Leasing.Under Salamina’s leadership, APC Score, a fundamental tool for modern risk administration was developed and implemented in Panama.A major project to promote access to credit for Micro and Small Enterprises is currently being executed in alliance with the International Development Bank (IDB-IFC ). Salamina received her Bachelor degree in Accounting and Marketing at Bradley University, where she also earned a technical degree in Computer Science.

BIIA Expert Advisors on Privacy and Regulatory Affairs

Mike Bradford LL.B (Hons) FCIB is an acknowledged expert in UK and international regulatory and consumer affairs, compliance and data protection, combining a strategic and commercial approach with an in-depth appreciation of the associated legal and regulatory challenges and opportunities.Prior to founding Regulatory Strategies in May 2009, he was UK and EMEA Director of Regulatory and Consumer Affairs at Experian, a FTSE 100 plc where he was responsible for regulatory compliance and driving the optimal and compliant uses and applications of data and information assets in product and solutions design and development in respect of credit bureau, marketing and value added services.Between 2007 and 2009 he was the first UK President of the Brussels-based Association of Consumer Credit Information Suppliers (ACCIS), leading 35 consumer credit bureaus in 25 European countries and 7 associate members from all other continents.In August 2008 he was elected to the European Commission Expert Group charged with identifying challenges and solutions to creating a single European credit market for consumers and lenders.He is a regular contributor to industry publications and presents at UK and International conferences on data protection, marketing and credit, regulatory, consumer and industry issues, both from a compliance and commercial perspective.Mike is an expert panellist and contributor to DataGuidance, the leading data protection and privacy compliance resource used by compliance professionals globally: www.dataguidance.comMike Bradford can be reached at: mike.bradford@regulatorystrategies.co.uk