(Informazioni e Registrazione in italiano)

Over the past 50 years, much of Asia has undergone a profound economic transformation. Through the expansion of trade, commerce, and entrepreneurship, millions of people have escaped material poverty. Many do not hesitate to predict that the 21st century will be the "Asian century." However, as per-capita wealth, education, and opportunity become more wide-spread, Asian countries will face the challenge of shifting from the family-based enterprise economy to a more market-based model.

On May 18, 2011, the Acton Institute will hold a day-long conference – Family-Enterprise, Market Economies, and Poverty: The Asian Transformation – in Rome, Italy.

This conference brings together scholars, policy-makers, clergy, and business leaders to discuss the origins, nature and meaning of Asia’s emergence as one of the world’s most dynamic economic regions. It addresses questions such as the role of entrepreneurship in Asian economies, the challenges of transitioning enterprise relationships, as well as the implications for freedom, especially religious liberty and the life of the Catholic Church and other Christian confessions, in societies where conceptions of freedom, dignity, and equality often differ significantly from the Western understanding. This conference is the sixth in the seven-part series Poverty, Entrepreneurship, and Integral Development.

Speakers Include:

• Rev. Bernardo Cervellera
• Mr. Charles Gave
• Mr. Siegfried Herzog
• Mr. Michael Hintze  
• Ambassador Thomas Hong-soon Han
• Dr. Kim Tan
• Mr. Prachuab Trinikorn
• Dr. Raquel Vaz-Pinto

Speaker Biographies:

Father Bernardo Cervellera is a missionary of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME). He is also a journalist and currently serves as director of Asia News, one of the most respected news agencies on political, economic and religious matters in Asia; it is published daily in English, Chinese and Italian. From 1997-2002, Fr. Cervellera was the director of Fides, the Vatican's international news agency, and writes for the Catholic newspaper Avvenire, while contributing  to other newspapers and televised news programs on international politics. Fr. Cervellera was winner of two prestigious journalism awards: “The Antonio Russo National Award on War Reporting ” and the “ Messaggero Sant’Antonio International Award. ”  From 1995-97, he taught history of western civilization at the Beida University in Peking. Among his academic publications are the books Missione Cina, Viaggio nell’Impero fra Mercato e Repressione and Libano, la Pace Futura.

Mr. Charles Gave has been researching tactical asset allocation for over 40 years. After three years as a financial analyst in a French investment bank, Charles created Cecogest in 1974. Cecogest was an independent research firm with a large global client base. In 1986, Mr. Gave stepped away from pure research to move into money management. He co-founded Cursitor-Eaton Asset Management where he was chief investment officer. At Cursitor, Mr. Gave managed over US$10bn of institutional money on a global asset allocation mandate. Cursitor was sold in 1995 to Alliance Capital and Mr. Gave remained with Alliance Capital until 1999. At this time, he elected to go back to his first love: research on tactical asset allocation. He left Alliance Capital to create GaveKal where he is the chairman. Mr. Gave sits on the board of numerous companies, has written several books in French, and writes a weekly column for the French newspaper Le Journal des Finances. Mr. Gave is married and has four children and eight grand-children.

Mr. Siegfried Herzog is the regional director of the India South Asia office of Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit (FNF), a non-profit organization that promotes liberal democracy, respect for human rights, rule of law and economic freedom. Prior to joining FNF, Mr. Herzog received his masters in economics from Eberhard-Karls University Tübingen; he wrote his thesis on the informal credit markets in Bangladesh. He also participated in an exchange program with Georgetown University in Washington, DC, USA. Mr. Herzog currently resides in Germany with his wife and daughter.

Mr. Michael Hintze is an Australian businessman, philanthropist and political patron, based in the United Kingdom. He is the head of CQS Management, a private London hedge fund, launched in 1999. Mr. Hintze  is a fluent Russian speaker. He holds a BSc in physics and pure mathematics and a BEng in electrical engineering both from the University of Sydney. He also holds an MSc in acoustics from the University of New South Wales and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is chairman of the Prince of Wales’s Foundation for the Built Environment, the University of Sydney UK Trust, as well as a trustee of the National Gallery and Wandsworth Museum and of the Institute of Economic Affairs. In 2005 Pope Benedict XVI made Michael a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Gregory and in 2008 he was awarded the title Australian of The Year in the UK. In 2009 Mr. Hintze and his wife Dorothy received the Prince of Wales Award for Arts Philanthropy.

Professor Thomas Hong-soon Han is the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Holy See. He graduated with a degree in economics from the National University of Seoul in 1965 and in social sciences (economics) from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1971, and holds a doctorate honoris causa in jurisprudence from the Catholic University Fu Jen of Taiwan. From 1972-2008, Han taught economics at the Hankuk University for Foreign Studies (HUFS) in Seoul and was dean of the college of economics and business from 1991-93. He served as a member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity from 1984 to 2010, an auditor at the Synod of Bishops in 1987, 1998, and 2008, a delegate of the Holy See at the 47th session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in 1991 and at the second Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies in 2002, and a member of the International College of Auditors of the Prefecture of Economic Affairs of the Holy See from 2008-10. Han is a commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (1995) and of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity (2007). He is married with three children. 

Dr. Kim Tan is the founder Chairman of SpringHill Management Ltd (UK), a fund management company in biotech and social venture capital investments. Dr. Tan is the Chairman of the NCI Cancer Hospital (Malaysia) and a board director of a number of companies in Malaysia, India, the UK, South Africa and the USA. He is an advisor to a number of government agencies in Asia on biotechnology and is a board member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Life Science Forum. He is the Chairman of the West Surrey & North Hants Innovation and Growth Team (UK). Dr. Tan has a PhD in biochemistry and was the recipient of a PhD scholarship and four post-doctoral fellowships from the Medical Research Council (UK). He is the inventor of sheep monoclonal antibodies and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. Dr. Tan is the co-founder of Transformational Business Network, the UK charity with social transformational businesses in developing countries, including the Kuzuko Game Reserve (South Africa) and the Hagar Social Enterprise Group (Cambodia). He was a former director of Saracens Rugby Ltd (UK) and the former Chairman of Jubilee Action, the UK-based human rights organization working with street children in India, Africa, Philippines and Brazil.

Mr. Joseph Prachuab Trinikorn is executive advisor to Banpu Public Company Ltd. and president of Catholic Business Executive Group of Thailand. Mr. Trinikorn spent more than 13 years in the seminary but then left to study accounting in New York. After receiving his MBA, Mr. Trinikorn worked for four years at an audit firm specializing in accounting system design. He then went to work for Banpu PLC where he remained for 25 years in various executive positions, including board member. Mr. Trinikorn retired five years ago but still advises several companies and Church organizations on management.

Dr. Raquel Vaz-Pinto is an assistant professor and researcher for the Institute for Political Studies - Catholic University of Portugal teaching several courses on the BA, MA and PhD programs. Her PhD thesis (2005) is entitled "International Society, Standard of Civilisation, and the Abolition of the Death Penalty: the United Nations and China". She also holds an MSc in international relations of Asia and Africa from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Univ. London. Since March 2006, she has been a member of the executive committee of the Portuguese Political Science Association and, since February 2011, has been a member of the editorial board of Brotéria. Dr. Vaz-Pinto's research interests focus on human rights (in particular freedom of religion and death penalty), Chinese foreign policy, and the role of religion in international relations. Her book A Grande Muralha e o Legado de Tiananmen, a China e os Direitos Humanos (The Great Wall and the Legacy of Tiananmen, China and Human Rights) was published by Tinta-da-China in November 2010.