Jason
Yat-sen Li
Speaker Profile
Jason has an Arts/Law degree with first class honours from the University of Sydney and a Masters of Law from New York University Law School, where he was Australia’s Hauser Global Fellow for 2000 and Convocation Speaker for the graduating class of 2000.
From 1996 – 1998, Jason worked for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in The Hague, the Netherlands. Jason worked with Sir Ninian Stephen on a number of pioneering cases in international law on genocide and war crimes.
In 1997, Jason returned to Australia to establish a new political party to combat the racist politics of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation that had just achieved great electoral success in Australia. 1997, Jason was also elected to the Australian Constitutional Convention and was instrumental to drafting and brokering support for the model of republican government that was put to Australian voters in the 1999 national Republic Referendum.
Jason is currently Vice-Chair of the Australia-China Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, a Director of the George Institute for Public Health, the Sydney Institute as well as a Governor of the Smith Family, one of Australia’s largest charities. Jason was formerly Youth Chair of the NSW Ethnic Communities Council and cultural spokesperson for NSW Tourism during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. He was also a Director of the National Centre for Volunteering and the New South Wales Government’s Sydney Metropolitan Strategy Group.
Jason was awarded the 2002 Eisenhower Fellowship with which he travelled to the USA to study the intersection of corporate, political and community interests. In 2005, he was named a “Future Leader” by the Australian Davos Connection.
Jason speaks fluent Mandarin, Cantonese, German and Dutch. He started his professional career as a commercial lawyer with Corrs Chambers Westgarth in their M&A practice group.
He joined Insurance Australia Group, Australasia’s largest general insurance company, in 2002 as Head of Sustainable Development. In that role, he led the company’s initiatives on climate change, disaster research and policy, community risk-reduction with a focus on product development and driving internal cultural transformation. IAG won the Ethical Corporation Award for Sustainable Company of the Year in 2003.
In 2003, Jason was appointed Head of China Strategy for Insurance Australia Group. He became General Manager, Sales & Marketing for IAG’s operations in China in 2004 and in 2006, led a major campaign to improve road-safety in China that won the China International PR Association Silver medal for Best Campaign and the Economic Observer Award for most Creative Campaign.
Currently, Jason is Managing Director of RI Group China Limited, a private equity, investment banking and strategy advisory firm headquartered in Melbourne and Beijing.
He speaks regularly to a range of government, community and business audiences on inclusive societies, education and young people, opportunities in the Asian region and the promises and challenges of China.
Travels from China
Client Comments
Client Comments
- All went extremely well for today's function and I would like to thank Saxton for making it possible for Jason to speak to some of Adelaide's leading business people on behalf of Volunteering SA & NT.
Jason is a very inspirational young man and he gave us a wonderful insight, not only into large business workings, but into the changing world within China today.
Volunteering SA & NT - Jason Yatsen Li was inspirational, well researched and a superb opening speaker for our conference: "Effective Leaders + Quality Education = Excellence". He set the scene beautifully with his presentation: "Leadership in times of change: Education for a globalised Australia" by bringing a wealth of insightful knowledge to the topic and by using examples from his life to underpin a powerful message. Many participants are still talking about Jason's presentation. All conference participants' evaluation comments
indicated that Jason Yatsen Li was an outstanding, inspirational and motivating speaker.
Kariong Public School - Your presentation to the Forum was interesting and inspiring. We have received excellent feedback from the delegates about the Forum and in particular, the speakers. The participants returned home expressing a high degree of confidence in agriculture, an enthusiasm to become more involved in leadership within their communities and a tremendously positive attitude.
NSW Farmers Assocation - We extend an utmost appreciation of your support at last week's Studies of Asia Summit. I cannot thank you enough for your commitment of substantial time at the Summit and for the truly fantastic speech that you gave. Summit participants consistently refereed back to the points that you made as the day progressed - and you made these points so beautifully - with humour and a sharp edge of delivery that was so consummately professional. We are indebted to you. Your presentation was perfectly in sync with what we had anticipated you might say.
Studies of Asia Summit - We received excellent feedback on your talk, it was so warm, eloquent, and insightful". A big thank you.
Art Gallery of New South Wales - Thank you so much for your help with yesterday's event. You really helped to pull the event together and keep it flowing - exactly what we were after. A lot of people a lot of people asked me during the day
AMP Australian Financial Services - Mr Jason Yat-Sen Li was outstanding, both in terms of style and substance.
United Nations - High Commissioner for Refugees - Jason was fresh, alive, well spoken and easy to work with.
Jack Morton Worldwide - Jason was articulate, focussed and his personal examples were interesting and highly relevant. Our evaluations to date show him to one of the Conventions most well received speakers.
He was also most personable and a delight to work with.
Australian Public Service Commission
Topics
Speaker Topics
- Australia's Edge in a Global Economy - The Power Of Diversity and Multiculturalism
- Australia's Place in Asia
- Australia's Role in International Relations
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Managing Across Cultures and Driving Transformational Cultural Change
- One Billion Customers? The Myths and Truths of Doing Business in China.
- Social responsibility - The New Field of Competitive Advantage For Corporations
- The Power of Individual Initiative
- The Promise of the Next Generation of Australia's Young People
- The Value of Corporate Reputation - How to Align Your Business Interests With Social Responsibility
- Walking the Fine Grey Line: Business Ethics in China
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