The Washington State China Relations Council welcomed ten new members in 2020, several who are highlighted below. 2020 created a number of new challenges for our organization and we are particularly fortunate to receive support from our members, old and new, to carry on our 41-year legacy and important work.
Visit Seattle
Visit Seattle is a priva
te, nonprofit marketing organization serving as Seattle and King County’s official destination marketing organization (DMO) for more than 50 years. Through their efforts, they work to enhance the employment opportunities and economic prosperity of the region.
InSpur North America
Inspur is a leading data center and cloud computing solutions provider. Through engineering and innovation, Inspur aspires to deliver robust, performance-optimized, purpose-built solutions to address emerging technology arenas and challenges.
Himalaya Capital
Himalaya Capital is an investment management company founded in 1997. The company embraces the value investment principles of Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, and Charles Munger, and primarily focuses on investment opportunities in Asia and North America, both in publicly traded securities and privately held companies. They aim to achieve superior returns by investing in companies with substantial “economic moat” and great growth potential for the long term.
Banner Bank
Banner Bank is a Washington-charted commercial bank headquartered in Walla Walla, Washington. For over 130 years, the bank has been proud to serve the West with comprehensive financial services with core values that never go out of style: listen, learn, and help people and businesses reach their goals. Today—at over 200 locations across Oregon, Washington, California, and Idaho—Banner Bank delivers a high level of individual service as a community bank, while also offering competitive products some might expect to find only at a nationwide financial institution. Banner Bank is a member of the FDIC.
Michele Liang
Michele is a Global Real Estate Advisor of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty in Seattle. Michele represents clients with downtown luxury condos, East Side estates, valuable land investments and commercial properties. Trilingual in both Cantonese and Mandarin, utilizes her knowledge of the Seattle real estate market to get her clients the best deal while understanding the emotional and financial demands of any transaction, evidenced with multi-million dollars in closed sales. Michele enjoys traveling and cooking with her husband, Bryan Brzeg and long walks with their micro poodle, Truffle.
Daniel Way
Daniel has worked as a tax advisor and accountant since 2011. He focuses on international tax and tax planning for cross-border activity. Daniel lives in the Seattle area, and in his spare time enjoys taking his two children on bike rides.
Ruidong Wu (Ryan)
Ruidong is currently a product manager at the local tech startup Wyze Labs, working on a new home monitoring experience that leverages modern IoT and cloud capabilities. Before studying at the University of Washington, he served at design consultancies and a successful startup in China on various tech products, from music streaming service to car infotainment systems.
Jeanne Demund
Jeanne first went to China in 1980, spending a year teaching English in Shenyang. Before founding an import distribution business which she ran for 20 years, she was China Trade Specialist and Trade Director with the State of Washington. Jeanne is currently a principal in Two Rivers Manufacturing, an importer and distributor of motorcycle accessories.