WTA APPOINTS NEW MEMBERS TO GLOBAL ADVISORY COUNCIL WITH EXPERTISE IN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

Written by: Staff on 26th March 2012

WTA APPOINTS NEW MEMBERS TO GLOBAL ADVISORY COUNCIL WITH EXPERTISE IN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION |

ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA, USA – The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced today the appointment of four new members to its Global Advisory Council of international business leaders.

Ms. Bessie Lee, CEO of GroupM China; Ambassador Winston Lord, Chairman Emeritus of the International Rescue Committee and former United States Ambassador to China; Mr. Bruce Rockowitz, Group President and CEO of Li & Fung Limited; and Mr. William Pfeiffer, CEO and Founder of Dragongate Entertainment, will join WTA’s group of leading international business advisors that have, since the Council’s formation in 2003, provided the WTA with strategic counsel on a variety of core business, marketing and governance matters. The four new members will contribute in particular to the WTA’s business aspirations in the Asia-Pacific region and offer expert insight into how best to further the WTA’s footprint in business, entertainment and government relations, with an emphasis on China.

The WTA’s mission to develop women’s tennis in Asia-Pacific took flight in 2008 when its third corporate office opened in Beijing, designed to serve as a hub for all Asia-Pacific marketing and sales activity, in addition to supporting the sport’s grassroots growth in China. 2009 witnessed the elevation of the China Open to one of the four most important tournaments on the calendar, and in 2011, the WTA signed its first two sponsors in Asia-Pacific – Chinese apparel company Peak and Jetstar, a subsidiary of Qantas Airlines.

“The new Global Advisory Council members bring deep-rooted Asian expertise and will help the WTA grow and prosper globally, with an emphasis on further penetrating the Asia-Pacific region,” said Stacey Allaster, Chairman and CEO of the WTA. “Our Global Advisory Council members have over the years kept our organization on the cutting edge of business trends and have steered our sport in the constant direction of growth.”

A successful Asian female business leader, Bessie Lee is the CEO of China’s GroupM, a division of the WPP Group, the world’s largest advertising company. As CEO of China GroupM, Ms. Lee oversees more than US $4 billion in annual billings and 1,500 employees located in eight cities throughout China. With 21 years of business experience, ten of them in mainland China, Ms. Lee brings expertise in advertising, publicity, and marketing and will be helpful to the WTA in uncovering potential new business opportunities within the region. A member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Women’s Empowerment, Ms. Lee is an active participant and moderator at the annual Davos meetings.

Ambassador Winston Lord has a long and revered career of bipartisan service in the US government as well as the private sector, and has been at the forefront of US-China relations for four decades. As the Special Assistant to the National Security Advisor, he accompanied Henry Kissinger and President Nixon on their historic trips to China in the early 1970’s, as well as subsequent trips by President Ford. From 1985-1989, he served as the Ambassador to Beijing under President Reagan and President Bush, and served as the Assistant Secretary of State charged with overseeing East Asian policy under President Clinton. Between his government posts, Ambassador Lord headed and helped direct a variety of private organizations related to international affairs including posts at The Council on Foreign Relations, The National Endowment for Democracy, and The Carnegie Endowment National Commission on America and the New World.

Bruce Rockowitz is the Group President and CEO of Li & Fung Limited, the largest global trading company in the world with annual revenues exceeding US$20 billion, with a network of more than 240 offices and distribution centers in 40 countries with 27,000 employees. Named by Barron’s magazine as “One of the Top 30 CEO’s in the World”, Mr. Rockowitz spent his entire career based in Hong Kong establishing and opening up business operations throughout China and around the world. As a global business leader, he brings a particular expertise in conducting business in China from an economic and political perspective. He was recently ranked first by Institutional Investor as “Asia’s Best Consumer CEO”.

William Pfeiffer is the CEO and Founder of Dragongate Entertainment, a film production company backed by Lionsgate Entertainment with a focus on production of motion pictures in China. As a former senior executive at the Walt Disney Company and SONY Pictures Entertainment, Mr. Pfeiffer held positions overseeing the launch of 20 television channel services across Asia as well as the launch of Disney’s home video business in nine countries within Asia. With more than 30 years of international experience in the entertainment business, Mr. Pfeiffer is an Asia-Pacific business leader with exceptional skill managing film and television operations throughout Japan, India and China.

Members of the WTA’s Global Advisory Council include Richard Branson, Chairman & Founder of Virgin Group; Karen Elliott House, former Publisher of the Wall Street Journal; Ed Meyer, former CEO of Grey Advertising; Arnon Milchan, Owner & Founder of Regency Enterprises; Billie Jean King, Founder of the WTA and of the Women’s Sports Foundation; Wick Simmons, Former CEO of NASDAQ; Claude de Jouvencel, former COO of Grand Marnier; Scott Mead, President & Founding Partner of Richmond Park Capital and former head of Goldman Sachs’ technology practice; Jan Soderstrom, Senior Partner at Somo Partners and former SVP of Marketing at Visa International; Jay Lorsch, Harvard Business School Professor of Human Relations; Darcy Antonellis, President of Warner Bros. Technical Operations; and Kim Williams, COO of the NFL Network.

Vicky Goldberg and Stephen Unger of KSMU, LLC, a leading executive recruitment firm, led the global search on behalf of the WTA that resulted in the appointments of Ms. Lee, Ambassador Lord, Mr. Pfeiffer and Mr. Rockowitz.