James McGregor is chairman of APCO Worldwide’s Greater China region and author of two highly regarded books: No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers: The Challenges of Chinese Authoritarian Capitalism, published in October 2012, and One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China, published in 2005. He also wrote the landmark 2010 report “China’s Drive for ‘Indigenous Innovation’ – A Web of Industrial Policies.” He was a veteran reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and prior to joining APCO, he was founder and CEO of a China-focused consulting and research firm for hedge funds. He also held previous roles as a senior adviser for Ogilvy Public Relations China and the China managing partner for GIV Venture Partners, a venture capital fund that focused on technology and Internet investments in China and India.

 

Mr. McGregor was a reporter in the Washington bureau of Knight-Ridder newspapers during the Reagan administration. After serving as the Taiwan bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal from 1987 to 1990 and China bureau chief from 1990 to 1994, he spent seven years building Dow Jones’ media business in China as CEO of Dow Jones’ China. During this time, he established CNBC in China and created the Chinese language website of wsj.com, Dow Jones’ Chinese-language newswires, Chinese stock-market indexes and the first weekly business-television show in China. He was also a Series A investor in Sohu.com and served on the Sohu board for several years. After successfully preventing Xinhua News Agency from obtaining a monopoly on financial information in China, he received the Barney Kilgore award, Dow Jones’ highest employee accolade.

 

Mr. McGregor is a professional speaker, regular television and radio commentator and a contributor of essays and opinion articles for a variety of publications. He has lived in China for three decades and can speak and read Chinese. He was an active member of the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham) for nearly a decade and served as chairman in 1996. He for many years has been a leader of the U.S. Government Relations Committee for AmCham. He is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Asia Society’s Global Council, a board member of the U.S.-China Education Trust and a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He splits his time between Shanghai and Beijing.