Independent Non-executive Directors

Mr Peter David Sullivan, aged 74, was appointed as Independent Non-executive Director effective February 1, 2008. He was an Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited. Mr Sullivan held governance responsibility for franchises of the Standard Chartered Group in Japan, Australia, the Philippines and Bohai Bank in Tianjin, China. He also held a number of other major appointments, including as the Chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Banks and the British Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Sullivan is the Chairman of Circle BMI Health LTD. He retired as a Non-executive Director of AXA ASIA, AXA China Region Insurance Company Limited, AXA Wealth Management Ltd and AXA General Insurance Hong Kong on May 1, 2021. He retired as a Non-executive Director to the boards of Standard Bank Group and The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited in May 2020. Mr Sullivan was an Independent Non-executive Director of Standard Bank plc London and SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Limited, a Non-executive Director of AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited that was listed on the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges.

Mr Sullivan holds a Bachelor of Science (Physical Education) Degree from the University of New South Wales (Wollongong).

Mr Johannes-Gerhard Hesse (commonly known as Hans-Gerd Hesse), aged 63, was appointed as an Independent Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from October 1, 2016. Mr Hesse holds a graduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Cologne and has acquired extensive business management, strategy, leadership and corporate governance experience in Europe and Asia.

Mr Hesse’s professional career turned global in 1988 when joining RJ Reynolds International, a division of RJR Nabisco Inc., where he henceforth held market research and marketing positions in Germany, its regional headquarters in Switzerland and the Czech Republic. In 1996 he was appointed General Manager Hungary and in 1998 Regional Vice President Marketing for the Commonwealth of Independent States & Baltics (i.e. former Soviet Union). In 1999, JT International, a division of Japan Tobacco Inc. (“JTI”), appointed Mr Hesse as General Manager Singapore, Philippines & Australasia. He became Vice President & General Manager China in 2002 and served simultaneously as Vice Chairman on the board of directors of China American Cigarette Co. JV in Xiamen. In 2003 followed his appointment to Vice President Corporate Strategy at JTI’s global headquarters. In 2007, Mr Hesse joined JTI’s Executive Committee as Regional President Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong, holding concurrently governance and board director responsibilities in affiliates of the JTI Group of Companies in Asia. He retired from these positions before the end of 2010. From 2011 onwards, Mr Hesse started to develop his proprietary investment holding and business advisory company.

Mr Robert Hinman Getz, aged 60, was appointed as an Independent Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from January 1, 2020. Mr Getz has over 30 years of experience as a private equity investor and advisor. He has extensive experience in private and public equity and debt transactions and international mergers and acquisitions. Mr Getz holds a Master of Business Administration Degree in Finance from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Relations, cum laude, from Boston University.

Mr Getz currently serves as the Founder and Managing Partner of Pecksland Capital, a private investment and advisory firm since 2016. Mr Getz previously served as Co-Founder and Managing Director of Cornerstone Equity Investors, a New York based private equity concern, from 1996 to 2016. Before the formation of Cornerstone in 1996, Mr Getz served as a Managing Director and Partner of Prudential Equity Investors and its predecessor firm Prudential Venture Capital.

Mr Getz has served as a Director of numerous United States and international public and private companies in the technology, manufacturing, finance, and metals and mining sectors. Currently, Mr Getz serves as the Non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Haynes International, Inc. (HAYN:NSDQ), a public United States-based integrated developer and producer of specialty alloys primarily for use in the aerospace industry and industrial applications. He also serves as a Non-executive Director of Ero Copper Corp. (ERO:TSE), a public Brazilian copper mining and exploration company. Mr Getz previously served until 2016 as a Non-Executive Director of Newmarket Gold Inc., a public Australian gold mining and exploration company prior to its acquisition by Kirkland Lake Gold in 2017. He also served until December 2019 as a Non-Executive Director of Jaguar Mining Inc., a public Brazilian gold mining company. Mr Getz is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Ms Virginia Davis Wilmerding, aged 53, was appointed as an Independent Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from April 9, 2021. Ms Wilmerding holds an A.B. degree in East Asian Studies from Princeton University and is an experienced reputational risk advisor and environmental, social and governance (ESG) expert.

Ms Wilmerding is currently a Partner with FGS Global, (formed by the merger of Finsbury Glover Hering and Sard Verbinnen), a global critical issues consultancy advising on the stakeholder economy, working across Greater China, Asia, and the United States. She counsels executives and boards of leading listed Asian, European and U.S. companies on critical issues and complex financial situations including capital markets transactions, governance and activism, geopolitical challenges, reputation management and investor engagement. Prior to joining FGS Global, Ms Wilmerding was a Partner at Brunswick Group, where she helped drive dramatic growth in the Asia business from 2010 to 2020.

During Ms Wilmerding’s consultancy career over more than 13 years at both firms, she has led the technology, media and telecom (TMT) sector business across the Asia-Pacific region and has served as one of the global leads of the ESG and governance practice. Other corporate experience includes business development and joint venture operational roles for Hutchison Whampoa and Lucent Technologies in Hongkong and Shanghai from 1991 to 1996 and heading corporate affairs for U.S. private equity-backed Internet services companies in Boston. She speaks fluent conversational Mandarin and can read and write Chinese.

Ms Wilmerding is a founding steering committee member of the 30% Club Hong Kong and was a Board Trustee of Princeton in Asia (PiA) from 1997-2021, where she served on the Board’s executive, nominating and development committees. In 2022, Ms Wilmerding earned the CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing and in 2021, she earned the Financial Times Level 7 Non Executive Director Diploma, a formally accredited, post-graduate qualification for non-executive directors. Ms Wilmerding regularly writes on current affairs and ESG/governance issues. She published a business advice book for women entrepreneurs in 2006 (John Wiley & Sons).

Ms Caroline Christina Kracht, aged 50, was appointed as Independent Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from March 7, 2022. Ms Kracht is an expert adviser to boards and top management teams on business strategy and corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, as well as capital markets. She holds a Master Degree in Management (with distinction), the German university degree of Diplom-Kauffrau and a French Diplôme de Grande Ecole from ESCP Business School. Ms Kracht also attended the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

Ms Kracht is a co-founder and partner of MoreThan Capital, a Luxembourg based global investment and advisory firm founded, backed, and powered by a global community of business leaders, focused on investing in and helping companies on the verge of scaling-up enter new markets and transform from start-ups into mature businesses. She is also a sector expert in financial services, energy (oil and gas, power, renewables), industrials, chemicals, and other natural resources with global experience working in Asia (PRC, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Switzerland) and North America (Canada, U.S.).

Ms Kracht was the head of investment banking (Asia-Pacific) and a member of Scotiabank’s Asia-Pacific executive team for Scotiabank from 2016 to 2020. She joined Scotiabank in Hong Kong as managing director responsible for energy investment banking across Asia-Pacific in 2011. Prior to this, Ms Kracht spent 13 years with Morgan Stanley with increasingly senior positions in investment banking and firm management in London, San Francisco, Frankfurt and Hong Kong. During Ms Kracht’s 22-year career at Scotiabank and Morgan Stanley, the executive management expertise she has gained is directly relevant to strategy, audit, risk and compliance, nomination and remuneration, and ethics committees. She speaks fluent English, German and French.

Ms Kracht is a founder and board director of GJWHF Ltd., a Hong Kong non-profit organization on the economic empowerment of women. She was a member of the advisory board of the Mentoring Programme for Women Leaders of The Women’s Foundation (TWF), a Hong Kong non-profit organization dedicated to challenging stereotypes, empowering women in poverty and growing the number of women in leadership positions.