Professor Gary C. BIDDLE, aged 72, has served as an Independent Non-executive Director of our Company since May 2006. Professor Biddle is Professor of Financial Accounting at University of Melbourne. Professor Biddle earned his MBA and PhD degrees at University of Chicago. He previously served as professor at University of Chicago, University of Washington, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and at University of Hong Kong (HKU), and as visiting professor at China Europe International Business School (China), Columbia University Business School (USA), Fudan University (China), University of Glasgow (UK), IMD (Switzerland), London Business School (UK), and Skolkovo Business School (Russia).

In academic leadership, Professor Biddle served as Dean and Chair Professor at HKU, and as Academic Dean, Department Head, Council member, Court member, Senate member, and Chair Professor at HKUST. He co-created the EMBA-Global Asia program and taught the first class and decade of the KH EMBA program, both ranked #1 in the world (Financial Times and QS). Professionally, he has been a member of the AICPA, Australian Institute of Company Directors, CPA Australia, HKICPA, and editorial boards of premier academic journals. He also served as American Accounting Association Executive Board member, Vice-President, and invited President-Elect nominee, on the Accounting Hall of Fame Selection Committee, Financial Reporting Review Panel of the Financial Reporting Council of Hong Kong, HKICPA Council, Accreditation and Financial Reporting Standards Committees of HKICPA, Hong Kong Institute of Directors Training Committee.

Professor Biddle’s expertise includes financial and management accounting, value creation, economic forecasting, corporate governance, and performance metrics (EVA®). His research appears in leading academic journals with over 11,000 Google Scholar citations and in the financial press including CNBC, CNN, SCMP, The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal. Professor Biddle has won 30 teaching honours, including three “Professor of Year” awards from the world’s top-ranked EMBA programs. He also proudly serves as non-executive director of Kingdee International Software Group Company Limited, as Independent Non-Executive Director of Real Pet Food Company (New Hope Group) and of Belite Bio, Inc. and he previously served as Remuneration Committee Chair of Chinachem Group.