Senior Adviser, Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics

SCOTT KENNEDY

Scott Kennedy is senior adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). A leading authority on Chinese economic policy, Kennedy has been traveling to China for over 30 years. His specific areas of expertise include industrial policy, technology innovation, business lobbying, U.S.-China commercial relations, and global governance. He is the author of China’s Risky Drive into New-Energy Vehicles (CSIS, November 2018), The Fat Tech Dragon: Benchmarking China’s Innovation Drive (CSIS, August 2017), and The Business of Lobbying in China (Harvard University Press, 2005). He has edited three books, including Global Governance and China: The Dragon’s Learning Curve (Routledge, 2018). His articles have appeared in a wide array of policy, popular, and academic venues, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and China Quarterly. He is currently writing a book tentatively titled, The Power of Innovation: The Strategic Importance of China’s High-Tech Drive.

From 2000 to 2014, Kennedy was a professor at Indiana University (IU), where he established the Research Center for Chinese Politics & Business and was the founding academic director of IU’s China Office. Kennedy received his Ph.D. in political science from George Washington University, his M.A. in China Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and his B.A. from the University of Virginia.

For a full list of Scott Kennedy’s publications, organized by category, click here.

Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Program

SAMM SACKS

Samm Sacks is a senior fellow in the Technology Policy Program at CSIS. Before joining CSIS, she launched the industrial cyber business for Siemens in Asia, focusing on energy sector cybersecurity. Previously, she led China technology sector analysis at the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group. Her work focused on technology innovation, cyber governance, and information communication technology (ICT) trade, including data localization issues. Prior to this, she worked at Booz Allen Hamilton and Defense Group Inc., where she advised senior U.S. Defense Department and Intelligence Community officials on China’s science and technology (S&T) development, focusing on strategic emerging industries. A former Fulbright scholar in Beijing, Ms. Sacks holds an M.A. from Yale University in international relations and a B.A. from Brown University in Chinese literature. She reads and speaks Mandarin and is a frequent contributor to print and TV media, including Lawfare, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Fortune, Bloomberg, Nightly Business Report, C-SPAN, and BBC.

Senior Vice President and Director, Technology Policy Program

JAMES ANDREW LEWIS

James Andrew Lewis is a senior vice president at CSIS, where he writes on technology, security, and innovation. Before joining CSIS, he worked at the Departments of State and Commerce as a Foreign Service officer and as a member of the Senior Executive Service. His government experience includes work on a range of politico-military and Asian security issues, as a negotiator on conventional arms transfers and advanced military technology, and in developing policies for satellites, encryption, and the Internet. Lewis led the U.S. delegation to the Wassenaar Arrangement Experts Group on advanced civil and military technologies and was the rapporteur for the 2010, 2013, and 2015 UN Group of Government Experts on Information Security. He was also assigned to U.S. Southern Command for Operation Just Cause and to U.S. Central Command for Operation Desert Shield. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Lewis is an internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity. His writings include “Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency,” which was noted by President Barack Obama in his first speech on cybersecurity. Lewis is the U.S. lead for a long-running Track II Dialogue on cybersecurity with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, and he has also authored numerous publications on the relationship between technology, innovation, and national power. Another series of reports examined the role of space in national security. His current research examines international security and governance in cyberspace, the relationship between innovation and technology, the future of warfare, and the effect of the Internet on politics. He has served as a member of the Commerce Department’s Spectrum Management Advisory Committee and the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy, and as a member and chair of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing. Lewis is frequently quoted in the press and has testified numerous times before Congress.

Research Associate, Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics

SHINING TAN

Shining Tan is the research associate for the Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the CSIS. Prior to joining CSIS, Ms. Tan served as an economic data specialist at the International Monetary Fund, as a researcher at the US-China Business Council on Chinese economic policy, and worked on cross-strait relations at the Stimson Center. She also covered political and economic news as a Washington, D.C.-based reporter for Sinovision, with her portfolio including a publication in The Diplomat. Ms. Tan holds a master’s degree in Asian studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Nankai University in China.

Research Associate, Freeman Chair in China Studies

MINGDA QIU

Mingda Qiu is a research associate with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS. His research interests involve China’s political economy, energy strategy, innovation policy, and cross-strait relations. Mr. Qiu earned a master of international affairs, with concentrations on international politics and economy, from the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego. He also received a bachelor of social sciences (honors) in political science from the National University of Singapore.

This project would not be possible without a number of outstanding research interns, past and present, working under the guidance of:

Research Interns

Mark Akpaninyie; Jonathan Hall-Eastman; Lin Xuefen; Frank Zhao; Qiuyang Wang; Audrey Fritz; Kevin Acker; Qiu Ye; Nico Han; Seungha Lee; Taylor Walshe