Magnolia Gold Award for top foreign talent
Twelve expats from Italy, the UK, France, Japan, Germany, Denmark, the US and Singapore were presented with the Magnolia Gold Award by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong yesterday as recognition for their outstanding contributions to the city.
The award winners cover a wide field, namely enterprise managers from trade, finance, shipping and service sectors, as well as experts and scholars in sciences and culture.
At the awarding ceremony, Xu Kunlin, vice mayor of Shanghai, thanked all the recipients for their remarkable contributions toward Shanghai’s economic and social development.
He told the elite gathering that the city was dedicated to building itself into a global center for economy, finance, trade, shipping and innovation, establishing its brands for manufacturing, shopping, culture and service, and accelerating the integrated high-quality development in the Yangtze River Delta Region.
“All these will provide great opportunities to foreigners in Shanghai,” he said. “In keeping with the city’s spirits of inclusiveness, excellence, open-mindedness and humility, we will fully engage our friends from overseas and share these opportunities with all of you. We hope that you will continue to offer your suggestions and insights for Shanghai’s socioeconomic development and together we can make Shanghai a greater city.”
Julian Guy Blissett, executive vice president of SAIC General Motors Co Ltd, thanked the Shanghai government for the honor on behalf of all the recipients.
“We come from many different backgrounds and cultures, but we share a few things in common,” he said. “We all love Shanghai, we all want to contribute to Shanghai’s growth and we are all proud of its achievements.”
He said Shanghai’s insight to honor foreigners with the Magnolia awards fully demonstrates its spirits of inclusiveness and open-mindedness, providing them with a strong sense of belonging and participation and greater expectation for the development of the city.
The Magnolia Gold Award was initiated in 1993 and 332 people have received the award since then.
Twelve expats from Italy, the UK, France, Japan, Germany, Denmark, the US and Singapore were given the Magnolia Gold Award by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong on Sunday in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the city.
2019 Magnolia Gold Award winners
- Gianpietro Belotti, Italy, CEO, Santoni (Shanghai) Knitting Machinery Co.
- Julian Guy Blissett, UK, Executive Vice President, SAIC General Motors Co.
- Thierry Garnier, France, President & CEO, Carrefour (China) Management & Consulting Service Co.
- Yukitaka Ito, Japan, Chairman & President, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (China) Co.
- Stephan Kothrade, Germany, President Functions Asia Pacific, BASF (China) Co.
- Simon Lichtenberg, Denmark, CEO of Trayton Group/Simon Li Furniture China Co.
- Claude Maillot, France, Senior Vice President, Chief Executive For Marine & Offshore North Asia Zone And China, Bureau Veritas Marine (China) Co.
- Rosalind Stephanie Oliver, UK, Lecturer, Shanghai University
- Bettina Schoen-Behanzin, Germany, Regional representative Asia of Freudenberg Group, Managing Director of Freudenberg Management (Shanghai) Co.
- Raymond Charles Stevens, USA, Founding Director, Professor of iHuman Institute, ShanghaiTech University
- Eleanor Joanna Waley-Cohen, USA, Provost, Shanghai New York University
- Yi Zhun Zhu, Singapore, Dean & Chair Professor, School of Phamacy, Macau University of Science and Technology, Chair Professor, Fudan University
