SCIS 2009 Past Programs

Southern Center for International Studies

Southern Center for International Studies, 320 W. Paces Ferry Rd. NW, Atlanta, GA 30305, tel. 404-261-5763, fax. 404-261-0849

Programs from 2008 ::: Programs from 2007

March 20, 2009 (Friday)
Luncheon Series: The Global Impact of the Financial Crisis The Society of International Business Fellows and the Southern Center for International Studies are hosting a panel discussion on the Global Impact of the Financial Crisis. Our featured panelists include: Garnett Keith Chairman and CEO, SeaBridge Investment Advisors, Inc. Stephen Kay Americas Center Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Sheila L. Tschinkel Former US Treasury Economic Advisor in Ukraine Click here for biographical information for our panelists. Garnett Keith Mr. Keith is the current Chairman and CEO and portfolio manager for various investment styles for Sea Bridge Investment Advisors, Inc. Mr. Keith holds Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Financial Consultant designations. Prior to joining SeaBridge, Mr. Keith has held executive level management positions the Prudential Insurance Company of America and the Irwin Management Company. Mr. Keith is a Trustee of The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a philanthropic endowment with assets of $15 billion. In addition, Mr. Keith serves on the Board of Philippe Investment Management, an institutional money manager located in Paris and New York and Park Agency, Inc. (New York), a family investment management company. He is Chairman of the Investment Committee for two family offices: Sterling Global Group (Hong Kong) and Fung Investments (Hong Kong). Mr. Keith is a Board member of SuperValu, Inc., a large food retailer, and ACOSTA, a service company assisting major consumer product manufacturers. Mr. Keith is a graduate of Georgia Tech and was inducted into the Georgia Tech Engineering Hall of Fame in 1997. Mr. Keith received an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School. Stephen Kay Stephen Kay is the coordinator of Latin American analysis at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and coordinator of the Bank's Americas Center. His research focuses on political economy and public policy in Latin America. His articles on pension reform in Latin America have appeared in Comparative Politics, Foreign Policy, the Journal of Aging and Social Policy, the Journal of European Social Policy, the Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs, International Social Security Review, and the Atlanta Fed's Economic Review. He is the editor of Lessons from Pension Reform in the Americas (with Tapen Sinha, Oxford University Press 2008). He has testified twice before committees of the United States Congress on pension reform in Latin America. Mr. Kay holds a doctorate in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to joining the bank he taught at UCLA and California State University, Fullerton. Sheila L. Tschinkel Sheila Tschinkel works with governments and central banks to design and implement economic and financial policies. Ms. Tschinkel has worked in emerging economies and at the US central bank - the Federal Reserve System � as well as in the private sector. She has also helped nations negotiate economic and financial agreements. Her approach is pragmatic and based on direct experience. Throughout her career Ms. Tschinkel has been active in her community, serving on boards of NGOs and Commissions as well as starting similar organizations in other countries. At present, Ms. Tschinkel is in Ukraine as a US Treasury Economic Advisor. Elsewhere, she has worked with officials in Eastern Europe and Central Asia on issues including fiscal and monetary policies and how they interact, currency convertibility and regimes, as well as cash and debt management. Ms. Tschinkel completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard where she was the first woman to serve as class chair. Ms. Tschinkel did graduate work at Yale University and received an undergraduate degree in economics and mathematics from Hunter College, City University of New York; she is a member of the Hunter College Hall of Fame.
Location:	103 West 103 West Paces Ferry Road, NW Atlanta, Georgia 30305
Time:	11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Cost:	$45 SIBF/SCIS Members; $55 Non-Members
RSVP:	Reservations are required. Pre-register with credit card only. No CASH or credit card transactions will be accepted at the door. Click here to register online (preferred method) If you have questions, email us at or call the Southern Center at 404-261-5763.

February 6, 2009 (Friday)
Breakfast Briefing: China's Business Outlook in the Midst of Economic Downturn China's economy continues to be closely tied to the world economy, and especially to the U.S. business cycle. The current global financial crisis has led to a fall in Chinese exports, downward pressure on China's own property values, and worries about how far the overall growth rate may fall. Nonetheless, some analysts predict that China's domestic economy will be able to help lead the recovery, if policy is done right. Our panelists discussed these issues from economic, political and business perspectives to give an update of what is happening in the China market and what the future may hold. Panelists: Mark Sobolewski VP Corporate Strategy, UPS Yawei Liu Professor, Georgia Perimeter College Director, China Program, The Carter Center Scott Ellyson Chief Executive Officer, East-West Manufacturing Peter White Founder and President Emeritus, SCIS MODERATOR: Penelope B. Prime, Ph.D. Director, China Research Center Professor, Stetson School of Business & Economics, Mercer University Click here for biographical information for our panelists. Mark Sobolewski Mark Sobolewski is a 30-year veteran of United Parcel Service and the Vice President of Corporate Strategy. Mark has served in numerous assignments in the U.S. and around the world including serving as the VP of Engineering for the Asia Pacific Region based in Singapore and the VP of Engineering in Europe based in Brussels. Prior to his current assignment, Mark was Corporate VP of International Industrial Engineering. His current global responsibilities are the development and execution of UPS�s International Business Strategy. He has played a key role in helping UPS to secure aviation rights in many countries. As part of the Corporate International staff, Mark is a key member of the International Business Planning team responsible for the strategy, development, and execution of the UPS performance results. Mr. Sobolewski received a BBA in Operations Management from Walsh College in Troy, Michigan. Yawei Liu Yawei Liu is Director of The Carter Center's China Program. Yawei Liu has been a member of numerous Carter Center missions to monitor Chinese village, township and county people�s congress deputy elections from 1997 to 2006. He has also observed presidential elections in Nicaragua, Peru and Taiwan. He has written extensively on China�s political developments and grassroots democracy. He edited two Chinese book series: Rural Election and Governance in Contemporary China (Northwestern University Press, Xian, 2002 and 2004) and the Political Readers (China Central Translation Bureau Press, 2006). He is the founder and editor of China Elections and Governance (www.chinaelections.org & www.chinaelections.net), a website sponsored by The Carter Center on political and election issues of China (2002 to now). Yawei recently coauthored a book entitled Obama: The Man Who Will Change America (Chinese). He is also the associate director of the China Research Center based in Metro Atlanta. Yawei Liu earned his B.A in English literature from Xian Foreign Languages Institute (1982), M.A. in recent Chinese history from the University of Hawaii (1989) and Ph. D. in American History from Emory University (1996). Scott Ellyson Scott Ellyson is the CEO and founder of East West Manufacturing, an offshore contract manufacturing company founded in 2001 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the past twelve years Mr. Ellyson has made over 80 trips to various regions of Asia. Prior to starting East West, Mr. Ellyson spent two years as the VP of Offshore Manufacturing and Logistics for Diversitech Corp., a leading U.S. manufacturer and distributor of HVAC components and supplies. While at Diversitech, his team produced over 500 HVAC products in Asia. Before that, Mr. Ellyson co-founded ITS Ltd., an EMS manufacturer in Asia that produces automobile components and electronic assemblies. Mr. Ellyson�s career began as a manufacturing and industrial engineer for Boston Scientific, and he also worked for several years as a management consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in their Supply Chain Logistics group, forming his background in logistics, strategy and operations. Mr. Ellyson holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Florida and has 20 years of engineering and business experience as well as 15 years of practical, hands-on experience in Asian manufacturing. Peter White Peter White is founder and president emeritus of the Southern Center for International Studies, a non-profit, non-partisan educational institution dedicated to internationalizing the thinking of Americans. He graduated from Fordham University, and attended the Academy of International Law at The Hague and the National War College. Mr. White has traveled extensively. His visits to Asia have included private meetings with a variety of leaders ranging from Chiang Kai-shek to Deng Xiaoping; and he has participated in a number of fact-finding missions to Indo China (1971) and the Peoples� Republic of China, including the first U.S. foreign policy group to visit China after the Shanghai communiqué, led by former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in 1974. In 2000, he was invited by the British government to examine the peace process in Northern Ireland where he met with the leaders and representatives of the main political and government agencies. Mr. White advises a number of governors, university and state government officials and corporations. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and the Atlanta Rotary Club. He regularly contributes articles relating to U.S. foreign policy issues to newspapers and periodicals. Dr. Penelope Prime Dr. Prime is a Professor of Economics at Mercer University, Stetson School of Business & Economics. Prior to this she was Professor of Economics at the Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University. She is also Director of the China Research Center. Dr. Prime earned her BA at the University of Denver and her MA and PhD degrees in economics at the University of Michigan. Dr. Prime�s research focuses on China�s economy and business environment. She has published numerous articles on China�s foreign trade and investment, industrial and technological progress, and provincial development, as well as applied business and economics cases on China and Asia. She has conducted field research in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China, beginning with her dissertation research in Nanjing. Dr. Prime has received numerous grants, including from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Scholarly Communications with the PRC, and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation. She has worked with the World Bank and the U.S. Census Bureau, and consults with companies doing business in China. Dr. Prime speaks Mandarin Chinese and has lived in China for several extended periods of time. The Southern Center presented this Breakfast Briefing in cooperation with the China Research Center.
Location:	Southern Center for International Studies 320 West Paces Ferry Road, NW Atlanta, Georgia 30305

February 3, 2009 (Tuesday)
Evening Briefing: New Opportunities in Southeastern Europe—The Role of Greece Join us for an Evening Briefing with the Honorable Panos Livadas, Secretary General of Information of the Republic of Greece. The Southern Center presents this Evening Briefing in cooperation with the Consulate of Greece in Atlanta.
Location:	Southern Center for International Studies 320 West Paces Ferry Road NW Atlanta, GA 30305

January 27, 2009 (Tuesday)
Young Professionals Evening Global Briefing: Myanmar/Burma This month's global briefing introduced us to the country of Burma (officially the Union of Myanmar). Burma captured the attention of the world last May when Cyclone Nargis devastated the country. The isolationist military regime in power since 1962 delayed or refused the delivery of aid supplies, drawing criticism from the UN and other aid organizations. Reports estimate that 130,000 people died or went missing and damages totaled $10 billion as a result of the massive storm. Even before the cyclone struck, Burma was facing many political, economic, and health challenges. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace prize winning leader of the pro-democracy opposition party officially elected in 1990, remains under house arrest. A 2007 survey by the UN Development Program found that roughly 30% of the 53 million people in Burma live below the poverty line. The UN's World Food Program (WFP) says that 32% of children under five in Burma are malnourished. According to a 2007 report by Doctors Without Borders, 25,000 Burmese AIDS patients died in 2007. To provide some background on the history of Burma, its challenges, and the work of non-profit aid and development organizations, we welcomed our featured speakers: Dr. Khin Khin Soe Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University Dr. Cynthie Tin-Oo Independent consultant for health projects in developing countries Background articles about Burma: www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11011992 www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11321955 www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12009958
Location:	Southern Center for International Studies 320 West Paces Ferry Road, NW Atlanta, Georgia 30305

May 20, 2009 (Wednesday)
Breakfast Series: The Global Economy Following the G-20 Summit The Southern Center for International Studies with Georgia State University J. Mack Robinson College of Business and Consulate General of France are hosting a breakfast briefing with His Excellency Pierre Virmont, Ambassador of France to the United States. Ambassador Pierre Vimont was appointed Ambassador of France to the United States by President Nicolas Sarkozy on August 1, 2007. Prior to his present appointment, Mr. Vimont was chief of staff to the minister of foreign affairs, a position he had held since 2002. He was previously ambassador and permanent representative of France to the European Union from 1999 to 2002. Click here for full biographical information for the Ambassador. Pierre Vimont joined the Foreign Service in 1977. He was first posted to London where he was first secretary from 1978 to 1981. He then spent the next four years with the Press and Information Office at the Quai d’Orsay. From 1985 to 1986 he was seconded to the Institute for East-West Security in New York. Returning to Europe, he served as second counselor with the Permanent Representation of France to the European Communities in Brussels (1986-1990), and was subsequently chief of staff to the minister delegate for European affairs from 1990 to 1993. He went on to serve as director for development and scientific, technical and educational cooperation and then for cultural, scientific and technical relations. He was deputy director general of the entire Cultural, Scientific and Technical Relations Department from 1996 to 1997 and then director of European Cooperation from 1997 to 1999. Born in 1949, Pierre Vimont holds a degree in law and is a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies and the National School of Administration (ENA).
Location:	Southern Center for International Studies 320 West Paces Ferry Road Atlanta, Georgia 30305
Time:	Registration and Continental Breakfast: 7:30 A.M. - 8:30 A.M. Program: 8:00 A.M. - 9:00 A.M.
Cost:	$10 for SCIS YPs and students, $15 for SCIS members, $20 for non-members
RSVP:	Reservations are required. Click here to register online (preferred method) If you have questions, email us at or call the Southern Center at 404-261-5763.

May 21, 2009 (Thursday)
Rethinking U.S.-Russia Policy: A Way Forward in the Obama Era The Southern Center for International Studies and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences cordially invite you to a discussion with: Dr. Robert Legvold, Marshall D. Shulman Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science at Columbia University Ambassador James F. Collins, Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment Click here for more information on the discussion. The international context for U.S. policy toward Russia has changed fundamentally from that of the 1990s. Further, Russia itself poses a dramatically different challenge for U.S. policy from that of the 1990s. The combined effect of this dual transformation requires significant adjustments in the U.S. approach toward Russia. As the new administration recasts and renews many of our most important diplomatic relationships, it should seek to establish a broad strategic dialogue with Moscow. This dialogue should include traditional topics such as nuclear nonproliferation, but should also encompass newer subjects such as energy security and climate change. Most importantly, however, the dialogue should seek to integrate across issue areas, examining each issue not just in a vacuum but in relation to how it impacts and animates other points within the bilateral relationship. The Academy is grateful to Carnegie Corporation of New York for its support of the Designing U.S. Policy toward Russia initiative.
Location:	Southern Center for International Studies 320 West Paces Ferry Road Atlanta, Georgia 30305
Time:	Registration: 7:00 P.M. - 7:30 P.M. Program: 7:30 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.
Cost:	$10 for SCIS YPs and students, $15 for SCIS members, $20 for non-members
RSVP:	Reservations are required. Click here to register online (preferred method) If you have questions, email us at or call the Southern Center at 404-261-5763.

June 20, 2009 (Saturday)
"GLOBAL MARKETS IN THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS" Understanding Underlying Challenges & Opportunities The Southern Center for International Studies Young Professionals (SCIS YP) in partnership with Georgia State University J. Mack Robinson College of Business, is pleased to announce its second annual conference. The only event of its kind in the Southeast, this one-day conference will provide a unique, multi-lateral, and broad-based approach to understanding and addressing the challenges and opportunities presented to various industries as a result of the worldwide economic crisis. Keynote Speaker: Dr. Lawrence Spinelli Acting President Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) For current information go to http://scisypconference.org/2009/index.php
Location:	Georgia State University Student Center Bldg 44 Courtland St Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Time:	Registration and Breakfast: 7:45 A.M. - 8:45 A.M Conference Program: 8:45 A.M. - 5:30 P.M. Cocktail Networking Reception: 5:30 P.M. - 6:30 P.M.
Cost:	Non-Members - $60; SCIS Members - $45; Graduate Full Time Students - $35
RSVP:	Reservations are Required Register Today PLEASE ALSO COMPLETE THE REGISTRATION FORM AT http://scisypconference.org/2009/index.php If you have questions, email us at or call the conference leader at 678-596-5573.

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