Mr. Leslie C. Koo, President of Taiwan Cement Corporation

Mr. Leslie Koo was born in Taipei, Taiwan on November 28, 1954. After completing high school education in Taiwan, he enrolled in the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington in 1974 majoring in accounting.

After graduation, Mr. Koo returned to Taiwan in 1977 and worked for two years as a senior auditor at the firm of T N Soong & Co./Authur Anderson & Co. in the Republic of China. He went back to the United States in 1979 and entered the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania where he earned his MBA in 1981.

In 1982, Mr. Koo joined the Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCEMENT), starting as a specialist in the Electronic Data Processing Center. He was responsible for the design and implementation of the distributed processing decision support system for TCEMENT; the system architecture was recognized as one of the first kind in Taiwan. Three years later, he was promoted as manager of the Corporate Planning Department. Mr. Koo initiated the first five-year strategic plan for TCEMENT with the focuses on diversification towards businesses with higher growth rates of returns and high-tech industries as well as regionalization of the traditional line of business. In 1988 he became vice president in charge of corporate planning, accounting and finance, TCEMENT. Appointed as president of the Taiwan Cement Corporation in April 1991, Mr. Koo has held the position since and he was elected as chairman in 2003.

Under Mr. Koos leadership, Taiwan Cement Corporation currently is the largest cement manufacturing and sales company in Taiwan with more than 10 million tones of annual production and 55% of the market share. According to the China Cement Net, one of the most important cement media in China, TCEMENT also ranked as the third largest cement company in the greater China in 2005. Since 2003, Mr. Koo has initiated a very aggressive Southern China Cement Strategy. By 2006, TCEMENT operates five manufacturing sites with more than 8.1 million tons of annual capacity in Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces of China. Mr. Koos aspiration is to bring TCEMENT to become one of the leading cement manufacturing companies in China by 2008 with more than 30 million tones of capacity in Taiwan and China. The current market cap of TCEMENT is more than USD$2.2 billion with about 1800 employees.

He concurrently serves as chairman of Ho-Ping Power Company, chairman of Ta-Ho Environment & Technical Services Co., Ltd., chairman of China Synthetic Rubber Corporation, chairman of Continental Carbon Company (USA), chairman of Synpac (North Carolina) Inc., director of Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation, director of Taiwan Polypropylene Company Limited, and director of Far Eastone Telecommunications Co., Ltd.

Mr. Koo is active in participating in business and community organizations. He is chairman of Taiwan Britain Business Council and also serves as director of Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, director of ROC-USA Business Council, director of Sino-British Culture and Economy Association, and managing director of Taiwan Cement Manufacturers Association. In the meantime, Mr. Koo was chairman of Chinese-Philippine Business Council in 1998-2002 and won the 1999 Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships from Taiwan.

Sir Thomas Harris
Sir Thomas Harris, Vice Chairman of Standard Chartered Capital Markets plc

Sir Thomas Harris is Vice Chairman of Standard Chartered Capital Markets plc. Standard Chartered is an international bank employing over 60,000 staff in 1,200 locations in the Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the United Kingdom and the Americas. With a history of over 150 years, the bank operates in 56 different countries.

Sir Thomas previously served in the British Diplomatic Service where his most recent assignment was as the UKs Director General for Trade and Investment in the USA and British Consul General in New York from 1999 to 2004. In that capacity, he was responsible for promoting British trade and investment throughout the United States.

He has also served overseas in Tokyo, Washington DC and Lagos, Nigeria. He was British Ambassador to Korea from 1993 to 1997.

Sir Thomas held various appointments in London in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office and the Department of Trade and Industry where between 1997 and 1999 he was Director General for Export Promotion, responsible for the UK overseas trade promotion programmes.

In September 2001, he was responsible for coordinating efforts to administer to the needs of relatives of British victims of the World Trade Center bombing in New York.

A graduate of Cambridge University, Sir Thomas was appointed by Her Majesty The Queen a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1995 and A Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2002 New Years Honours list. He is a Special Adviser to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC and the International Advisory Council of British American Business Inc. He also serves as a Director of Asia House and the Imperial War Museum

Standard Chartered Bank is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges and is in the top 25 FTSE-100 companies by market capitalisation. It serves both consumer and wholesale banking customers and aims to be the right partner for its customers.