Who We Are...

The China Partnership of Greater Philadelphia (CPGP) is a non-profit organization that promotes collaboration – primarily on public/private clean technology initiatives – between Philadelphia and the People’s Republic of China. Since 2011, we have been contributing to the Presidential-level Ten Year Framework for U.S.-China Cooperation on Energy & Environment. In 2014, we received a prestigious U.S.-China EcoPartnership award, one of only 36 such awards currently active under that ten-year bi-national cooperation which led directly to the 2015 Paris Accord. Locally, our objective is to accelerate job creation, attract investment, and support clean technology business flows through strategic linkages between Greater Philadelphia and China. CPGP harnesses the Greater Philadelphia region’s exceptional academic, government, cultural and business resources to make Greater Philadelphia a sub-national leader in U.S. Government-led initiatives to help China transition to a low-carbon industrial model and thereby mitigate climate change impacts globally.
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查看 大费城中国合作组织 介绍»

Federal Mandate

“President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao signed the Ten Year Framework for U.S.-China Cooperation on Energy and Environment in early 2009. The Framework fosters bi-national cooperation to develop innovative, globally-relevant solutions to lower carbon emissions in areas such as transportation, the built environment, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.

In 2014, CPGP was awarded one of only active 36 Eco-Partnerships under this ten year program. The focus of this best-in-class award is CPGP’s BE Better program which introduces a range of low-carbon solutions to industrial parks throughout China. Specifically, the BE Better program offers national-level industrial parks Built Environment solutions which are more energy-efficient, smarter (in IoT connectivity and security and clean manufacturing) and healthier for occupants. CPGP identifies and delivers these solutions in partnership with six world-class industry organizations.”

Philadelphia-Tianjin Sister Cities

“The City of Philadelphia’s 40-year old official Sister City relationship with Tianjin is the first Sister City relationship established between the United Staes and the Peoples Republic of China. Under China’s previous and current Five Year Plans, Tianjin, the fastest-growing has the national mandate for clean energy leadership.

Tianjin’s Economic-technological Development Area (TEDA), geographically slightly larger than the County of Philadelphia, is home to over 140 Fortune 500 companies. As one of the perennially two top-rated national economic technological zones (NETDZ) in China and as the NETDZ with the longest track-record of experience with transitioning to a low-carbon model, TEDA acts both as the Secretary General for the Green Development League (an association of 36 of the top industrial parks moving jointly towards a low-carbon future) and provides CPGP and our BE Better program with direct access to all 219 NETDZs throughout China.”

Clean Energy Research Center

The U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center (CERC) is an $150 million Center program, with a dedicated building energy efficiency initiative led by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) in the US and by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) in China.

Since securing its EcoPartnership award status, CPGP has been an invited member of the U.S. CERC Industry Advisory Board comprised of more than a dozen U.S. Fortune 500 companies. This group represents an important constituency through which CPGP’s BE Better program is being introduced and promoted throughout northeast China (at our current region-to-region stage) and, eventually, on a fully-bi-national basis to all 219 of China’s National-level Economic Technological Development Zone (NETDZ) industrial parks.

CPGP Monthly Webinar Series

Introducing Industry Sector & Project Opportunities in China

Schedule of Upcoming Webinars (Fall 2020 – Summer 2021)  to be released August 15, 2020
Learn More
Register Now!

Our Team

We could not have traveled this distance without a first-rate team. Dedicated, collaboration-minded, knowledgeable and hard-working. Melding different skills and experiences into one team.

 

Permanent Staff

Dr. Merritt T. "Terry" Cooke   古孟德

 

Founding Director & Chairman

Terry Cooke is a seasoned practitioner of Asian cross-border business and investment in clean energy and related high-tech fields. For the cleantech frontier in China, Terry brings broad context, unique insight, and an unparalleled range of contacts. Across the spectrum of technology innovation, Terry has decades of Asian in-country engagement at the ministerial level of government, with the private sector’s C-suite, and with the world’s premiere multi-stakeholder organization at Davos.

Liyiran (Shelly) Xia 夏李怡然

Program Director

Shelly leverages her background in environmental science and international affairs to bridge collaboration between U.S. and China on clean energy and environmental protection. As the Program Coordinator, Shelly provides administrative support for CPGP executives, oversees the intern team, and develops and coordinates programs and events. Shelly has introduced & implemented CRM platform and manages the database. Shelly got her BA and MIA from Franklin and Marshall '14 and Penn State '16.

Advisors & Associates

Gary Biehn, Esq

Senior Advisor for Legal Affairs

Gary is a partner in, and Chair of, the Business Department of White and Williams LLP. He focuses on assisting clients in the pursuit of global business opportunities. Gary helps counsels CPGP on our partnerships and alliances, our governance and the status of our incorporation..

William Young

Senior Advisor, Operations Strategy

William Young is a successful business leader who brings a broad range of experience in sales, information technology, business strategy, operations and entrepreneurship to guide the implementation of CPGP priorities and programs.

Joyce Lee

Senior Advisor, Urban Sustainability and Healthy Built Environments

Joyce S. Lee, FAIA, LEED Fellow has been an Architect Fellow at the National Leadership Academy for Public Health. In New York, Joyce served under Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg. She was the Chief Architect at the New York City OMB overseeing the survey of major city- owned buildings and waterfronts with the goals of enhancing long-term planning and identifying green design and development opportunities.

Grace (Weining) Guo

Strategic Consultant for Outbound Programs, Beijing, China

Weining is experienced in helping Fortune 500 corporations, including Wal-Mart, Citigroup and Zurich Insurance, with strategic business expansion in China. She is fluent in both English and Mandarin and was awarded the “MBA Excellence Award” from W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University in 2015.

Ben Leffel

Research Associate, Los Angeles

Ben Leffel, currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California (Irvine), is expert in U.S.-China sub-national relations and in networks of international environmental cooperation among Chinese cities. Ben serves concurrently as Director of Research for the Tai Initiative and worked previously as Research Consultant for the International City/County Management Association China Center.

Talent Team

The CPGP Talent Team provides project-based work for organizations in a variety of fields ranging from small start-ups to larger, China-based operations. The Team consists of a seasonal roster of motivated young professionals with expertise in project management, supply chain management, business analytics, CRM, sales, and corporate social responsibility. Our Talent Team combines experience and skills in business development research, ‘growing’ overseas markets, attracting in-bound investment, and planning for high-impact, high-yield business trips to China. All members of our Talent Team are bilingual in Mandarin and English, and one is also native in Cantonese.

The CPGP International Talent Placement Model allows your company to immediately deploy well-vetted,highly-trained talent with all the ease and simplicity of a 'temp hire' contract model and with access to China Partnership of Greater Philadelphia’s network of relationships and deep knowledge pool.

If you wish to learn more about how the CPGP Talent Team can improve the performance of your company's China-related project, contact CPGP Program Director Shelly Xia at [email protected]

Current Talent Team

 

Verity Cheslo  陈维真

CPGP Program Assistant, Summer 2019 - current

Verity Cheslo is currently pursuing dual degrees in Supply Chain Management and Chinese Language at the University of Rhode Island. She has recently completed a Six Sigma Yellow Belt certification which has enhanced her project management skills. Verity is a problem-solver who has professional experience in digital marketing and customs compliance in both the United States and China.

 

Bruce Zou  邹一帆

CPGP Program Assistant, Summer 2019 - current

Bruce is a 2019 graduate of the International Masters of Public Administration program at the University of Pennsylvania and a 2016 graduate from the University of Kentucky with a degree in Business Administration. While at the University, he was active in student government and founded the Chinese International Fraternity Alliance. He worked at the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and held internships at Viamedia, Inc; American Red Cross Bluegrass Chapter; and Internal Revenue Service.

 

 

Yongqi (Josephine) Zhou 周泳琪

CPGP Summer 2019 Business Analytics and Marketing Specialist

Yongqi (Josephine) Zhou has 6 years of professional experience in marketing strategy, product and brand development, and eCommerce analytics. Yongqi is currently a full time Drexel University MBA candidate with a concentration in Business Analytics. Equipped with data driven analytics and toolkits such as Google Analytics, SPSS, R, and Python, Yongqi has a track record of generating insightful go-to-market strategies and driving company revenue growth. Yongqi has also worked with cross-cultural and cross-functional teams.

 

Program

 

The China Partnership of Greater Philadelphia (CPGP) is a non-profit organization that promotes collaboration – primarily on public/private clean technology initiatives – between Philadelphia and the People’s Republic of China.

 

BE Better

CPGP’s signature program is BE Better (with BE standing for Built Environment). The three dimensions of ‘better’ referenced by the BE Better program title are (1) more energy-efficient and lower-carbon operations (2) ‘smarter’ (more Internet of Things connected with greater IoT security and, for industrial users, cleaner and smarter manufacturing processes), and (3) healthier for the occupants of the built environment.  We apply this program to national-level industrial parks in China’s northeast. In step with the expansion of our area of application (from Tianjin to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei  京津冀 region), we are also expanding the geographic area from which we source U.S. low-carbon solutions from our original scope (the 11 counties of Greater Philadelphia) to now cover the Mid-Atlantic region (the ‘six states & one district’ of NY, NJ, PA DE, MD, DC & VA)

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Events

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Publications

“"It's a sign that we can speak frankly to each other about contentious issues... it's about deepening the cooperation right now, rather than asking 'do we have cooperation?'"

Christopher K. Johnson, Freeman Chair in China Studies at Center for Strategic and International Studies

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