Speaker Biographies

Friday U.S. Business and Government Panel:
“Responding to the China Challenge”

The Honorable Mark Steven Kirk
Illinois Representative to the U.S. House of Representatives and Co-Chair of the House U.S.-China Working Group (Confirmed)

Mark Steven Kirk was first elected to Congress in 2000. He is currently co-chair of the bipartisan U.S.-China Working Group in the House, a body that aims to serve as a forum to focus on building greater understanding of China in Congress and to expand political, economic, military, and cultural ties with China. “We are not saying that there are no problems between the United States and China. We are saying that we have a diplomatic agenda that is expanding very rapidly,” Congressman Kirk explains. He is a Naval Reserve intelligence officer who served during conflicts with Iraq, Haiti, and Bosnia. The U.S. Navy named him Intelligence Officer of the Year in 1999 for his combat service in Kosovo. Congressman Kirk flew on missions over Iraq and continues to serve one weekend a month in the Pentagon. He is the only member of Congress to serve during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was an air crewman over Iraq during Operation Northern Watch. Representative Kirk graduated from New Trier High School and attended the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México before earning a B.A. from Cornell. He holds a Masters Degree from the London School of Economics and a law degree from Georgetown. Congressman Kirk and his wife Kimberly live in Highland Park, Illinois.

Mr. Tony Lorusso
Director of the Minnesota Trade Office and Organizer of the Largest U.S. State Trade Mission to China in 2005 (Confirmed)

Tony Lorusso was appointed in November 2003 as director of the Minnesota Trade Office (MTO), the state’s official export development arm. Mr. Lorusso is responsible for developing the state’s international marketing plans, identifying international market opportunities, managing trade missions, guiding the development of export education programs and promotional events, and overseeing a staff of international trade representatives. Under his direction, the Minnesota Trade Office also is the lead agent for the Minnesota-China Partnership, a new broad-based, statewide strategy to enhance Minnesota’s relationship with China. Mr. Lorusso previously served as the trade office’s director of export promotion for nearly four years and spearheaded a number of high-profile export promotional events, including governor’s trade missions to China, Mexico, Germany, and Canada. Additionally, he served 11 years in the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence officer stationed in Europe and the United States. Mr. Lorusso grew up in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania and graduated from Phoenixville Area High School in 1976. He has a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the United States Air Force Academy and a master’s degree in Systems Technology from the Naval Postgraduate School. Mr. Lorusso currently resides in Saint Paul.

Mr. Theodore W. Schaffner
Senior Vice President for Corporate Development of Motorola, Inc. (Confirmed)

Theodore W. Schaffner is the Senior Vice President for Corporate Development at Motorola, Inc., a Fortune 100 company specializing in global communications. Mr. Schaffner has been heavily engaged in all of Motorola’s operations in China for over a decade. In April 2005, Motorola was named the Most Influential Multinational in China and the Best Corporate Citizenship Practice in China. Mr. Schaffner received his B.A. at Ohio State University and his J.D. from Harvard University School of Law. Presently, he is also a member of the Board of Directors of Bull, an information technology company dedicated to helping corporations and public sector bodies develop open and secure information systems, with a worldwide presence in more than 100 countries. Mr. Schaffner resides in Chicago and has two daughters in college.

Moderator
Professor Anil Kashyap
Edward Eagle Brown Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (Confirmed)

Anil Kashyap is the Edward Eagle Brown Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. Professor Kashyap joined the faculty in 1991 and teaches courses on Corporation Finance and Understanding Central Banks. He is currently preparing a paper with Wendy Dobson on banking reform in China that will appear in the Fall issue of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Professor Kashyap’s principal research interests include Japan’s financial system, monetary policy, and the sources of business cycles. He is also a consultant in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a research associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research. Professor Kashyap graduated with highest honors from the University of California (Davis) in 1982. He later obtained his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989. His research has been published in numerous academic journals and books, winning him grants from the National Science Foundation and earning him an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in Economics. He collaborated with Takeo Hoshi on the book Corporate Financing and Governance in Japan: The Road to the Future (2001), which was selected for the 45th Nikkei Prize for Excellent Books in Economic Science. He has also edited Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan (2003) and Monetary Policy Transmission in the Euro Area (2003). He has previously served as a Senior Houblon-Norman Fellow at the Bank of England (2001) and an economist on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1988-1991). In his free time, Professor Kashyap enjoys rotisserie baseball and bridge.