Plenty of big local names on China ECD trip

Bredesen, Kisber leading 10-day mission next month

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

A power list of executives from Nashville’s health care, legal and other sectors have signed on to travel to China next month with Gov. Phil Bredesen and state economic development chief Matt Kisber.

The 10-day trip, a repeat of a larger 2007 trade mission that laid the groundwork for tighter ties between Tennessee and the world’s most populous country, will start Oct. 20 and visit Beijing, Xi’an, Hangzhou and Hong Kong.

“We’ll be seeking to build on the success we’ve had in expanding economic and cultural ties,” said Bredesen.

China is Tennessee’s No. 3 trading partner, trailing only Canada and Mexico. In 2008, Chinese customers bought more than $1.3 billion in Tennessee goods and services with chemicals and agricultural products leading exports.

“Despite the global recession, China’s appetite for Tennessee products remains strong,” said Kisber. “There are real opportunities for additional Tennessee companies to increase exports to China and we want to increase China’s knowledge about Tennessee’s business-friendly economic climate.”

Nashville-area people taking part in the trade mission (and ranked alphabetically) are:
 
Thomas Cigarran, Healthways
Butch Eley, Infrastructure Corporation of America
Ling Guan, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings
Michelle Haynes, Haynes Realtors
John Lowry, Lipscomb University College of Business
Alex Marks, Tower Investments
David Marks, Tower Investments
Scott R. Mertie, Kraft Healthcare Consulting
Diane Miller, Middle Tennessee State University
Jim Murphy, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings
David Osborn, Nashville Medical Trade Center
Aubrey Preston, Williamson County entrepreneur
John Scannapieco, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings
Chris Schmid, V. Alexander & Co.
Christopher Sloan, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings
David Stewart, Gresham, Smith & Partners
Jonathan Uttz, Psychiatric Solutions
Ming Wang, Wang Vision Institute
Caroline Young, Nashville Health Care Council

Joining the Governor from elsewhere in the state are:

Steven Bares, Memphis Bioworks, Memphis
Mayor Allen Barker, Humboldt
June Chen, TRO Jung Brannen & AHS International Design, Memphis
Sandy Dickey, FedEx, Memphis
Brian Eftink, Miller & Martin, Chattanooga
Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, Tennessee General Assembly, Ripley
Steve McMonigle, Universal Services, Tianjin, China
Victor Omotunde, STF Medical & Management Group, Memphis
Dena Scearce, Medtronic, Memphis
Billy Stair, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge