Topic:  Is Globalization Dead?

Speaker: Francis Bassolino, Founder & Managing Partner, Alaris Consulting

Presentation:

A discussion which details three key points:
- The death of globalization has been exaggerated
- Most companies are positioned for far too much risk avoidance and this is a form of high-risk behavior if outcomes are even marginally better than current models (and most people) project
- Why and how the future may likely be much less dystopian than consensus opinion.

Speaker's bio:  

Francis Bassolino is the Managing Partner of Alaris, a strategy and operations advisory firm. Francis specializes in providing strategic and operational support to companies building businesses in Asia. He implements sourcing programs, develops strategic initiatives and designs global expansion plans. Francis has served clients such as Citicorp, Honeywell, Yao Ming, and TPG. His experiences in Asia over the past 20 years span consumer finance, marketing and manufacturing.

Previously, Francis was a Senior Manager with Deloitte & Touche's China Business Services group where he focused on corporate finance and conducting financial and operational due diligence for mergers and acquisitions. Other experiences include operations management for a global logistics firm and business management for a large, Asia based conglomerate with interests in real estate, manufacturing and biotechnology.

In addition to frequently speaking at public events, Francis has published articles in the Asian Venture Capital Journal, The Deal, The China Business Review, Forbes, The China Economic Review, The Harvard China Review, and The Journal of Private Equity. He has also aired commentaries on National Public Radio.

Francis holds an MBA from the University of Chicago where he majored in Entrepreneurship and Finance. Francis graduated from the Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies, and was an exchange student at Nanjing University as well as Tunghai University in Taiwan. Francis is currently an adjunct Lecturer of Marketing at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Francis is a past member of the Council on Foreign Relations (New York). Fluent in Mandarin, Francis resides in Shanghai with his wife and daughter.