The LehmanBush Foundation for Youth Development is co-founded by Neil Bush (the son and brother of former US Presidents) and American entrepreneur Edward Lehman. The Foundation is incorporated in the United States as a 501(c)(3) organization, with the goal of building a presence around the Globe. The Executive Director and staff are overseen by a Board of Directors.
NEIL BUSH
Mr. Bush is a co-founder of LehmanBush, and the former Director, and Vice Chair Emeritus. He currently serves as the chair of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations. He is the third of five children of President and Mrs. George H. W. Bush. Since the 1980’s Mr. Bush has been involved with energy, real estate and international business. He first visited China in 1975 when his father was the Chief Liaison Officer representing the United States in Beijing and has since been engaged in various international business development activities focused on China, travelling to the Country more than 140 times and visiting more than 40 cities.
He has worked with numerous entities on a variety of projects including real estate development, health care services, automobile parts, sheet rock manufacturing, iron ore mining, oil acquisition and paint production. Mr. Bush serves as chairman of Singhaiyi, a Singapore-listed real estate company investing in the United States; is the co-chairman of CIIC, a Beijing-based real estate development company; and serves on the Board of Directors of Hong Kong Finance Investment Holding Group, a Hong Kong-listed company with global real estate and finance interests. In 2016, Mr. Bush co-founded A&A Consultants, which focuses on cross border business development, mergers and acquisitions, fund management and financial advisory.
Mr. Bush graduated from Tulane University with a bachelor’s degree in international economics and from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business with an MBA. Mr. Bush chairs Points of Light and serves on the boards of the Houston Salvation Army and the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. In addition, Mr. Bush and his wife, Maria, chair the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation.
ED LEHMAN
Mr. Edward Lehman, the co-founder and Chairman of LehmanBush, has decades of business and legal experience in the US, China, and Mongolia. He has a wide range of experience with mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, financial services and general corporate practice in the areas of consumer goods, biotech, IT, media, fintech, hospitality, automotive, healthcare, cosmetics, commodities, mining, medical devices and pharmaceuticals.
Since 1987 Mr. Lehman has been located in China and has served as senior business manager for a number of multinational corporations including: Roper Technologies, UCI International, UCI Auto Parts, VeryKool Wireless, Dynisco Instruments, Compressor Controls Corporation (CCC), Medtec Medical Instruments, AmTech Systems, Struers, CIVCO, Amot Controls, Airtex Auto Parts, ASC Water Pump, ASC Auto Parts, FRAM, Prestone, and the Rank Group. He also served as Director of RJ Reynold’s Asia-Pacific operations in Hong Kong, where he oversaw the company’s legal, IP, employment, licensing, dispute resolution, tax, and regulatory work. Mr. Lehman co-founded Lehman, Lee & Xu China lawyers in 1992, LehmanLaw in UlaanBaatar in 1997, and Lehman-Brown International Accountants in 2001.
Mr. Lehman has been involved in a wide range of projects including the re-establishment of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and has served on the Board of Governors for both AmCham Shanghai and Beijing. He also has served as a Director of the American Club of Beijing, is a founding member and the first President of American Citizens Abroad, China Chapter, and appointed as a U.S. Warden to the American Embassy in Beijing. Mr. Lehman presently serves as Chairman Emeritus for the American Chamber of Commerce of the United States (AmChamUS).
Mr. Lehman was a part of the effort to bring China into the WTO and to extend to China Permanent Normal Trade Relations and on panel of experts to successfully re-establish the Shanghai Securities Exchange. He has also advised the Government of Costa Rica and Panama on the terms of their Free Trade Agreements with China, was a foreign adviser to the Beijing Olympic Games Bid Committees, served as a Senior Research Fellow to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and regularly contributes to China media organizations CGTN, China Daily, China New Media, and China Radio International (CRI) and to US media organizations The New York Times, CNN, ABC, Harpers, and Bloomberg.
He has also been appointed by the China Intellectual Property Society National Advisory Center for Overseas Intellectual Property Dispute Settlement as a National Advisory Expert.
AMBER CHEN ZHANG
Ms. Amber Zhang, the Head of Government Relations for LBF, was born into a teacher’s family. She is a member of the China Democratic League, and a member of the Beijing Hong Kong and Macao Federation of Overseas Chinese Women’s Association.
Since returning to China in 2008 from the U.S. where she worked for Trader Joes as a manager, Amber has been engaged in education and training-related industries. When working for Wallstreet English, she was in charge of 15 learning centers in Beijing, leading foreign teachers, consultants and support teams to serve tens of thousands of English learners.
In 2014, Amber transferred to the sales general manager position of 51talk, a well-known online education company, and led the company’s 600 employees to complete the company’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2016 with a monthly growth rate of 33%.
In 2018, Amber founded her own education company – Beijing Saquoia Technology Co., Ltd. and education brand – Jinglelingle, providing global Chinese children with online Chinese language and Chinese culture-related courses, independently developed and copyrighted by the company. The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council purchased Jinglelingle Chinese courses for two consecutive years serving nearly 2,000 overseas Chinese schools in more than 80 countries around the world, over 1,000 overseas Chinese teachers, and over 800,000 Chinese teenagers.
The second, third and fourth grade classes of Beijing Zhengze School use the intangible cultural heritage curriculum independently developed by Jinglelingle. The company is a strategic partner of the National Language Cooperation Center, the founding initiator of the Chinese Alliance. The Confucius Institute has also incorporated Jinglelingle courses into their teaching system.
In 2021, Amber was invited by President Kan Lijun to serve as the deputy secretary-general of the China Children’s Culture and Art Foundation on a part-time basis, contributing to the foundation’s art education project. With the support of colleagues, the first art education project summit forum was successfully held, and was strongly supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture.
Amber firmly believes that education is a fire that ignites the dreams in children’s hearts, and public welfare can fuel the fire of education, making high-quality educational resources more fair and reasonable. In this spirit, she is committed to exploring a sustainable education public welfare path. “In the world of life, each has its own endowment, come for a big thing, do a big thing” has become Amber’s work goal.
GARY MALMON
Mr. Gary Malmon, the Executive Director of LBF, has been working in education leadership since the 90s, first in the Boston area and then in China for the last twenty years.
With a background in developmental psychology, Gary supports teams to be healthy and dynamic, where people enjoy the process of growing together as much as they relish the success of creating together. To this effect, Gary applies an array of best practices from both management and learning theory.
Gary began his educator and global citizen journey when studying in Taiwan for his sophomore year of college. Upon returning to the U.S., Gary completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Chinese Language and Literature. After finishing his Master’s of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education a few year later, Gary began to work in NGO management.
From 1999 until 2024, Gary has focused his energies on establishing and cultivating innovative programs in the U.S. and in China. From 2017-24, Gary has been the founding or Western principal at various schools, including Beijing Enlighten School, a successful International Baccalaureate World School. Most recently, Gary has established a management consulting company in Shanghai: Harmony Matters Inc.
In his spare time, Gary has played lead roles in multiple Chinese T.V. series and movies from 2004 to the present. He speaks Chinese fluently, recognizing over 2,400 characters and is versed in proverbs. He is currently also learning Japanese.
ED TANG
Edward (Hao Feng) Tang, Head of Global Partnerships for LBF, is currently a Junior Partner with Lehman Bush. He received his Bachelor’s Degree at Drexel University, and took his graduate education at the Institute of World Politics, earning a Master’s of Arts and Certificate Studies at Harvard University. He was also an exchange student at New College, University of Oxford. Edward is a former advisor for Andrew Yang`s Washington, D.C. team, Capitol Hill alumni, and a long-term volunteer with the United Nations. Ed is currently an Advisor of APAPA-Ohio, an NGO which focuses on Asian Americans’ public leadership. He is also a Founding member of Impact Sustainability Alliance at OCTAVE of Singapore. He has worked with many big corporations such as, HSBC, Uniqlo, NBME, etc
TONY JAW
Mr. Tony Jaw, a Senior Advisor with LBF, is a Chinese-Canadian entrepreneur who has been living and working in China since 2008, and based in Shanghai since 2013. In 2014, he started a company that has now grown into a successful diversified trading company doing direct trade between Canada and China. He is a strong proponent of building people-to-people ties through trade, specifically in the Building, Education, Technology, Agri-food, and Health and Wellness industry.
Through his experience in exporting building materials to Canada for large real estate developers, an opportunity developed to ship prefabricated homes to Canada. Overcoming many challenges during the pandemic of assembling the housing units, the prefabricated building technology is now ready for a scalable deployment in Canada.
Tony has facilitated technology transfer and licensing deals between Canada and China through Provincial and Federal Canadian government missions to China since 2014. He is a two-term former Board Director at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (2017-2019, 2019-2021), University of Western Ontario ambassador for Shanghai, and past recipient of an ACCE Chinese Canadian Entrepreneur Award in Toronto.
KATE MILANOVIC
Ms. Kate Milanovic, a Senior Advisor with LBF, graduated with a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in IT and Economy. During her University career worked she worked on more than 20+ scientific research papers. She served as a IT University Teacher for a decade Megatrend University in Serbia, a Sales/Marketing/Internal Training Team Leader, Maoyin
Co. Ltd, Shanghai, a Business Course Trainer, Global EBA program with Jiaotong University, Shanghai, and a Course Trainer, Keiser University, Shanghai. She worked in a private Chinese-owned company located in Shanghai in fields of Sales, Marketing & Training, and helped build bridges between Chinese and Western service providers/customers to: enhance communication, facilitate better understanding of cultural differences & train local staff on problem-solving, shifting perspectives, proactivity and other Soft Skills. She opened a Cross-Cultural Communication business in Shanghai in 2020, and is a Certified Professional Coach, Trainer & Facilitator, with an ACC credential from ICF. As a Toastmaster, she’s passionate about Public Speaking and Presentation skills. Kate enjoys working with people and learning languages, currently focusing on Spanish and Mandarin. She is the parent of a neuro-diverse teenager. Kate is is a Toastmaster [an International club where members improve their Public Speaking & Leadership Skills, headquartered in Englewood, Colorado]. Kate speaks English & Serbian fluently, and working on her Mandarin & Spanish. She is an IECL and ISTOK Certified Organizational Coach and an ACC (Associate Certified Coach) by ICF
JACK DAY
Mr. Jack Day, a Senior Advisor with LBF, is a Chinese American educator, who majored in Humanities and currently pursuing master’s degree in psychology at Harvard University. He was the top scorer in English in China’s national college entrance exam in 1984 and is self-taught in eight languages. Mr Day is a world’s top expert in education for children with special needs especially children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ADD/ADHD, adolescent mental health, and metacognitive learning with over 20 years’ experience. He is also recognized as a devoted father, founder of the Midas Touch gifted and talented children education system, a member of the Asia Society and the Clinton Foundation, and a member of the Lehman Bush Foundation. He serves as a distinguished international education consultant and advisor for various public and private schools in China.
Having lived in the United States for over thirty years, Mr Day has a profound and unique understanding of both Chinese and American cultures and their respective educational philosophies. He has extensive practical experience and track record of success in educating gifted and talented children and those with learning disabilities such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia and other learning disorders. Over the past decades, he has nurtured many well-rounded and twice exceptional students who have gone on to top universities including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, and Cambridge.
Mr Day’s daughter, Amy, has excelled academically under his guidance, standing out among millions of American elementary students. She received the highest national educational honor in the United States, the Presidential Education Award, in 2012 and 2014, along with personal letter of congratulations from President Obama, making her a source of pride for the Chinese and Asian-American communities.
His son, Andy, who was born with severe autism, has almost entirely overcome his challenging conditions under Mr Day ‘s loving and patient guidance. Andy is now a top student in a leading high school in California, achieving straight A’s and has been admitted to the University of California system.
With over thirty years of experience in researching and teaching English, Mr. Mr Day has developed a revolutionary English learning method, Midas English 3.0, which enables rapid academic vocabulary acquisition and improved writing skills without rote memorization. He is known as “China’s foremost authority on English vocabulary development” and the “Godfather of English Vocabulary in China.”
Mr Day is passionate about language learning and is fluent in both English and Chinese, as well as Japanese, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Classic Greek and Latin. He achieved perfect scores in the 1984 Chinese national college entrance exam and the 1996 Harvard entrance TOEFL exam. A senior member of the American Translators Association and a certified interpreter for the U.S. federal government, Mr Day was appointed as an international education consultant by the National Scholarship Fund affiliated International Preparatory Academy in 2012 and by the Futian District Education Bureau of Shenzhen as an international education expert in 2014. He frequently participates in public and private charitable educational activities, including those at Peking University HSBC Business School and Tsinghua University Shenzhen Graduate School, and is featured in many mainstream Chinese media. Mr Day also writes for the Southern Daily as a columnist on education, appears as a special guest on Phoenix TV, and is a guest speaker on numerous educational issues on Shenzhen Radio.
DAVID TIDSWELL
David Tidswell, a Senior Advisor with LBF, is a highly experienced education leader who offers insights into learning issues around the world. For over three decades he has worked in the UK, China, Europe and Latin America as a leader, teacher, researcher for academic and pastoral improvement. He is currently the Founding Principal at a start-up school in Spain, building on the International Baccalaureate curriculum to develop innovative teaching and lifelong learning. He is a published academic and is skilled in supporting wellbeing, professional development, curriculum development, classroom management, intercultural understanding and international education. He particularly enjoys guiding teachers, students and families towards a mindset of high expectations.
David began his career in Honduras as a Primary teacher, then taught at university level while completing his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in Geography, and Economic and Social History. He continued working as a research fellow with the University of Lancaster and later taught History through the UK’s Open University and Dundee University. His passion for teaching and learning resulted in his PGCE for History (University of Edinburgh) and working with the Scottish and English curricula for Highers and A Levels.
After several years as a Head of History & Politics in the Edinburgh area he gained experience in pastoral and guidance work as a Head of Residence Hall in a prominent Shanghai school, supervising over 400 students. He then became a Founding Vice Principal, and finally International Principal with Sedbergh School Fuzhou (China). He has worked with thousands of students and hundreds of staff around the world for personal, academic and professional development, providing 1:1 guidance as well as online and in-person seminars to large audiences.
David is determined to help schools, parents and students improve the experience of education through deep listening, sustained conversations and bespoke guidance. His lifelong dream is for each child to experience joy in learning, and to take pride in their substantial achievements while always anticipating the next step.
JULIAN YULIN YANG
Mr. Julian Yang, a Senior Advisor with LBF, provides legal advice for multi-national co-operations in doing business and conducting projects in China. He worked for clients in cases such as liability for tort, merge and acquisition, financing, going public, overseas investment and inheritance. He directed and worked for criminal cases such as tax evasion, defraud and corruption. Mr. Yang has served in the panel of Beijing Arbitration Commission since 2006 and has handled 45 cases.
Mr. Yang has significant international work experience, having served the Chinese government and international communities as a simultaneous English-Chinese interpreter in official, business and cultural events. He worked in Brussels, Belgium as a Customs Attache from 1983 to 1986, and participated in the policy-making on economic reform and drafted plans to the top leaderships of China in the 1980s. He was one of the early experts to introduce the Value Add Tax to China after joining in an high level official visits to Turkey and France.
Mr. Yang served as legal counsel and funds custodian for the first Sino-Canadian co-production film which won the prize of the Rome International Film Festival in 2008. He has been legal advisor for international celebrities and performing stars in China, USA and Europe.
Education
Mr. Yang studied at Beijing University for his undergraduate training beginning in 1977, and later on at the People’s University of China in 1979 where he obtained Master degree of Law. In 1988=90 he went to Harvard University and obtained a Master degree of Public Administration, and then became a two-year Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School.
Languages
Mr. Yang is fluent in English and has worked as a simultaneous interpreter for high ranking officials in China as well as many business meetings and negotiations. He studied Japanese under the instruction of Professor Fu Erliang who spent many years in Japan and taught Japanese language at People’s University of China. Mr. Yang also understands basic French from his 3 years in Belgium.
He holds the position of:
—Vice Director General, Asia & Pacific Great Wall Lawyers Alliance
—Senior Adviser, Tian-Ji Law Firm (Beijing) where he has been working since 2003.
SEYYED AVIGDOR
Dr. Seyyed Abdiel Avigdor, a Senior Advisor with LBF, was born in Oxshott, near London & grew up in Europe and across Atlantic. Attended Harrow school in England, there after graduated with twin doctorates in medicine and law from University of Leeds & Oxford respectively after receiving post-graduate degrees from King’s College London. After filling up the quiver of academics, got associated with Chinese Academy of Science & Social Science as research consultant. At the same time, ventured into the field of international education and thereby exposed plethora of students and fellow educators to the premise of cross-cultural educational programs.
Have been in the field since 2008,have led students to MUN, NSDA debates and oratory competitions, inter-school competitions, conceptualizing and conducting problem based learning workshops in association with IBO-Geneva. Apart from English, which being one of my native language, I’m fluent in Russian, Old Norse, Latin, Icelandic, German, Urdu & Turkish. My philosophy in life is “Scientia Potentia est” as espoused by Sir Francis Bacon.
MICHAEL J. ROSENTHAL
Mr. Rosenthal, who serves as Chairman of the Board of Advisors, has managed organizations for more than 25 years. He is the founder of Rosenthal Business Consulting, International Vice-President for LehmanBush, and President of AmChamUS. Michael was a law clerk for two U.S. federal judges and served eight years as a Federal Prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, receiving an Outstanding Trial Attorney Award in 1993 and 1996. Michael served as the Special Prosecutor and Minister of Justice for the Republic of Palau, taught law at the Palau Community College, and served two years as the Palau Bar President. Starting in 2005 he served as the Asia Pacific CEO for Day Light Inc., USA, and subsequently worked in various industries including environmental, education, human resources, fashion, retail, health/beauty, and media. Michael has provided consulting, training, and coaching services to Fortune 500 companies including Baxter, Bayer, Cisco, Continental, Danone, Johnson Controls, Prudential, SAP, SAIC, Shanghai GM, Volvo, and others. He has worked in various sectors of media and entertainment, in front of and behind the camera, and has appeared in numerous commercials/movies/television shows with well know Chinese actors including Louis Koo, Hu Ge, Sun Li, Yang Mi, Ren Da Hua, and others. He has also produced/directed various promotional videos and has been a host/emcee/panel facilitator/auctioneer for many events including the President’s Roundtable on Cancer, the Fur Free Fashion, SIAS, AmCham Charity Galas, the International Solid Waste Management Summit, Book Launch of Americans in Shanghai, and the 50th Year Anniversary of US-China Ping Pong Diplomacy. Michael also regularly organizes business events and has served for four years as Chairman of the AmCham-Shanghai Environmental Committee and on the AmCham-Shanghai Board of Governors. He graduated with honors from the University of Massachusetts with a B.S. degree in Psychology and the American University Washington College of Law with a Juris Doctorate Degree.
