Vivian Pan, a Chinese Canadian, founded PRC Study in 2002. Vivian was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Canada at a young age. Raised and educated as a Canadian, she lost touch with the Chinese culture and hence was also unable to speak, read or write Chinese.
Since Vivian was continuing her career in Asia, she found her poor grasp of Chinese gave her an unnecessary handicap in her career. With this, she decided that it was necessary to improve on her Chinese skills. In 2002, Vivian relocated to Beijing where she could study with the best instructors to learn what is known as the most precise Putonghua.
During her time in Beijing, she discovered
that many other foreigners had interest in the Chinese
language and culture. But going abroad to China could
be a very trying task, especially if one does not know
the language. Wanting foreigners to have a smooth transitional
experience, she approached the well-known universities
and proposed a plan to provide assistance to foreign students
coming to China. Hence, the development of PRC Study.
Now, Vivian can say she is familiar with both western and eastern territories, cultures and peoples. She is fluent in English, and can proudly add that she is also fluent in Mandarin. Currently, she is trying to master Cantonese and Shanghianese as well.
After graduating from the University of British Columbia in 1990, she found herself having much work relations between Canada and Asia, and in particular with Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China.
During the past 14 years, Vivian has held several senior-level positions ranging from:
- Executive Director for Hong Kong-Canada Business Association, one of the largest bilateral trade association in North America
- Andersen Consultant providing business, marketing
& web solution consulting services
- Chief Marketing
Officer and Chief Content Officer respectively
for two prominent dot com companies both in Hong
Kong and Canada (OneAsia.com, partly owned by Hutchison
Whampoa, which specialized in selling Asian Entertainment
products; and iCare.com Limited, another e-commerce
portal, and a subsidiary of Hong Kong China Gas
and Hendersen Investments Limited)
- Director, Asia Pacific, Andersen Business Consulting
With skills that run across a multitude of industries, Vivian's career has exposed her to over 45 different industry sectors in both North America and Asia. Industry sectors most familiar to her include: E-Business, Education, Telecommunications, Trading, Manufacturing, FMCG, Travel and Hospitality, Government, Mass Media, Printing, Advertising, Banking, and Sports and Entertainment.
Vivian has played various leading roles in team projects including working with senior management teams in formulating their business plans and research into expansion opportunities in China. She has extensive network into and excellent relationships with the business community both in North America and Asia.
More specifically, her work included business and e-business planning, strategy formulation and implementation; project management; product localization; direct and channel business development; staff and user training; large scale consumer studies, competitive analysis, market segmentation, demand forecasting, value based management; quality control assurance; and content and knowledge management.
Currently, Vivian is the Managing Director of PRC Study, overseeing the worldwide operations of PRC Study; managing corporate , government and university relations of PRC Study Worldwide; and overseeing the development of Chinatactics which provides business solution services. |
