Timothy Beardson

One of Hong Kong’s most successful entrepreneurs and the founder of the largest independent investment bank in the Far East, Timothy Beardson is an integral part of Hong Kong’s economic ascendance who has lived and worked in Asia for more than 35 years, and brings insight, intelligence, and extensive experience to offer a window into this rapidly changing region that wields worldwide influence.

In his new book, a nuanced, first-hand look at China, STUMBLING GIANT: The Threat to China’s Future (Yale University Press; Spring 2013), which was named Book of the Week by The Times of London, Beardson boldly counters the widely held predictions of the country’s near-certain rise to global supremacy.

Timothy Beardson founded and ran Crosby Financial Holdings, which at its height employed 650 staff in 17 cities in 13 countries from New York to Beijing, with an annual transaction volume of US$ 20 billion. It was the first international investment bank to open in China, Thailand, and Malaysia and the only foreign bank invited to participate in the working party to set up the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Beardson and Crosby advised governments, corporations, and financial institutions on political, strategic, economic, and investment issues regarding Asia and the global economy.

Successfully selling Crosby in the late 1990s, Beardson is Chairman and partner in Ilex Partners, a new Asian corporate advisory firm. He is an active investor, interested in coaching young entrepreneurs and engaged in charitable work in such roles as Chairman of the China Oxford Scholarship Fund, Honorary Fellow of Sarum College in Salisbury, Britain, and previously a patron of Outward Bound for Britain from 1997 to 2002. He is also Chairman of Albert Place Holdings Limited, a private equity firm, which invests in a variety of industries and owns medical businesses including a clinic in Hong Kong providing traditional Chinese medicine. He is frequently interviewed on television and radio.

A sought-after speaker, Timothy Beardson comments on political, economic, environmental, and strategic issues at events such as the World Economic Forum at Davos and has frequently been invited to lecture to Chinese governmental organizations on economics, finance, and other subjects. He has spoken at or for the Global India Business Meeting, the former Institute of Marxism-Leninism, the Shanghai Municipal Government, the UN Development Programme, the Global Russia Business Meeting, and the Beijing International Finance Forum, among others. He also lectures at universities and business schools such as Oxford, Yale, and Beijing and briefs central banks and corporate boards.