Beyond Borders Speakers

Dr. Richard Smith

Dr. Richard Smith is a professor of humanities at Rice University, where he holds appointments in the Department of History, the Center for Asian Studies, and the James Baker III Institute for Public Policy. As co-founder of the Baker Institute’s Transnational China Project, Dr. Smith has examined a number of important historical and contemporary issues, among them, the culture of political and commercial advertising in East Asia and the formation of transnational and local identities.  Dr Smith has produced about seventy academic articles and book chapters and has written seven scholarly books on China.  He is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the National Advisory Committee of the Asia Society’s Educational Resource Center, and an adviser to the National Commission on Asia in the Schools.   Professor Smith has won twelve teaching awards at Rice University.

Sunita Singh-Maclaren

Sunita Singh Maclaren is Founder and President of World Wise, a pioneering global skills firm.  She has over 20 years of experience in using deep knowledge of global cultures to design and implement solutions for high-performance partnerships for Fortune 500 companies.

Sunita has developed models on the relationship between global cultures and organizational leadership in over 70 countries. Her areas of expertise include: global skills for the 21st century; women’s leadership; in-depth analyses of the culture of business in major energy producing nations and building workforce values in newly emerging nations. Since 2001, she has been personally engaged in implementing leadership programs in Africa.

In addition to her close collaboration with leading Fortune 500 companies, Sunita serves on the Board of Directors of BioSeek, a biotech firm that has developed novel therapies for diabetes and is Vice-Chairman of the FREEDOMS Foundation, dedicated to preventing diabetes and obesity in children.

Prior to starting World Wise in 1986, Sunita was active in international media, including documentary film-making, journalism and advertising.  She studied German Language and Literature at Jawaharlal Nehru University.