To promote and share those values, which are key to entrepreneurship and innovation, the bank has been organising its “Doers & Thinkers” lecture cycle since 2006. Twice a year it invites a guest speaker, alternating between a doer from the business community and a thinker from the academic or research sphere. Last October it welcomed Thomas M. Sanderson, Co-Director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC. This year’s first guest speaker was Judy Leissner, a Chinese business woman.

China, Women & Wine
Judy Leissner, CEO of Grace Vineyard, was named “Asian Wine Personality of the Year 2012” at the Vinexpo Asia-Pacific fair in Hong Kong last May. The award recognised Ms Leissner’s outstanding success in promoting wine in Asia, not only in terms of production but also of sales and marketing.

Judy Leissner manages Grace Vineyard, founded by her father in 1997. In 2002, aged 24, she took the helm of the family company, having worked formerly at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong. At the time the Chinese wine market was in its infancy, but the young woman transformed the family business from a local company into an international one in just a decade. Today Grace Vineyard is aiming not only at domestic customers but also at the international market.

The reason for Ms Leissner’s success lies in her spirit of initiative and entrepreneurial determination to produce and sell wine in China. At her lecture on “China, Women & Wine”, held at BGL BNP Paribas headquarters, Judy Leissner started by presenting an overall picture of the economic situation and the wine market in China. She went on to tell a substantial audience about her experiences as a Chinese business woman.