SLLF appointed Thornton Co-Founder & CEO Michael Lin as SLLF's Asia/China Bureau Head

06/23/2009

Michael Lin, Co-Founder & CEO of Thornton,   has been appointed to be the head of the United States’ State  Legislative Leaders Foundation’s Asia/China Bureau.  The bureau office will be located in Beijing, China.
 
The purpose of this office will be to establish a network to promote increased communication and cooperation among political,  business and academic leaders in Asia and North America.  In the coming years,  this branch of SLLF will bring scores of US state legislative and business leaders together with their counterparts from across Asia.  The end result will be an increased understanding and appreciation of the common bonds shared by leaders from North America and Asia.
 
SLLF will be officially hosting a Summit in Beijing later this year. This Summit, which will be given the title of “Forging New Partnerships between China and America’s State Legislatures,” will be the first of its kind.SLLF will bring a high-level political and business delegation of approximately 30 titled state legislative leaders from across America ( i.e.,  Speakers of the House,  Majority Leaders,  Senate Presidents,  Pro Tempores and Minority Leaders) to Beijing along with a similar number of corporate leaders.  The total delegation will reach approximately 100 people.  While in China, the program participants will take part in a series of round-table discussions with Chinese business and political leaders and academicians, designed to acquaint them with the key social,   political and economic issues that define China and the USA in the 21st Century.  Above all else, the China-US Summit will serve as a catalyst for the development of new and strong ties of friendship between the two nations, (i.e., U.S. states and China and its provinces and municipalities as well).

The State Legislative Leaders Foundation is a nonprofit,  nonpartisan,  independent national organization committed to providing specialized enrichment programs for the leaders of their state legislatures — an elite group of approximately 350 House Speakers,  Senate Presidents, Majority Leaders,  Minority Leaders and Pro Tempores.  SLLF communicates regularly with these men and women through attendance at a
variety of activities. To further ensure their focus on leadership, the Foundation’s Board of Directors is made up exclusively of currently serving legislative leaders.  They are expanding their global presence by establishing branch offices throughout the world.  In 1999, SLLF established a permanent presence in Europe by opening an office in Berlin Germany. Since that date, The Transatlantic Leadership Academy has sponsored more than a dozen transatlantic leadership programs bringing parliamentary leaders from across Europe together with political and business leaders from throughout America.

Steve Lakis (right), SLLF President and Michael Lin (left), SLLF Asia/China Bureau Head at National People's Congress Hall