Lifelong Commitment: A love of the Chinese language at an early age translated into a rewarding career

By Ariel Tung, China Daily

Virginia Kamsky has accomplished some amazing things in China, from drafting Chase Bank’s first foreign commercial bank loan to China to establishing one of the first Western advisory firms there.

These days, her advisory firm, Kamsky Associates Inc, has been advising on deals in excess of $10 billion for its clients on the mainland. Her hard work has been recognized by various organizations, including US magazine Newsweek nominating her as one of “America’s 25 Top Asia Hands”.

Her journey with China began at the age of 10 when she started learning Mandarin. Kamsky believes her success in China stems from understanding its culture, and that comes from studying the language.

In 1963, Kamsky’s mother, Sonya, thought it was important for her to learn Chinese and enrolled her at China Institute, which was a stone’s throw away from their home in uptown Manhattan.

But the young Kamsky was looked upon as being “strange” at that time for learning Chinese, especially since most of her classmates studied French. At China Institute, she was the youngest student in her class, most of them in their 50s.

In hindsight, she says her mother did the right thing by insisting she learn Chinese.

“She felt that if you have one-quarter of the world’s population who speak Chinese, you need to have Americans who speak Chinese and who understand the culture.”

Kamsky, who was awarded a National Defense Foundation Fellowship to study Chinese at Columbia University and Yale University, never looked back. She spent her senior year of high school at Fujen Catholic University in Taiwan, and was awarded Princeton summer fellowships for intensive language study at Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1971. She graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 1974 in East Asian Studies.

These days, she devotes her free time to the China Institute. She serves as chairwoman on the Board of Trustees and chief executive officer at China Institute. It touts itself as the oldest nonprofit US organization focused on the China-US relationship.

Kamsky believes in giving back, and that includes being a good example to her 13-year-old son, Michael, whom she raised speaking in Chinese and eating with chopsticks instead of a fork.

“I think the relationship between the US and China is the single most important relationship in the world,” Kamsky says. “The greatest contribution we can make is to make sure the next generation is equipped to communicate with each other.”

Her first trip to China was in December 1978, soon after the normalization of relations between China and the US was announced. She was there as a member of the first Chase Bank delegation to China where she met President Li Xiannian at the Great Hall of the People.

Kamsky, given her talents, rose within the ranks very quickly at the then Chase Manhattan Bank. A year after joining the bank, she was the manager of Chase’s credit training program in Tokyo from 1976 to 1977. She was promoted to second vice-president of Chase in 1978 and headed Chase’s corporate China division until 1980.

Because of Kamsky’s success at Chase, the bank wanted to send her to Belgium. She didn’t want to go to Belgium; she wanted to be in China. She decided to quit her first and only job to set up an advisory firm in China to help Western businesses there. Chase was one of her first clients.

“I knew it was the right thing to do. There was a lack of understanding of China. And there was a niche for firms to bridge that lack of understanding. There was no question in my mind that I wanted to devote my life to this,” Kamsky says.

Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping instituted a series of policies in 1978 for China’s reform and “opening up” to foreign investments. That action allowed the creation of Kamsky’s firm, KAI, which means opening up in Chinese.

Established in 1980, KAI was one of the first 20 American corporations authorized to establish an office in Beijing. KAI was also the first approved foreign advisory firm in China.

All of its employees, in Beijing and New York, are proficient in Chinese.

“We have to practice what we believe in. We can’t have a laowai (foreigners in Chinese) who doesn’t speak Chinese. It shouldn’t be unusual to speak Chinese. It should be normal,” Kamsky says.

She helps Western companies understand how to operate and be successful in China. A lot of times, Western companies think doing business in China is more complex than it is, and get discouraged by it.

One of the most common mistakes Western companies make, she says, is to use a Western approach in China – in a country where relationship building, or guanxi, matters.

“I see a correlation between the number of times a CEO goes to China and the success they had in China. There are a number of CEOs who think they can do it by remote control – and that’s a mistake. You need to look at someone in the eye and feel a sense of conviction that this is someone you want to partner with. If a CEO develops a good feel for a partner, the business is more likely to be successful,” Kamsky says.

A lot of Western companies don’t realize that it takes time to build a successful business in China. Kamsky says it’s important to have a long-term perspective, which is why she doesn’t take on clients who want to take shortcuts.

One of the projects she worked on, the Shanghai Portman Ritz-Carlton, started in 1980. The doors to the hotel finally opened in 1990. The process was particularly long because it was the first 100 percent foreign-owned business in China.

Kamsky, who was recently in Guangzhou to receive an award for an appointment to serve as an international investment adviser to Guangzhou city government, encourages her Western clients to study China.

“If China is important to you, you want to learn as much as possible, by reading the current books about China. There are always lots to learn. A company that is serious about China must continue learning. It’s not possible to do business in China without knowing its culture.”

2011 China Institute Gala Honors Virginia Kamsky and Zhang Xin

By Amanda Gordon, Bloomberg.com

Zhang Xin, chief executive officer of Soho China Ltd., sat next to her 10-year-old son, Luc, who was wearing black tie for the first time.

The occasion was the China Institute’s annual gala, at Cipriani 42nd Street, where attendees included Harbinger Group Inc.’s Philip Falcone and Kingdon Capital Management’s Mark Kingdon.

“This is the English speaker’s table,” Xin said. “My husband is at the Chinese table.” She is married to Pan Shiyi, chairman of Soho China, a real estate development company the couple founded in 1995.

Among their guests was Zaha Hadid in a silky, billowy lavender blouse. She’s the architect for several of Soho China’s projects, including the Galaxy Soho in central Beijing, a curvy sculptural office and retail complex of connected buildings, each built around a courtyard.

Virginia A. Kamsky, chairman and chief executive officer of the advisory firm Kamsky Associates Inc., and chairman of the China Institute, spoke Chinese at her table with her 13-year-old son, Michael, Consul General Peng Keyu and Education Consul Wang Ying.

Kamsky began studying the language at the age of 10 at the China Institute. It was 1963. “My mom was concerned about world peace,” said Kamsky. “She thought China would become a formidable force.”

These days Kamsky advises the Navy on Asia Pacific strategy. “I walk across the Pentagon in my high heels,” she said, lifting her Monique Lhuillier gown to reveal a pair of sparkling silver shoes. Anna Hu custom-designed her amethyst ring.

Kamsky and Xin both received the China Institute’s Blue Cloud Award at the event, which raised $1.3 million. In their honor, the Princeton Tigertones, dressed in white jackets, sang Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl.” Two of the Tigertones, brothers Matt and Will McCalpin, are the sons of China Institute’s president, Sara Judge McCalpin.

Sihan Shu, a managing director at Paulson & Co., was impressed with the institute’s offerings, which include cultural and business programs. “Maybe I’ll send my son there to learn Chinese,” Shu said of his 5-month-old.

Birthday Party Brought Forward to Aid Sino-US Ties

By Ariel Tung, China Daily

NEW YORK – Helping Americans understand China is so important to Virginia Kamsky that she even rescheduled her father’s 92nd birthday party just so she could attend the China Institute Executive Summit’s opening dinner on Thursday.

This year, the seventh summit’s dinner clashed with her father’s birthday on Oct 28, so Kamsky and her family decided to hold the celebration a day earlier.

It was a tough decision, but her mother was supportive, just as she was supportive of the young Kamsky learning the Chinese language.

“My mom said that this opening dinner is very important,” Kamsky said.

“It would create important dialogue for both countries to understand each other. She told me I should go to the summit, just like she told me I have to learn Chinese.”

Kamsky started learning Chinese when she was 10, and it was her mother’s foresight that she would be thankful for later in life. She was the first American child to learn Chinese at the China Institute in New York City in the 1960s, and is now its chairman. The institute is the oldest not-for-profit US organization focused on US-China relationship.

In 1980, she established Kamsky Associates, one of the earliest American investment organizations to be set up in China. She was selected by Crain’s New York Business in 1990 as one of their “Forty under Forty to Succeed” and by Newsweek as one of “America’s 25 Top Asia Hands”.

When Kamsky became chairman of the board of trustees of China Institute in 2003, she saw the need for an annual business dialogue focused on understanding the economic relationship between the two countries.

She wanted to “broaden the scope of cultural understanding to include economic dialogue”. Thus, the first China Institute Executive Summit was held in New York City in 2004.

She accredited this to the management and directors of China Institute, as well as people and corporations that have been supportive. But it was her mother who has been the most influential toward her cause.

“My mom said that if the US and China can’t communicate, there will be serious implications for world peace,” Kamsky said.

“She said a dialogue is important for the two countries to understand each other and that world peace is most important.”

The summit’s opening dinner this year, held at Four Times Square, featured a discussion between Chen Zhiwei, professor of finance at Yale University School of Management, and Stephen S. Roach, non-executive chairman at Morgan Stanley Asia and senior fellow at Yale University.

On Friday, there are three panel discussions at the Princeton Club of New York on currency, trade and capital markets.

Corporate leaders, government officials and economists will share views on subjects relevant to US-China business activities and on the global influence of China.

Kamsky said she is looking forward to hearing what some of the best economic minds have to say about the US and China, especially during such an “uncertain financial environment”.

“In the past, the US would be a teacher to China. The situation has now quite dramatically changed,” she said.

“I actually saw the change before the financial crisis. It’s interesting China has about $3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. This is a very dramatic change from what many economists ever imagined.”

Kamky’s interest in economics has been fueled by her father, Leonard Kamsky, an accomplished economist.

A highlight of the summit is that Beijing’s Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, in collaboration with China Institute, will bring senior executives from some Chinese small- and medium-sized corporations. In the past, this has posed a challenge for China Institute. Kamsky said she wants to set up more Chinese-language classes for children and business executives.

Kamsky, who raised her 12-year-old son to speak Chinese, said: “It starts from the language. If you don’t understand the language, you won’t understand the culture.

“Part of the problem between the US and China is the language barrier. If our children learn to speak Chinese, it will help avoid problems in future.

“American children need to be bilingual. They need to have Chinese friends. Chinese children need to be friends with American children.

“I think that will be the greatest way to solve conflicts in future between the US and China.”

Although the summit’s main aim is for experts of both countries to exchange ideas and information, Kamsky said “nothing will be more important to come of this summit than individual friendships”.

“We want to do all that we can to solve conflicts between the two countries,” she said.

Success in the East and West, Kamsky’s Glory and Challenge

Far East Economic Pictorial

May 2009, Volume 154

Many people’s lives are all about pursuing fame and fortune. Kamsky is not like this; she has the golden touch when it comes to investing, and she is driven by forces more important than wealth.

She is American, but she speaks fluent Chinese. She was born with noble blood, but she is very easy-going. The level of her influence is quite high, yet she treats everybody well. She originally wanted to get her PhD in classical Chinese, but she became an expert in investing. She is fair-haired but has a Chinese godfather. She is a close friend to many high-level people in government and business circles, her story has been recorded in history. Her life is legendary, so what kind of woman is she really?

Chinese from Her Mother, Economics from Her Father

Destiny is really magic! [name of a Chinese movie] Kamsky’s relationship with China can be traced back to when she was 10 years old. Her mother Sonya decided to send her to a Sino-US association to learn Chinese, and so began the development of her many ties to China. Sonya was a very insightful mother, and was very concerned about world peace. She hoped the West could engage in better communication with China and was worried that too few people understood Chinese culture. In young Kamsky’s eyes, the Sino-US relationship described by her mother was the most important relationship in the world. At that time, the two countries had not settled into “harmony” and the American people were very concerned about China, on the other side of the globe. “The United States made a very, very big mistake. They do not understand China. Chinese people are very smart. The American people should understand more about China – 99.99% of the American people do not study Chinese. So you should study Chinese,” Kamsky’s mother often urged her daughter.

Kamsky’s alma mater is a well-known American university – Princeton University, where current US First Lady Michelle Obama also attended. During Kamsky’s school days, she specialized in classical Chinese and became familiar with literary classics such as “Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” “Dream of the Red Chamber,” and “Water Margin.” She was deeply attracted to the rhythms of Li Bai and Du Fu’s poems, and loved the far-reaching ambition of “Though the Tortoise Lives Long.”

Kamsky’s extraordinary understanding of investment and philosophy was deeply influenced by her father Leonard Kamsky. Mr. Kamsky was a very successful economist and because he liked China so much, he became a professor at the Chinese University of Science and Technology in his later years. He consistently stressed the importance of fundamental economic knowledge. Therefore, with encouragement from Professor Marion, Kamsky studied classical economic courses throughout college.

Investment Skills and a Smile to Open China

In 1978, Kamsky came to Beijing as an American representative of Chase Manhattan Bank, in the first group of Americans to be called “Panda Huggers.” In her twenties, Kamsky was in her prime, like a dazzling pearl – generous, cheerful, charming. In the process of doing translation work, she got to know “China’s Number One Translator” Ji Chaozhu, and the two hit it off quite well. As a result, an American woman got to know a Chinese father figure, and Kamsky became like a step-daughter of China, thus writing another chapter in the story of her love for China.

Dare to think, dare to do, and succeed. In 1980, she established Kamsky Associates Inc. in Beijing, which at the time was one of the earliest American investment organizations in China. The English name of the company was “Kamsky Associates, Inc.” and taking the first letter of each word, it becomes “KAI” which makes the same sound as the Chinese word “kai.” The Chinese word “kai” signifies opening, absorbing, and expanding, which has truly been the trend of the times.

Over the years, Kamsky has traveled extensively throughout all of China’s provinces; in fact, she has traveled to more destinations in China than in the United States. She particularly remembers when Mississippi and Hainan developed friendly ties in 1987, and the first time she was greeted at the simple Haikou airport. At that time, Kamsky was close friends with the Mississippi governor, who wished to develop a stronger relationship with China. Kamsky conveyed this to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the time when Hainan had just separated from the Guangdong province to become its own independent province. At that time neither Gansu or Hainan had formed international exchanges, and so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommended that Mississippi choose from these two provinces, and they chose Hainan. Therefore this will be noted in history: on August 30, Hainan province and Mississippi became sister states at a signing ceremony at Haikou.

Kamsky said that she is very proud of China, as China has reached such an impressive level of success. From 1978 to the present, China has had significant changes from month-to-month, while New York always stays the same. As one example, just look at the airports: there are more and more airports in China, and they are getting bigger and bigger. On the other hand, traditional things still remain, and Kamsky admires the glorious history of the Forbidden City, which shows the colors of the Ming Dynasty, but also has a modern feeling.

Choose What You Love, Love What You Choose

When you look at Kamsky’s smile, you can’t help but feel happy as well. She gives a smile from the heart to everybody. To her, this is very natural – when you encounter “nice” people, you can’t help but smile. If you like what you do, your work, your lifestyle, your family, then you can’t help but smile. Some people could complain about working 18 hours a day, but Kamsky doesn’t feel like she is doing work, but rather doing something that she enjoys. She is patient: “I do what I like, and I like what I do. When I come to China it feels like I am coming home. I like the people here, I like what I do, and I like to help the two countries communicate with each other.”

Everything about her life makes her smile. When encountering obstacles, other people just focus on the difficult parts, but Kamsky says there is always a solution when you help people communicate with each other – communication is a great way to solve problems. The two countries also need to communicate with each other, and dialogue should not just be between the top leaders, but the people should also communicate and understand each other.

Kamsky respects all people, as everybody is important. “I care about each and every person.” She treats the ayi who cleans her office with kindness, and her driver Liu Li calls her older sister, while Kamsky calls Liu Li her younger sister. She feels that, “When other people feel good, I can also feel good.”

In her eyes, being in China is just like being home. Chinese people are very welcoming and warm to foreigners, and people around her call her Big Sister, or 2^nd or 3^rd Sister, just as if they were family members. When she has gone to other countries, such as the time she spent in Tokyo, she doesn’t necessarily have the feeling of being home – there can be a real sense of distance between people.

Children are more important than business. Kamsky has a lovely son named Michael, and accords to the Chinese saying “Little Emperor,” he is very independent, and also very supportive of his mother’s work. In the United States there are many women who do not work, but Michael always sees his mother working. One of Michael’s interests is playing chess, and he has received many high rankings; he can even be considered as one of the world’s young masters. With his mother’s encouragement, Michael is also studying Chinese, he has many good Chinese friends, and is growing up to be a young diplomat.

I am so happy and excited! I write this poem so I will remember this moment. (last line of Cao Cao poem)

Sidebars

Kamsky (Virginia Ann Kamsky)

Chairman and CEO of KAI, Chairman of the China Institute

Kamsky is a well-known advisor for American investment in China. In 1963, when she was only 10 years old, Kamsky’s mother encouraged her to begin studying Chinese. In 1978 she came to China as a representative of Chase Manhattan Bank, responsible for foreign commercial banking and credit contracts in China. She became a leader for Americans doing business in China, and she witnessed the historical normalization of diplomatic relations between the US and China. In 1980 she founded KAI (Kamsky Associates, Inc.), which was one of the earliest American companies to enter the Chinese market. In that same year was the beginning of a 20-year friendship with her “Chinese father,” Ji Chaozhu.

In addition to serving as the Chairman of Kamsky Associates Inc., Kamsky also holds several other posts, including member of the US Foreign Relations Committee, board member of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and council member of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. She is also an advisor for Americares, working for the past 10 years on rescue and humanitarian aid work, which has had a tremendous impact. Working with China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, the organization has provided USD $1 million worth of goods and materials to the victims of earthquakes and floods.

China Institute

The China Institute was jointly founded by the American philosopher John Dewey and “China’s Renaissance Man” Hu Shi in 1926. It is located in the east side of Manhattan in New York City, and it was the first non-profit organization focused on introducing China to the American public. They use education, cultural, business, and art programs to promote a deep understanding of China and they believe that intercultural understanding can help bring together the world community. China Institute’s education, cultural, and art programs have rich and varied topics, including Chinese language classes, art gallery tours and exhibitions, China tours and instructional workshops, painting and calligraphy classes, folk dancing and tai chi courses, as well as lectures relating to Chinese philosophy, history, literature, and society. China Institute’s Confucius Institute was officially opened by State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, and is dedicated to training Chinese teachers in the New York area.

KAI

Kamsky’s company KAI leads the world with its courageous spirit, and fulfills its promises to clients, having facilitated transactions in excess of USD $8 billion. In its 30 years of growth and expansion, Kamsky and her company maintain a flexible style, a keen sense of the market, and precise analysis and decisions. For foreign and domestic investments and related fields, they have successfully achieved many “firsts,” such as the first wholly foreign-owned enterprise, first establishment of a foreign-invested multi-purpose real estate development project, first attainment of an insurance license, first compensation trade mining venture, etc. The company’s philosophy is to open and develop companies, using adept specialized skill, rich business experience, and Chinese policy research to help domestic and foreign companies carry our cross-border investment, domestic and foreign M&A, and other areas providing a series of high-quality, detailed, reliable, comprehensive strategic consulting services. In recent years, along with the growing trend of Chinese investors “going out,” KAI has spared no effort in advancing Chinese enterprises’ proactive communication and exchange with western companies, providing pragmatic investment services for the Chinese side.

Win-Winning for High Stakes

by Annie Jonas

Flying high over Zhuhai on the maiden voyage of a four-seater private jet, Tracy Colgan suddenly felt the air pressure drop. As the plane plummeted down, non-functional oxygen masks popped out and as Colgan lip-read the pilot’s frantic (and un-printable) words, she was sure it was all over. But not for Tracy Colgan. The untimely instrument failure may have been the end of the pilot’s career, but for Colgan, things were just heating up on a career rife with risky adventures.

Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Tracy Colgan is not your typical business expat. Fueled by her interest in Chinese poetry and language, she was first exposed to China in 1987, when she was one of six language students sent to Beijing on a scholarship from Qantas. Intrigued by the “different planet” of 1980s Beijing, Colgan was hooked. She continued her language studies, eventually marrying a Chinese man and settling down in her beloved Beijing. Putting her Mandarin fluency to work, she began her career working part-time with the American boutique consulting firm KAI (then Kamsky Associates, Inc.), but was quickly elevated to full-time, high level work, and by age 28 she was running the Beijing office.

Specializing in strategic consulting and cross-border mergers & acquisitions, KAI quickly pushed Colgan into the heart of China’s rapidly developing business world. As the very first American advisory firm licensed to operate in China (in 1980), responsible for important precedents such as facilitating the establishment of the first wholly-foreign owned enterprise in China, KAI was the perfect place for Colgan to use what she knew and loved about Beijing to help bridge the gap for those who knew nothing about it. “The most important thing I’ve learned about doing business here,” she says, “is that any success has to be based on mutual benefit. Whether you are bargaining for RMB 20 wallets at Yaxiu market or negotiating billion-dollar deals, you have to find the win-win.” While this idea may seem pretty obvious in theory, when it comes to practice, Colgan has seen many China deals fall apart because one side failed to bring enough to the table.

Speaking of tables, Colgan remembers one case in which she employed a hard-line stretch-the-meeting-out-right-before-lunch technique to speed up a dragging negotiation process. It didn’t work out. Her counterparts took revenge by ordering the most stomach-defying array possible of shelled turtles and still-squirming sea critters for the delayed lunch. The transaction was doomed from there. On the other hand, when negotiating a joint venture between the People’s Bank of China and a foreign chemical company to design anti-counterfeit technology for the Chinese yuan, “everybody’s objectives converged, everybody benefited … it just worked,” she remembers triumphantly. Colgan admits it took seven years to get to that point, but understanding timing is another key ingredient in the mix – knowing when to be patient, and when to go for it.

According to Colgan, the global economic downturn is actually go-for-it time here in Beijing. While the rest of the world scrambles for cash, China still has plenty, and is looking for ways to spend it. “The trend of ‘going out’ is really picking up, and we’re working closely with some big Chinese investors to channel these funds into some exciting projects we wouldn’t have been able to do before.” But it’s time to think creatively, she advises, as many firms come to China, cap in hand, looking for funding after realizing China is the most (or only) profitable part of their business. Furthermore, in reaction to the growth of outgoing investment, correlating regulations are changing frequently. These are the kinds of moments that change the game, and you have to shift your thinking quickly to be ahead of that next curve and snag the best opportunities in China’s fast-changing business environment.

Providing creative solutions in those go-for-it moments is exactly what has made Colgan and KAI so successful, after all.

From breaking ground for foreign companies entering the market in the early days to looking for what new ground the financial downturn can offer, Colgan has learned that it can be those moments that scare you the most – where the risks are huge, where the ground is shifting beneath your feet, or the airplane plummeting thousands of feet in the air – that you really have a chance to be a pioneer.

(Published in The Insider’s Guide to Beijing 2010)