Janice Febbraio

Janice has over 20 years’ experience in consulting and high-level business development in Asia Pacific. Her career started with Accenture as a management consultant and in 1999 she moved to Beijing to join an online marketing startup during the dot-com boom. Janice was credited with spearheading strategic change which led to profitability, three rounds of finance, and a three-fold increase in valuation at a time of sharp downward pressure in sector.

Janice then moved to Shanghai to head up the launch of international trade shows in China, bringing Chinese manufacturers into direct contact with international buyers. With a booth inventory exceeding 12000 and over 200 sales staff across 44 offices in China, Janice and her team magnified yoy sales growth by 37% and sales renewal by 70% within the second year of operation.

Janice then returned to consulting, advising international companies on their China market entry and growth strategies. Prior to repatriating to Australia she worked with the world’s leading art media group on bringing their portfolio of assets (consulting, advisory, magazines, websites) into Greater China.

Janice is currently based in Sydney and is now the Head of Strategic Partnerships at the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI). This new think tank, established by the University of Technology Sydney and led by former Foreign Minister of Australia and Premier of NSW Bob Carr, is dedicated to illuminating the increasingly important relationship between Australia and China in a positive and optimistic light.

Janice has built a deep network of corporate support for ACRI via its 22-member Chairman’s Council which includes HSBC, Qantas, Macquarie, PwC, Deloitte, Bank of China and China Construction Bank.

She also recently led a group of senior Australian journalists on a study tour of China to explore China’s new economy of services, consumption, pace-setting infrastructure and above all, China’s emergence as a middle income country. As the relationship between China and Australia becomes more complex, such programs are vital to help deepen bilateral understanding.