Our Team

Meet the staff

ICLEI East Asia consists staff with good command of English, Mandarin and Korean,
and equipped with knowledge on urban sustainability.

Shu Zhu

Regional Director & China Representative

Shu Zhu

Regional Director & China Representative

Shu has extensive experience in sustainable development and regional cooperation. Previously, he held leadership position at the UNDP Secretariat for Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI), an intergovernmental economic cooperation mechanism between China, Mongolia, Korea and Russian Federation. He was also a journalist and editor at the People’s Daily and a senior manager at Telstra.

Areas of Expertise / regional economic cooperation; sustainable development; media and communications

Languages / Chinese; English

Konrad Otto-Zimmermann

Senior Advisor and Founding Director

Konrad Otto-Zimmermann

Senior Advisor and Founding Director

Konrad is the former Secretary General of ICLEI (2002-2012), and has guided the development and implementation of ICLEI’s 8 agendas globally. Prior to this he held leading positions at ICLEI Europe, the City of Freiburg, Germany, the Federal Environmental Agency in Berlin, Germany, and the "Black Forest" Environmental Management Project

Areas of Expertise / Urban sustainability and resilience; ecological building; EcoMobility; international organizations management

Languages / German; English

Merlin Lao

Senior Program Manager

Merlin Lao

Senior Program Manager

Before joining ICLEI, Merlin had 4 years experience working for the Environmental Protection Bureau of Macau SAR, during which he was dedicated in the first ten-year environmental planning of the city and its compliance on international environmental conventions. He has also developed his expertise on GHG accounting and management by working with RESET Carbon Hong Kong, and with other institutes in the UK.

Areas of Expertise / Urban environmental planning; international environmental conventions; GHG accounting; project management; policy research

Languages / Cantonese; Chinese; English

Ge Liu

Strategy Manager

Ge Liu

Strategy Manager

Ge oversees the Secretariat’s strategic planning aligned with ICLEI's global strategy. She is responsible for developing partnerships, and identifying new opportunities and resources for ICLEI's development in East Asia. Ge has been deeply engaged in ICLEI’s development in China, including the establishment of the Beijing Office. Before joining ICLEI, Ge accumulated extensive experiences working in international organizations and research institutes.

Areas of Expertise / East Asia regional cooperation; external relations and partnership building; strategy development; sustainable development

Languages / Chinese; English; Korean

Eunkyung Oh

Regional Administrator

Eunkyung Oh

Regional Administrator

Eunkyung is a dispatched from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and is responsible for office management, governance and human recourse. She has 30 years experience working with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and has been involved in various fields of the city government.

Areas of Expertise / International Relations ; Bicycle and Tourism Policy

Languages / Korean; English

Sin Yi (Beatrice) Chng

Program Manager

Sin Yi (Beatrice) Chng

Program Manager

Beatrice specialises in sustainable urban mobility and integrated urban system. Before joining ICLEI East Asia, she worked at the ICLEI World Secretariat in implementing sustainable mobility and logistics projects. She also worked at Ramboll Malaysia, consulting multinationals and national governments in the Asia Pacific in sustainability, carbon reporting, climate mitigation and adaptation.

Areas of Expertise / Sustainable mobility, Integrated urban systems, Strategy and tools developments

Languages / English; Chinese; Malay

Samhee Han

Financial Officer

Samhee Han

Financial Officer

Samhee is a secondee dispatched from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and is responsible for the financial management of ICLEI East Asia.

Areas of Expertise / Budget; accounting

Languages / Korean; English

Yu-Ting Chang

Senior Communication Officer

Yu-Ting Chang

Senior Communication Officer

Yu-Ting is responsible for ICLEI East Asia's corporate communications, urban research and knowledge management. She manages various online platforms and social media channels, designs and creates communication products to promote ICLEI's work regionally and globally. She also manages the research and development of ICLEI case studies. Before joining ICLEI East Asia, she worked for a local non-governmental organization in Taipei.

Areas of Expertise / Journalism; web and social media management; publication management

Languages / Chinese; English

Xuan Xie

Program Officer

Xuan Xie

Program Officer

Xuan Xie has gained work experience from diverse sectors in East Asia, Europe, and Latin America. He started his career at UNESCO. He was a sponsored trainee on Man and Biosphere (MaB) Program at UNESCO Montevideo, where he worked on biodiversity conservation, resilience building, and climate change adaptation. He also did internships at UNIDO, Carbon Trust, and Swerock.

Areas of Expertise / Regional Cooperation, Sustainable development, Policy research

Languages / Chinese; English

Yeajee Kim

Program Officer

Yeajee Kim

Program Officer

Yeajee has academic and work experience in climate change and sustainable development. While studying for an M.A. in Political Science, she joined a training program organized by the Korean Ministry of Environment and had an internship at the UNFCCC Secretariat. After graduation, she has also worked at the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Institute of Forest Science.

Areas of Expertise / Climate change, Sustainable development, International relations

Languages / Korean; English

Yujin Lee

Young Professional

Yujin Lee

Young Professional

Yujin, currently majoring in International Studies, has academic experience in international development and regional cooperation. She has experience living in Beijing and Hong Kong. While studying in Beijing, she has conducted a research related to gentrification and urban stress in hutongs. She also led an education service group in Beijing for local Chinese children.

Areas of Expertise / Regional cooperation; international development

Languages / Chinese; Korean; English

Youde Tang

Program Manager

Youde Tang

Program Manager

Youde has over fifteen years’ experience in sustainable development in Southwest China. He worked in different international organizations in which he on behalf the organization to coordinate with local government. As an International Ford Foundation Fellowship scholar, he studied the sustainable international development in Brandeis University between 2011-2013.

Areas of Expertise / Sustainable livelihood; sustainable development; nature Education and culture heritage

Languages / Chinese; English

Jingning Liu

Program Officer

Jingning Liu

Program Officer

Before joining ICLEI, Jingning worked as Project Officer in the government of Shenzhen Guangming Dist. and Nanning Liangqing Dist, where she eveloped expertise in policy research and analysis related to energy, technology and climate change mitigation. She also has experience in governmental investment projects management and administration.

Areas of Expertise / Energy, technology and climate policies; policy research and analysis; project management; administrative management

Languages / Chinese; English

Linlin Wang

Operation Officer & Assistant to Chief Representative

Linlin Wang

Operation Officer & Assistant to Chief Representative

Before joining ICLEI, Linlin had worked in an international non-government organization for almost 10 years, where she was mainly responsible for the overall office operation and administration including finance, human resources, legal affairs, and general office management and program administration. She is very familiar with the international NGO management philosophy and operation mode.

Areas of Expertise / Office operation and management; Human resource

Languages / Chinese; English

Guyu (Kelly) Dai

Program Officer

Guyu (Kelly) Dai

Program Officer

Kelly has a transdiciplinary academic background in both social science and sustainability research. She holds a Master degree from the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, where she was engaged in various community climate action and sustainable urban food system projects, and has gained expertise from community work in the Pearl River Delta region. Kelly has a keen interest in sustainable transition in developing countries especially China.

Areas of Expertise / Sustainability science; Scoail-ecological development; policies and governance

Languages / Chinese; English; Swedish; Cantonese

Lavinna Jin

Program Officer

Lavinna Jin

Program Officer

Lavinna has experience in private sector engagement. She has interdisciplinary academic background in business and environment. Previously, she worked as a project manager in a consulting firm, covered different themes in relation to SDGs. Her responsibility includes making/adjusting strategy, project design and management, research and reporting. She is also experienced in delivering effective communications.

Areas of Expertise / CSR (Corporate social responsibility); project management; public–private partnership

Languages / Chinese；English；Korean

Yi Jiang

Project Coordinator

Yi Jiang

Project Coordinator

Jiang Yi has experience of international projects and Chinese public grants management. Previously, she held position of research coordination and administration management at the Center for Mountain Futures. She has developed an extensive network in the field of ecology research, agriculture, development and sustainability. Also she has been actively working on gender equality and sensitization for university students and professionals.

Areas of Expertise / ecology; sustainable development; gender

Languages / Chinese；English

Xiajie Li

Project Coordinator

Xiajie Li

Project Coordinator

Since graduating from Paris Dauphine University with a master degree in sustainable development in 2010, Xiajie has accumulated over 10 years of professional experience working in enterprises and NGOs focusing on sustainable development, environmental protection, climate change and biodiversity issues.

Areas of Expertise / sustainable development; ecological protection

Languages / Chinese；English; French