IHS World Economic Outlook Seminar

Rajiv Biswas

Chief Economist – Asia-Pacific, IHS

Rajiv Biswas, Senior Director and Asia Chief Economist at IHS, is responsible for coordination of economic analyses and forecasts for the Asia-Pacific region, contribution to the IHS global forecast, client support, business development and media interaction.

Mr. Biswas previously worked as Director for South-East Asia for The Economist Group. Prior to this, he worked for UBS as Executive Director for Asia-Pacific Country Risk and before that as Director and Senior Economist for International Public Policy and Group Economic Research covering the Asia-Pacific region. His experience has also included working for an international organization, the Commonwealth Secretariat, in their London headquarters, as a senior economist in the International Capital Markets Department.

His professional career as an international economist also includes the roles of Head of the Economics Unit for QIC, a large investment fund manager, and an international economist for the Royal Bank of Scotland. Rajiv also worked for one year in Japan on trade and investment issues for the Japanese government.

Rajiv is a graduate of the London School of Economics, with a BS (Honors) in Economics and received his MS and DIC from the Imperial College at London University.

Rajiv has published widely on a range of economic, trade and investment-related topics, with over 100 published articles.

Tony Nash

Managing Director, IHS Consulting Asia

Tony Nash, Managing Director of IHS Consulting in Asia, has overseen projects across the public- and private-sector industry spectrum. His experience includes technology, media, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, construction, financial services, consumer, education, automotive and energy. He is a frequent speaker and facilitator of strategic discussions with business and government leaders who regularly appears in global media, such as BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera.

Mr. Nash’s project experience includes building economic development and regulatory strategies for Asia’s leading economies, creating forecasting scenarios of consumer goods sectors in China’s local markets, market entry analysis and implementation plans for specialized construction products and EPC services across Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia, Russia and South Africa, risk analysis for long term energy investments in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and western Africa, negotiating frameworks for bilateral free trade and environmental agreements, and benchmarking city-level and national competitiveness of technology, financial services and other industry sectors across developed and developing markets.

Mr. Nash holds a BA in business management from Texas A&M University and a Master's degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Scott Hazelton

Managing Director, IHS Global Construction Services

Scott Hazelton, Managing Director, IHS Global Construction Services, is a senior principal in the IHS Global Insight Business Planning and Strategy practice and is responsible for the IHS Global Insight global, US national and state and metro construction forecasts and for directing the application of these forecasts to client-specific situations. He brings 25 years of experience in econometric modeling and data analysis to his clients' business solutions.

Mr. Hazelton began his career as a housing economist for Data Resources, a predecessor of IHS Global Insight. In addition to forecasting, he was the product manager for software tools for economists. After ten years, he moved to WEFA—another IHS Global Insight predecessor—as a consultant working extensively in the areas of industrial materials and consumer credit. He joined IHS Global Insight in 2001 and launched what has become the Construction Service in 2002.

Hazelton holds a BA with highest honors in economics from Bates College.

Alistair Thornton

Senior China Analyst, IHS Global Insight China Regional Service

Thornton is a Beijing-based Analyst at IHS, within the Global Economics team. He is responsible for macroeconomic analysis of China, both at national and provincial level, and contributes to the China Regional Service. Prior to joining IHS, Thornton was an East Asia Risk Analyst at a British political risk firm and a contributor for the Economist Intelligence Unit. Thornton holds Masters degrees from the University of Edinburgh and University of Sydney, and speaks Mandarin.

Xianfang Ren

Senior China Analyst, IHS Global Insight China Regional Service

Ren is a Beijing-based Senior Analyst in the Global Economics and Country Risk Group, contributing to the China research of the China Regional Service and the Country Analysis and Forecasting Service. Ren has extensive experience in the analysis of China’s economic, policy and regulatory developments. Ren holds an MA in international trade and investment policy from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University.

Xizhou Zhou

Director, IHS CERA

Xizhou Zhou, Director, IHS CERA, leads the IHS CERA China Energy practice and specializes in gas and power market fundamentals and policy analysis. Based in Beijing, Mr. Zhou is a core member of the IHS energy research and consulting team in Asia.

Mr. Zhou is the author of numerous IHS CERA reports and has managed a variety of consulting engagements. His latest research includes contributing to the IHS CERA Multiclient Study Unconventional Frontier exploring the future of shale gas and coalbed methane outside North America, as well as leading the analysis on the causes and likelihood of future power shortages in China and the implications for the wider energy markets.

Prior to joining IHS CERA Mr. Zhou was a consultant engaged in regulatory and energy economics projects at Industrial Economics, Inc. in Boston. Earlier in his career he was a research analyst at the World Resources Institute in Washington, DC, where he focused on energy and transportation in developing Asia and Latin America. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese and proficient in Spanish, Mr. Zhou holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Environmental Management degrees from Yale University.

Xizhou Zhou, Director, IHS CERA, was named in the Forbes ’30 Under 30’ Energy Category.

Akira Minamikawa

Vice President of Japanese Research, Principal Analyst, IHS iSuppli

At IHS iSuppli, Akira Minamikawa is responsible for the management of all Japanese research in addition to acting as a senior director and principal analyst. Minamikawa was previously the president and founder of the well-respected Japanese research firm Data Garage. Data Garage was acquired by iSuppli in November 2006. Prior to establishing Data Garage, Minamikawa was the head of the technology research department and senior analyst for the brokerage firm CLSA Securities. Minamikawa also served as the director of semiconductor research at IDC Japan and the senior analyst for semiconductors at Gartner/Dataquest Japan.

Minamikawa is a regular speaker at events held by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) and Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), and is frequently cited by publications including Semiconductor Industry News and Nikkei Electronics.  He is also a member of the technical examination committee for automotive semiconductors for Japan’s Patent Office and a member of the FeRAM evaluation committee at the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japan's largest public R&D management organization. Minamikawa also is a regular writer for the E-Journal, Nikkei Tech ON and other semiconductor industry publications.

He received his Electrical Engineering degree from the Musashi Institute of Technology.