Kimberly Kirkendall, President, MCST (a division of IRD):

Location: Cleveland, OH, USA

Kimberly holds a B.S./B.A. in International Business with a Chinese minor from The Ohio State University. She attended the Beijing Language Institute (now Beijing Language and Culture University) and holds an Accounting degree from Akron University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Kimberly's career has more than 25 years of experience with international development, manufacturing, and operations. During that time she managed factories for an American company in China, was General Manager of an export firm in Hong Kong, and later moved to California where she directed the international manufacturing, importing, and costing programs for a major gift company. This was followed by over five years in accounting, finance, and management consulting, first at a large regional CPA firm and then with her own firm, International Resource Development (IRD). She also is an advisor to many government, non-profit, and privately held companies and a regarded speaker for various organizations. She is the founder of a non-profit to promote Chinese Language Education in the US.

Kimberly's day-to-day role for MCST is to serve as head U.S. liaison and maintain connectivity with a company's American headquarters and core staff. Her focus includes coordinating all overall plans with the clients to define project scope and manage deliverables. She also oversees the in-depth marketing studies and is responsible for cultural and operational workplace training seminars.

Eric McGraw, Vice-President, MCST:
Location: Shanghai, China

Eric is a 2002 graduate of Arizona State University with a B.A. Public Relations. He completed a M.A. in Communication/Conflict Resolution at The Ohio State University and then studied Chinese at Wuhan University. He has more than 5 years of experience on the ground in China with customers and businesses.

Eric's focus is bridging the gap between American corporate ideas and expectations and those of a company's Chinese counterparts to produce the most positive working environment. With Chinese speaking, reading and writing ability, he can quickly build and enhance trust with potential customers and partners, wherever they are in China.

Eric's day-to-day responsibilities include regular interaction with clients' China departments to reinforce a company's action plan or strategy and provide any backup support to the client's China sales team, be it in day-to-day office functions, sales training, sales calls, formal meetings, and media events. Through this experience he has compiled an extensive list of marketing resources to carry out both marketing and media campaigns. He also has created and managed market research teams to thoroughly assess a particular market's strengths and opportunities. At industry trade shows, Eric can manage trade show participation or qualify potential vendors and business partners.