Dr. Robert Kapp
USCPF Boardmember
Robert A. Kapp is president of Robert A. Kapp & Associates, Inc., Port Townsend, Washington, USA. The firm provides consulting services to companies pursuing business development with, and in, the People's Republic of China.
From April, 1994 to November, 2004, Dr. Kapp served as president of The US-China Business Council. Founded in 1973, the Council is the principal organization of American companies and industries engaged in trade and investment with China, and is supported by several hundred leading U.S. corporations and firms. In addition to guiding the business services, publications, and program activities of the US-China Business Council through its Washington, DC headquarters and its Beijing and Shanghai representative offices, Dr. Kapp contributed regularly to informed U.S. dialogue on China, through Congressional testimony, published articles, frequent media appearances, and presentations to educational and community organizations nationwide. He has been widely recognized in the United States and China as a leader in the effort to sustain strong, mutually respectful relations between the two nations. His work also led him to the field of Corporate Social Responsibility, and he was the initiator of The US-China Legal Cooperation Fund, a corporate-supported program bringing assistance to worthy bi-national projects in the area of development of China’s legal system.
Dr. Kapp received his Ph.D. in modern Chinese history from Yale University, and from 1970 to 1980 was on the history faculties of Rice University (Houston, Texas) and the University of Washington (Seattle). From 1979 to 1987 he was the founding executive director of the Washington State China Relations Council, and from 1987 to 1994 he served as president of the Washington Council on International Trade, a trade information and education association primarily concerned with trade policy issues.
From 1986 to 1991, Dr. Kapp was Lecturer at the University Of Washington, School Of Business Administration, where he received a distinguished teaching award. He has published a number of scholarly studies in modern Chinese history. He also served as editor of The Journal of Asian Studies, a leading scholarly publication, from 1978 to 1980.
Dr. Kapp is China Program Advisor for The Asia Foundation, a leading nongovernmental organization headquartered in San Francisco. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and the Advisory Board of The China Economic Quarterly. He is a member of Gerson Lehrman Group's Policy & Economics Council, whose members offer advice to mutual and hedge fund analysts studying Asian markets. He is also a member of the World Affairs Council, and received that organization's World Citizen Award in 1994. He and his wife Catherine live in Port Townsend, Washington.