World renowned business leader, economist, and distinguished alumnus Yuwa Hedrick-Wong ’71 will be welcomed back to Trent University as the 2016 alumnus-in-residence thanks to a partnership between the Office of Alumni Affairs and Otonabee College.

As the 2016 alumni-in-residence, hosted by Otonabee College, Mr. Hedrick-Wong will return to his alma mater from February 28 to March 2, 2016 and will lead a number of opportunities to speak with students and members of the Trent and Peterborough communities, including the annual Harry Kitchen Lecture in Public Policy.

“We are so pleased to have Yuwa back to Trent, and Peterborough, as alumnus-in-residence for 2016,” said Lee Hays, director of Alumni Affairs. “As the global economic advisor to MasterCard Worldwide, Yuwa is a sought-after advisor and speaker on international economies and strategic business matters. Interestingly, his main field of study when he was a student at Trent was Philosophy, which he says provided him with his unique perspective in business.”   

During his time at Trent, Mr. Hedrick-Wong will also deliver the Harry Kitchen Lecture in Public Policy. His lecture, Re-Imagining the Global Economic Future: Inclusive Growth as Democratizing Productivity, will be held on Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. in the First Peoples Gathering Space, Gzowski College. The annual lecture series, which began in 2007 upon the retirement of Dr. Harry Kitchen from Trent’s Department of Economics, has featured a number of high-profile speakers over the years and is intended to reflect Professor Kitchen’s strong research commitment to economic policy in Canada.

“I am excited about coming back to Trent because I attribute much of what I have been able to do in my work to the incredibly enriching experience at Trent that I enjoyed as a student,” says Mr. Hedrick-Wong. “It was the most vibrant, stimulating and intimate intellectual atmosphere that I have experienced anywhere.”

Mr. Hedrick-Wong is currently chief economist and chair of the Academic Advisory Council at MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth, as well as global economic advisor, MasterCard Worldwide. Prior to his global role, he was Economic Advisor to MasterCard in Asia/Pacific, Middle East, and Africa from 2001 to 2009. He has He has served as economic strategist and advisor to over fifty leading multinational companies, advised executives and boards of over 100 leading international businesses, and has delivered key note addresses at various prestigious business conferences around the world.  He is a regular commentator interviewed on CNBC, BBC World, CNN, CCTV (China), CBN (Shanghai), BTV (Beijing), Channel News Asia, Bloomberg Forum and many others.

The alumni-in-residence program began at Trent in 1999 as a collaboration between Colleges and Alumni Affairs to provide a venue for inviting outstanding alumni of the college back to campus to share experiences with the Trent community. Through this program, distinguished alumni have the opportunity to contribute to the student experience, provide insights to strengthen academic preparation of students, and to reconnect to their alma mater.

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