Sourcing from China in an age of uncertainty

Speaker

Jay Foreman

Jay is an accomplished toy industry veteran and businessman with over three decades of experience. His accomplishments include being a founding member of Play By Play, in the early 90’s, culminating in a successful IPO in 1995. He later went on to work for Galoob Toys, where he created the Spice Girls doll line in 1997. In 1999, he co-founded Play Along Toys, selling it to JAKKS Pacific in 2004. Prominent lines included Britney Spears dolls and toys, the successful re-launches of both Care Bears and Cabbage Patch Kids, Hannah Montana dolls and toys, and Doodle Bear. In 2009 he founded The Bridge Direct, which had a variety of popular toy lines from classics like Strawberry Shortcake, Mini Arcade Games, Fisher-Price Classics, and Lite-Brite, to on-trend entertainment licenses including Justin Bieber dolls and The Hobbit action figures. In 2017, the company purchased Uncle Milton and shortly after merged with Tech4Kids, later rebranding to become the fast-growing company now known as Basic Fun! In 2018, Basic Fun! acquired K'NEX and Playhut. Basic Fun! is the licensee for some of the industry's biggest classic brands including TONKA, Pound Puppies and Care Bears, and has created proprietary brands such as Cutetitos. Jay has sat on the board of directors of the Toy Association, as well as Licensing International, and currently is chairman of the Toy Association’s trade show committee which manages all the TA’s trade shows and events, including New York Toy Fair.

Speaker

Craig Allen

On July 26, 2018, Craig Allen began his tenure as the sixth President of the United States-China Business Council (USCBC), a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization representing over 200 American companies doing business with China. Prior to joining USCBC, Craig had a long, distinguished career in US public service. His last government position was as US Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam (December 2014–July 2018). Before that, Craig served in Washington as Deputy Assistant Secretary for China (2012–2014) in the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA), and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia (2010–2012). 

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Host

Christopher Marquis

Chris Marquis is the Sinyi Professor of Chinese Management at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. Prior to joining Cambridge, he worked at Cornell and for 10 years at Harvard Business School and has held visiting professorships at Harvard Kennedy School, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Peking University, Fudan University, and Shanghai Jiaotong University. Marquis’ current teaching and research examines how the interaction between corporations, governments and civil society lead to socially and environmentally beneficial outcomes, with a particular focus on China. In the fall of 2022 will publish a new book titled Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise that examines the unique form of entrepreneurship and market development that has occurred in China over the last 40 years. He received a PhD in sociology and business administration from the University of Michigan.

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