Virginia Kamsky's passion for China has propelled her success in global business and the boardroom.

PositionMY FIRST BOARD

Ed. Note: Virginia Kamsky is founder, chairman and CEO of Kamsky Associates Inc. (KAI), a strategic advisory firm focused on investment into China byforeign enterprises and China's deployment of assets overseas. Beginning her corporate life as a banker with Chase Manhattan, she established her own firm in 1980 -- a big year, because that year KAI became one of the first 20 American corporations licensed by the Chinese government to establish an office in Beijing. It was also the first approved foreign advisory firm in China. She has structured and executed billions of dollars in transactions on behalf of her firm and its clients, and has been eagerly sought out as a corporate director. Currently she is a director of auto component supplier Dana Holding Corp. and consumer products maker Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. Past director-ships have included W.R. Grace & Co., Sealed Air Corp., Olin Corp., and several other industrial and manufacturing companies. Since 2003 Kamsky, age 58, has also served as chairman and CEO of the China Institute in America, the oldest not-for-profit U.S. organization devoted to the U.S.-China relationship. She travels frequentlyto China and other countries in Asia, but Directors & Boards Directors Roster Editor Kelly McCarthy connected with Kamsky by telephone at her Park Avenue office in New York earlier this year to learn more about her deep -- and early -- passion for China and how that led to her entry into the corporate board world.

As told to Kelly McCarthy

My career as a board director was launched when Bill Bowen, president of Princeton University when I was a student there, asked me to join the board of trustees of the university. I got a chance to serve with some amazing people, including John Weinberg of Goldman Sachs, John McGillicuddy of Manufacturers Hanover, and Malcolm Forbes. I served two consecutive terms, from 1988-1992, and was on the finance committee, where we were working with an endowment of $2.6 billion. Bill himself was a great director, having been on the boards of both American Express Co. and Merck & Co. I learned a lot from him. It was an invaluable experience.

During that time, Peter Grace asked me to be a consultant to W.R. Grace & Co. and help build the company's businesses in China. I built the first Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE) for Grace before WFOEs were even allowed in China. I went on to build several other businesses for Grace before Peter then asked me to join the...

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