Brian Shipley joined the Embassy of Canada’s Trade Policy section in 2018, working on files including intellectual property rights, competition policy, and nuclear cooperation. Prior to Beijing, his previous foreign service assignments abroad were at the Consulate General of Canada in Minneapolis, USA, and at the Embassy of Canada in Seoul, Korea. He joined Global Affairs Canada in 2007, after working in the history of science and technology. He studied at Dalhousie University, the University of Toronto, and McMaster University.

Karrolyn Van Helden is Vice-Consul and Trade Commissioner at the Consulate General of Canada in Shanghai. She joined Global Affairs Canada in 2009 as a Foreign Service Officer. Currently she is responsible for a team of Trade Commissioners serving Canadian businesses in cleantech, oceantech, infrastructure, forestry, and mining. Thematically she is responsible for Women in Business, Responsible Business Conduct and Indigenous Rights.

Her previous roles include supporting the Invest in Canada Bureau on the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and Shanghai World Expo projects and in Trade Policy supporting the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement negotiations. Prior to government, she worked in Amsterdam at ABN AMRO and in Toronto at AMEX. She graduated from the Ivey School of Business at Western University.