Board of Directors

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Founder & Chairman of HFSF (Utah)

As the grand nephew of Helen Foster Snow, Adam Foster is the founder of HFSF and is currently serving as Chairman of the Board. He also works for Adobe as a Talent Development Partner in Lehi, Utah. With an MBA, he has over 15 years experience leading teams in strategic planning, leadership development, and project management.

In 2022, Mr. Foster received a personal letter from President Xi Jinping encouraging HFSF to continue Helen’s bridge building efforts. He has strong relationships with the Chinese embassy in DC, as well as national and subnational leaders throughout China. As a trailblazer in US-China relations, and the torch-bearer of Helen’s remarkable legacy, he regularly appears in major Chinese media outlets representing HFSF. Mr. Foster also serves on the advisory board for the Helen Foster Snow Cultural Center at Southern Utah University.

Executive Director, Economic Bridge International (Utah)

With nearly 20 years of experience working in and with China, Dan lived and worked in Beijing for 9 years. Educated at the University of Utah and Tsinghua University, Dan has extensive on the ground experience in China, starting several small businesses and leading cultural and educational exchange programs between China and several other countries.

Dan has organized pioneering Music and Corporate Events on the Great Wall of China, assisted Ambassadors, former Prime Ministers, US Senators, Fortune 500 Companies and Olympic teams in creating strategic relationships in China, and has moderated discussions between Chinese business leaders and Nobel Prize Economists, US companies and State government officials. 

For over a decade, his company Economic Bridge has assisted US and Chinese companies & institutions with strategic advisory, government relations and consulting services.

In addition to being a strong advocate for Chinese language learning in the US, Dan also worked for the State of Utah’s Spike 150 Commission in 2019 and played a key role in organizing the largest delegation of Chinese government and business leaders to ever visit Utah, and Co-organized (with WTC Utah) the 2019 Utah-China Trade and Investment Forum. Dan has organized multiple Utah government trade & diplomatic missions to China, relying on an extensive network within & knowledge of the Chinese government. 

Dan has acted as an informal advisor for Utah government leaders engaging with China, and crafted strategic communications for Utah State government to Chinese Government, as well as preparing China-related Legislative Proclamations and speeches for Utah’s Governor and several Utah Legislative Leaders.

Dan has served as a past advisory board member for the National Chinese Language Conference, and has been an invited speaker at events co-hosted by US Dept of State & Chinese Embassy in DC, and at Asia Society, among others.

President, Frank Property Management (Washington)

A graduate from BYU, majoring in Construction Management, Mr. Frank has worked professionally in construction and development for almost 20 years.  As President of Frank Property Management, he began investing in real estate 12 years ago and owns/manages a portfolio of 74 units across single family, vacation, mobile home and RV parks.  He is also an active developer, currently finishing construction on a 75 unit single and multi-family neighborhood.

As part of his nonprofit work, Mr. Frank led a team in Haiti for 5 years constructing a 6,000 sf greenhouse, running a lettuce farm, and remodeling 2 large homes for an orphanage of 20 children. Tyler is Helen Foster Snow’s grandnephew and lives in Washington state.

English Professor, Northwest University in Xi’an, HFS Scholar (Xi’an)

Minna Gao has been teaching English at Northwest University since 2003. She is a council member of the Translators Association of China and secretary general of Shaanxi Translators Association. Minna Gao was a Helen Foster Snow visiting scholar at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah from early 2019 to the summer of 2020. During her visit in Cedar City, she initiated and organized the Helen Foster Snow Day Celebration in 2019, which attracted media attention from national newspapers in China. Her fundraising effort for the Helen Foster Snow Day event also resulted in the dedication of a metal bust of Helen to SUU and donation of the Helen Foster Snow and Modern China Collection to SUU library from Beijing. During her visit to Utah, she also worked with Dr. Peter Chan from BYU on the Helen Foster Snow online course project as a content provider. 

With over 20 years’ experience serving at Chinese NGOs such as the Edgar and Helen Snow Studies Center, Minna Gao has been a major participant and organizer of important events and activities honoring Helen Foster Snow and promoting her legacy in China, which include international conferences, seminars, national translation award competitions, translation and publication of Helen’s works, development of sister city relationships at the sub-national level, and education programs helping to narrow urban-rural disparities. 

For over a decade, Minna Gao has also been an active participant and advocate of the Shaanxi Literature Overseas Translation program, which aims to help the world understand modern China through literature. 

CEO, Economic Bridge International (Shanghai)

Mr. Wang oversees HFSF activities and operations in China. He is the founding partner and CEO of Economic Bridge International Consultants Ltd. , and a co-founder of China's top social media company CCPower (Socialmedia.cn) and China's leading K-12 STEM education company UBGenius Education.

William is a proven go-to person for adding value to China-US cooperation between governments, businesses and institutions. He has served clients including some of the most successful western brands (Danone, Porsche, DNV, etc.) and many other small and medium size companies seeking Chinese cooperation. He has facilitated China cooperation and communications for world government and business leaders. 

On the China side, through his partnership with over 250 Chinese economic zones, Mr. Wang has helped Chinese companies, governments and cultural institutions to better work with partners from abroad. His deep understanding of the Chinese government and business systems, best business practices in China and US, and cultural sensitivity has made him a favorite facilitator for both US and Chinese business, government and cultural leaders.

William is a council member of China Friendship Foundation For Peace And Development and Jiangxi People's Association Of Friendship With Foreign Countries,  and a member of China Democratic National Construction Association. He is also a regular speaker of China Investment Association's Forum of Leaders of Emerging Industries.

William graduated with a masters of engineering from the Institution of Computer Science and Technology of Shanghai University. During his university studies, he also worked as an interpreter for the US Consulate in Shanghai and assisted in facilitating US-China communication for many important diplomatic events.

Director of China Strategy, Microsoft (Washington)

Jared Andersen has spent most of his 18-year career growing incubation technology businesses in China—spanning AR/VR, mobile apps, PC hardware, search, digital marketing platforms, and cloud services. He also spent four years living in Beijing, where he set up Microsoft's cloud services in China. In 2015 and 2016, he was the speechwriter for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Jared has always been passionate about the role technology plays in how we live, work, and play. He has a master's degree in Information Systems Management and a BA in Business Management from Brigham Young University. He learned Mandarin while growing up in Hong Kong and studied it further at Nanjing University. Jared currently lives in Seattle, Washington. In his spare time, he enjoys restoring and colorizing historical black-and-white photographs and writing.

Sales Operations and Qualifications Manager, ASEA, Executive Secretary of the Board (Utah)

Tanner Bennett is the global sales operations and qualifications manager at ASEA, LLC. His responsibilities include overseeing global sales operations and developing an automated fraud identification program for the organization.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Bennett has helped develop and worked on projects for multiple non-profit organizations including Hope4Utah, the Wonderment, 4 of Hearts, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. His experience in non-profit work and non-profit development was instrumental in helping HFSF become a fully recognized and registered 501(c)(3). Tanner’s drive and passion for non-profit work was developed early on and solidified during his LDS mission to Taichung, Taiwan where he became interested in finding ways to build bridges between the Chinese and American people.

Tanner is currently working on a degree in political science with an emphasis in international relations and diplomacy from Brigham Young University and is an active participant in the DLNSEO Chinese Flagship Program.