Sam Flemming
CEO/Founder
Sam is CIC’s tech bubble survivor, having worked with leading Chinese Internet players beginning in 1996.
As co-founder of CIC, Sam listens carefully to his CIC team members in developing the vision of CIC as the Internet Word of Mouth pioneer in China. Sam is considered as a thought leader for China’s IWOM development and has trained China’s leading marketing agencies and brands on the subject over the last few years. He is a frequent branding and marketing conference speaker and is often quoted in leading business media on the subject of how IWOM is impacting brands in China.
Prior to co-founding CIC, Sam was responsible for Corporate Communications and Business Development for Shanghai Huateng, a former joint venture of Tandem/Compaq Computers. While there, he initiated the launch of Chinapay.com (eventually purchased by China Union Pay) and developed strategic relationships with top international banks including Citibank and HSBC.
Sam holds a Master’s Degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA and a BA in Sociology and Religion from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. He is a native speaker of English, speaks Mandarin Chinese, and has lived in Shanghai for 8 years.
Sam’s blog can be found on http://www.seeisee.com/sam
Vennie Shen
Founder/CFO
Vennie is currently overseeing CIC’s finance, HR and administration with major focus on recruitment and creating CIC unique corporate culture.
As CIC’s China branding expert, Vennie has led various projects on IWOM research and marketing. Vennie also established the foundation for the major practices of CIC, leveraging her knowledge of the China online community and rich experiences in marketing and branding.
Prior to co-founding CIC, Vennie worked with FutureBrand (part of Interpublic Group; NYSE IPG) where as Brand Consultant she was responsible for overseeing mainland China projects as well as following up on new business leads. She has participated and managed brand strategy projects for leading brands in China covering industries such as automotive, FMCG, information technology, pharmaceutical, property development, telecom etc. With FutureBrand, she was involved in projects for Lenovo, China Telecom, eBay (China), dopod and Singapore Tourism Board.
Vennie also worked for Kodak for over 4 years, serving as Special Projects Investment consultant at the time of her departure. Vennie holds a Master’s Degree (MBA) from Aston Business School in Birmingham, England. She completed her undergraduate studies in international business at Lixin Finance & Accounting Institute in Shanghai. Currently, she is happily living with her lovely son, adorable dog, and great husband. Vennie speaks fluent Mandarin, English and Shanghainese.
Denis Yu (余敏玮)
Technical Director
Denis is technical director of CIC. He manages the technical team and makes sure all tech operational processes are being executed correctly and efficiently. He also has overseen the establishment and refinement of data collection software, data visualization and overall technical platform for supporting all text mining processes.
Prior to joining the company, Denis worked in the software industry for more than 7 years at MSD, a software development company based in Shanghai. As a technical director, he successfully directed overseas software projects for VIDINT, a remote video interview platform which is used to serve PBG (Pepsi Bottling Group), Kodak, JP Morgan and other Fortune 500 companies. He also managed software projects for American companies including Wellpoint Insurance, Trilogy Software, Multimedia Corporation, etc.
Prior to MSD, Denis worked with ANJIA, a Softbank and CHINA.COM invested e-commerce corporation where he contributed to the building of the core website from the ground up.
In addition to his superior management skills, Denis is an experienced programmer in Java, SQL, VC++, VB, HTML and other languages.
Denis is a computer science graduate of Shanghai Jiaotong University. He is fascinated with all kinds of high technology, loves 70s and 80s music and is CIC’s 2007 Ping Pong Champion. Denis speaks fluent Mandarin, English and Shanghainese.
Daisy Zhang
Client Service Director
Daisy is CIC’s market research specialist having worked with some of the most respected market research agencies in the world.
As Client Service Director, Daisy is leading analyst team to create more and more surprises by utilizing her comprehensive marketing and marketing research knowledge and experiences. She has further developed CIC’s methodologies and products as well as strengthened the analyst team. She has also contributed greatly to the development of the IWOM concept.
Before joining CIC, Daisy served as research manager at ACNielsen and Oracle Added Value (a WPP company), where she specialized in retail measurements and customized research. She was experienced in building up and training research team and led projects for multi-national companies covering industries such as food, beverage, nutrition, premium alcohol, household products, and financial products. She has worked with brands such as Coca-cola, S.C.Johnson, Yum!, Ferrero, Dumex, McDonalds, and Pepsico.
Daisy has also served as product and marketing manager for Bright Dairy, and account executive for J Walter Thompson.
Daisy graduated from Fudan University’s Business Administration department where she majored in marketing. She loves various new and excited things like Formula 1, football and Super Girl, which makes her life full of passion. Daisy speaks fluent Mandarin, English and Shanghainese.
|