Daniel B. Wright

In 2010, Dan founded GreenPoint Group, which served as a trusted advisor to executives of the world’s leading corporations and non-profit organizations in China and was acquired by Ankura in 2023.  Before that, he was Senior Vice President and China practice head of a global strategy firm. He also served at the U.S. Treasury Department as Managing Director for China and the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), where he provided counsel to the Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson, Jr. for this Cabinet-level economic exchange with China.

At Treasury, Dan worked exclusively on China policy issues, developing and coordinating interagency strategies to achieve prioritized objectives with Cabinet-level Chinese agencies. He co-led the development of the U.S.-China Ten Year Energy and Environmental Cooperation Framework, designing outreach initiatives with key stakeholders in China’s government and private sector and their U.S. counterparts. He worked closely with the office of then-Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and her successor, Vice Premier Wang Qishan (counterparts to Secretary Paulson), since effective engagement and support from the Vice Premier’s office was a critical factor in reaching the breakthrough agreements associated with the Strategic Economic Dialogue.

Prior to his appointment, Dan was Vice President and Washington DC Office Director of the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), where he led the organization’s external relations with U.S. Congress, media, and think-tanks, and advised members of Congress and staff on Asia-related matters. He also designed and implemented policy-relevant programs in China and the U.S., including the national “Next Generation Leadership in Asian Affairs” fellowship program.  Dan also served as the Executive Director of the Hopkins-Nanjing Program of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), the premier educational joint-venture program between the U.S. and China.

Before that, Dan held a fellowship with the Institute of Current World Affairs, living in southwest China’s Guizhou Province and writing monthly reports from the perspective of grassroots societies in the country’s hinterland, with particular focus on governance and socioeconomic development issues. Prior to that, he worked as Manager of Asian Affairs for a Washington, DC consulting firm and began his professional career as a translator at the Foreign Language Bureau in Beijing.

Dan has been a visiting scholar at Qinghua University’s School of Public Policy and Management. He studied Chinese and Chinese Literature at Beijing University, the Beijing Foreign Language Institute, and the Beijing Languages Institute. He speaks frequently on China and has published two books: The Promise of the Revolution: Stories of Fulfillment and Struggle in China’s Hinterland (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003) and Wo Kan Zhongguo (China Through My Eyes), (published in Chinese by Guangxi Education Publishing House, 2000).

Dan is a member of the China Council of the Brookings Institution and a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He also serves on the Board of Directors for The John & Vera Mae Perkins Foundation and the United States Heartland China Association. He earned his PhD and MA from Johns Hopkins University SAIS, his MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary, and his BA from Vanderbilt University.

Dan is based in Washington, DC. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.