Joann has over 25 years of experience in intellectual property protection. She specializes in the implementation of IP enforcement programs in the fields of manufacturing, engineering, procurement, production, distribution management, marketing and other related aspects.

Prior to joining East IP, Joann was the Vice President of one of China’s largest IP service providers, which provided IP protection services to more than 600 well-known international and Chinese brands, dealing with more than 3,000 administrative cases and more than 500 criminal cases yearly.

Joann also worked for six years with the investigation and security consulting company, Pinkerton, as the deputy manager. She subsequently joined General Motors China where she acted as Brand Protection Manager from 2003-2012, with responsibilities for establishing the overall brand protection strategy and implementing brand protection initiatives with GM business units and its joint venture partners in China.

Joann also played a key leadership role within the Quality Brand Protection Committee (QBPC). In addition to being heavily involved in the QBPC Automotive Industry Working Group, Joann was elected to three consecutive tenures as the Chair of the Best Practices and Enforcement Committee (BPEC) in which role she took the lead in building effective cross communication between rights holders and all levels of Chinese government and legal enforcement in administrative and judicial protection.