Nancy J. Li is the Founder and President of Easton Resource Development, Inc., an education consulting and public relations firm in Houston. Her Houston centered commitments to public service include the following organizations:
- Chair of the Board, the US-China Peoples Friendship Association-Houston Chapter
- Council Member, Houston Mayor’s Office for International Trade and Affairs
- Trustee, Holocaust Museum and Foundation Board
- Director, China’s Qiqihar City Municipal Government USA Office
- Official Representative of China’s Hainan Provence Commerce Department
- Council Member, Heilongjiang China’s Provincial Association of International Exchange of Personnel
- Director, China Qiqihar University USA Office
- Senior Consultant, Tianjin Normal University, China
- Professor, Qiqihar University
- Honorary Deputy Sheriff, Harris County
Nancy was born and educated in north China. She worked there for seven years as an Associate Professor with Qiqihar University and later for the Westlake Group headquartered in Houston. In February 1996, she settled down in Houston and in 1997 established Easton Resource Development.
Her move to Houston afforded her opportunities for active involvement and community leadership. From 2006 to 2010, she was the first mainland Chinese elected President of the US-China Peoples Friendship Association-Houston Chapter. During her presidency, she created the Friendship Ambassador Awards to annually honor two distinguished individuals who have contributed to improved understanding and cooperation between the United States and China. She also created the Student Ambassador Scholarship to encourage young Americans to learn more about China.
Through her company, she regularly organizes and coordinates leadership training programs for Chinese government officials and industry executives to learn more about American businesses and universities. She also designs customized learning programs and study abroad opportunities for Chinese and American high school and college students attending Rice University, Texas Southern University, University of St. Thomas, and other colleges and universities. She has also been instrumental in developing exchanges and ties among Chinese educators, experts and officials with American executives and academic institutions. In December of 2012, she coordinated with the China Foreign Expert Bureau to bring Physics Nobel Laureate Dr. George Smoot to China as part of the Top Talented Program.
As much a business builder and an educational developer, Nancy has received recognition and acknowledgements from Houston and surrounding area school districts, the State of Texas, and on a federal level for the impact her work has had on industry and education. Nancy was honored as a featured commencement speaker at The Art Institute of Houston. For the world’s largest science fair, the annual International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering & Environment) Project Olympiad held each year in Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Nancy represents Harmony Public Schools in the selection of school science projects from China.
Nancy was inducted in the 2010 American Leadership Forum and remains the only mainland Chinese selected for this program. In 2010, she received the US-China Peoples Friendship Ambassador Award with former Houston Mayor Annise Parker. In 2011, she was selected for the Board of Directors of the Holocaust Museum and Foundation as the very first mainland and non-Jewish Chinese. In 2013, Nancy initiated and implemented an international conference of Holocaust Museums held for the first time ever in China, which highlighted in history Jewish refugees welcomed to China during the Second World War.
Nancy is a tireless, dynamic, and inclusive Houston leader who embraces diversity. She has worked closely with Chinese, Taiwanese, Jewish, Vietnamese, Japanese, Pakistani, Indian, African-American, and other communities in America. She has been invited to present speeches to many organizations on education, leadership, and diversity among many other topics.
As a doer and a leader, it is her mission and passion to work with local and global leaders to make the world a more peaceful and better place for all.
Nancy J. Li
President
Easton Resource Development Inc.
7324 Southwest Freeway
Suite 240
Houston, TX 77074
713-782-5577
www.eastonresource.com
