Dan Cotterall-Debay was born in New Zealand, took a 1st-class honours degree at Victoria University in New Zealand and a Master of Philosophy degree at Oxford University, England. He has 3 children, two sons and a daughter aged 12.

He began his career as a negotiator for the NZ Government, negotiating pay and working conditions for government workers. After moving to France, he worked in the field of negotiation, teamwork and cross-cultural communication, setting up his own consulting company in Paris in 1990.

He has worked all over Europe with multinationals, particularly from the aeronautical, energy and pharmaceutical industries.

Cultural profile: Dan has lived away from his native New Zealand most of his life and has broad intercultural experience. He preserves certain New Zealand traits: he has little natural respect for hierarchy, is comfortable with change and loves rugby.

He enjoys sports as well as reading and theatre. He is a gifted public speaker who won New Zealand's top public speaking prize while he was at university.

Psychological profile. In Myers Briggs terms, Dan is an INTJ. This means that he values knowledge and competence in himself and others and dislikes confusion, incompetence and mess. He acts extroverted in public, but in reality is an introvert and therefore sometimes need time alone to recharge his batteries.

Dan moved to Beijing, China in 2005 and, after working as an editor for the Xinhua National News Agency, joined the Beijing staff of Cambridge Pragmatix.