Our team

GBCC has an international team of experienced bilingual project managers with legal, political and development expertise in China.

Merethe Borge MacLeod – Executive Director

Merethe has extensive management experience in the international development sector, particularly in relation to the rule of law, legal reform and human rights in China, as well as broader regional experience across Asia and Africa. She has served as GBCC’s executive director since 2017.

Between 2009 and 2017, Merethe was based in Beijing as the China director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, a Sweden-based institution that undertakes research, education and institutional development projects to promote respect for human rights and humanitarian law.

From 2005 to 2008, she was a programme manager for the UNDP, first in Sudan and later in China, working in the rule of law team. Prior to this, she was a project manager and then deputy director at GBCC from 2002 to 2005.

Merethe holds a bachelor’s degree with honours in Chinese Studies from the University of Oxford, and obtained a master’s degree in development studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She speaks Mandarin Chinese.


Cyril Poulopoulos – Deputy Director

Cyril is a policy and programme management professional with 20 years’ of leading organisational development experience for the UN, French Foreign ministry and several INGOs. He has held a number of leading positions in diplomacy and development in China for a total of 10 years.

He is experienced at building relations with senior Chinese officials and providing advice to policy dialogues with China, implementing programmes that aim for policy influence as well as improved conditions at grassroots level. He has strong M&E credentials, and an in-depth understanding of the challenges of measuring impact in the current Chinese context. He has broad experience designing, managing and implementing innovative ODA-funded rule of law and civil society programmes in complex environments, and understands the priorities of donors as well as stakeholders.

Most recently, as former China Country Director of Handicap International, Cyril has successfully lead the registration of a foreign organisation under the new Chinese INGO law, ensuring legal compliance and providing feedback on the implementation challenges of this law to the relevant authorities. His negotiation and partnership building experiences in China has allowed him to work effectively with Chinese Party-State institutions on stated policy advocacy objectives; one recent example is his work with civil society partners to develop policy proposals submitted to the National People’s Congress (NPC) and to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) representatives at national and provincial level.

Cyril graduated with first class honors from the University of Sorbonne Paris IV with a master’s degree in Humanities in 1996.


Stephen Nixon – Head of Finance


Luo Dan – Senior Project Manager

Luo Dan is responsible for developing and delivering GBCC’s criminal justice reform programme and maintaining close working relationships between GBCC and legal academics, practitioners, and donors. She joined GBCC in 2015.

Prior to joining GBCC, Luo Dan held roles at several non-governmental and charitable organisations and social enterprises in China and the UK. She was a housing support worker at a homeless drop-in day centre, following which she worked in research and evaluation at Barnardo’s, the children’s charity. Before this, Luo Dan was a policy officer for Beijing’s local authority, responsible for research and drafting official reports.

Luo Dan obtained a bachelor of laws in international politics from Nankai University in Tianjin, China. She received a master’s degree in public policy and management from King’s College London. She speaks English and Mandarin Chinese.


Yifang Chen – Project Manager


Felicia Xiao – Project Manager

Felicia joined the team in 2022 to work on GBCC’s Criminal Justice Reform programme and Future Leaders Programme.

Before joining the team, Felicia had extensive experience in multiple NGOs based in Beijing on various projects, in areas such as disability rights, women’s rights and LGBT+ rights. She gained project management experience at Handicap International (HI), and applied it in the Workplace Diversity Initiative at Beijing LGBT Center, focusing on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace and preventing gender-based harassment and violence.

Felicia obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree from Beijing Normal University, and her Master of Laws degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She also received training in public interest lawyering from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and PILnet. Felicia is fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese, she also speaks Portuguese and French.