John Dibble joins Banister International from MRI Hong Kong as a Managing Director of the Hong Kong office. Before becoming involved in the start of MRI's Hong Kong/China operation when it began 4 years ago, John was General Manager of the Update Group, the largest Asian-based provider of products used for passenger service onboard the world's airlines. Manufacturing was outsourced to OEMs in China, while the supply chain challenges were global. He directed the design, manufacture, and launch of several new innovative product lines and brands while restructuring the organization along a market-driven focus and setting up a center-of-excellence team for all purchasing. style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> Prior to this, he was responsible for Distribution Strategy and Automation at Cathay Pacific Airways. This included directorship of a global joint venture called Traxon, based around e-commerce services, which revolutionized the way carriers and their customers transacted business together. He also held two other board directorships with e-commerce service providers Tradelink and CargoNet (later renamed Arena, and now called Line) both of whom provided consultancy services involving supply chain management. He was on the evaluation team for the IT outsourcing project called Smartsourcing, which became a milestone contract in the airline industry at the time. John has also chaired an IATA Council which established global e-commerce supply chain standards, primarily for use on air services, but also included representatives from 3PLs, warehouse operators, information service providers, community systems, and other transportation modes. John began his Hong Kong career with Price Waterhouse (now PWC) and was primarily involved with manufacturers, distribution and trading companies, along with retail, consulting, insurance, FMCG, consumer appliances, pharmaceutical and beverage industries. Subsequently, he joined the global information services company, UNISYS, where he held various consultative sales roles which involved him with winning large enterprise solutions contracts in the manufacturing, transportation, distribution, travel/leisure, and supply chain industries. John's 26-year career has allowed him to obtain hands-on business experience in America, Europe, and primarily Asia/Pacific. Hong Kong has been the home base for 19 of those career years. John is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a Commerce graduate majoring in economics and management studies. He was Consultant of the Year for Asia in 1999/2000 and prior to his appointment as Managing Director for HK he managed a team of consultants/researchers primarily working in the areas of media/entertainment, consumer industries, FMCG, manufacturing, consulting/professional services, outsourcing services, enterprise computing, supply chain management, procurement and e-business sectors. He also has responsibility for a strategic global account whose Asia regional headquarters are in Hong Kong.