Take the man out of Flint, Michigan, but send him to China and he may never come home.

Having first come to China in 1978, Scott Kronick, president of Ogilvy and Mather Group Beijing (Disclosure: A colleague), founded OgilvyPR’s offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in 1995 and 1996.

In his book, “My Thirty Years in China: 1978-2008”, Scott writes with pride at being among the first foreigners to purchase a house in Beijing. He made the purchase after having lived in the country for 13 years and at a time when all his friends called him “crazy” and told him to “kiss goodbye” to his investment. The investment paid dividends, Scott wrote his memoir, thanks to the great fengshui, which he claims also helped his career thrive.

A 21-year veteran of Ogilvy PR, he won a PR Agency Head of the Year award in 2008 for Olympics-related advertising and marketing campaigns for UPS, adidas, Volkswagen and Johnson and Johnson.

Scott’s writes that his relationship with China greatly deepened when Tsinghua Professor of Journalism Li Xiguang asked him to “brand China” for the Central government.

This gave Scott an opportunity to advise the organizing committee of the Beijing Olympics 2008. In his book, Scott talks about trying to turn Chinese government officials into professional spokespeople in a 10 session crash course.

Kronick graduated from Carman-Ainsworth high school in 1981 after playing on the school’s state championship-winning soccer team. After finishing his studies at Syracuse University, Kronick began working in public relations in New York and then Taiwan, where he met his wife.

Among his most embarrassing moments in China was a failed driving test in 2003 (test was in Chinese). It was tough breaking the news to his family, but after going back for a re-test Scott passed. He now describes himself as “one of the best defensive drivers in Beijing”.

Despite such setbacks, Kronick tells his parents that the American dream is alive and well and can be found in China.

- Profile by Bessie Ng