James Riady is the deputy chairman of the Lippo Group

Lippo Group

The Lippo Group is a major Indonesian conglomerate founded by Mochtar Riady. The Lippo Group began with Bank Lippo, later using this as a platform for regional property development projects. These projects, throughout Indonesia and China, are akin to Irvine, California's development...

, a major Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

n conglomerate

Conglomerate (company)

A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...

. He is a Chinese Indonesian

Chinese Indonesian

Chinese Indonesians, also called the Indonesian Chinese, are an overseas Chinese group whose ancestors emigrated from China to Indonesia, formerly a colony of the Netherlands known as the Dutch East Indies...

, and also the son of Mochtar Riady

Mochtar Riady

Mochtar Riady is an ethnic Chinese financial magnate in Southeast Asia. He is the founder and CEO of Lippo Group. He is also the chairman of the Asian Bankers Association. Born on 12 May 1929, in Malang, East Java, Mochtar is known to have a cold hand at transforming the fortunes of financial...

, founder of the group. The group has recently signed an agreement with Khazanah of Malaysia to relinquish its majority stake in Lippo Bank

Lippo Bank

Lippo Bank was a bank from Indonesia until it merged with Bank CIMB Niaga in 2008.-History:Lippo Bank was Indonesia's 9th largest bank in Indonesia by the number of the assets. It was established in 1948 and controlled by ethnic Chinese Mochtar Riady together with the Lippo Group...

. Due to his recent conversion to evangelical Christianity

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

, James is now focusing on the study of theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

.
Riady's entry into the American business community began in 1977, when he was persuaded by Arkansas banking moguls W.