Professor David Perry, Executive Director of the Training Center, was an American citizen who was a Permanent Resident of China. He received a BA and an MA in English Literature from Columbia University in New York City (USA) and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Princeton University in New Jersey (USA). He has taught at Columbia University and Hamilton College (in New York State), and he made his career at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts (USA). In 1978 Simmons appointed him a Full Professor of English. He has been in China since 1983, teaching the graduate students at Wuhan University such subjects as English Literature, Greek Mythology, the American short story, and Shakespeare. Over the years he has taught undergraduates and given lectures at various other universities in China,including Hainan University, the Wuhan College of Physical Education, Jianghan University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Professor Perry has written a book (with Xiong Jieping) called Tales Retold From The West, and he held a lecture series called "Milestones of Imagination" for Wuhan Television. From 1996 to 2000 he served as a vice president and then president of the newly-formed Wuhan branch of the American Chamber of Commerce, and he was made an Honorary Professor at both Jianghan University and the Wuhan Conservatory of Music.

With help of Prof. Liu Daoyu, former president of Wuhan University, Dr. Perry founded in July 1996 a training center and named it after himself. Mr. Perry and his school frequently hit the local mass media titles, and he was referred to as "the English teacher for Wuhan people" by the Wuhan Morning Post. In appreciation of his friendship with the Chinese people, he was awarded "the Chime Bell Prize" in 1994 by the provincial party secretary Jia Zhijie, the then governor of Hubei. Mr.Li Xiansheng, Mayor of Wuhan, awarded him the honor of "outstanding teacher of Wuhan" in 1998.
Mr. David Perry passed away on July 25, 2000 and was interred in Shimenfeng Memorial of Wuhan.