America
- Marcello Tallarigo
Close (X) Chairman of the Advisory Board
Marcello Tallarigo has over 12 years of experience creating, protecting and managing Fortune 500 online corporate identities. Marcello has a unique perspective on how companies succeed or fail using the internet as a secure platform, especially in view of the growing threats of online fraud, brand abuse, and unauthorized channel distribution. Having worked with a quarter of the Fortune 100, 8 of the top 10 financial institutions and many of the companies that are considered the backbone of the Internet, Marcello brings the world of online intellectual property, online fraud and viable counter-measures into focus.
Prior to working for his current employer (a Silicon Valley funded, privately held, San Francisco based internet monitoring company responsible for generating new business in the East) Marcello successfully founded and sold an Internet Branding Company (Line Of Sight, Inc.) and subsequently worked for four years for Time Warner and Home Box Office (HBO) in the New York City Headquarters for the International Business Affairs and Network Operations groups. Marcello has also worked for a U.S. Senator, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and a "Big Four" accounting firm.
Marcello has native fluency in Italian, French and English and holds double Citizenship: USA and Italy / European Union. Marcello currently lives in Manhattan after living around the world: Italy, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Egypt.
Marcello has a M.A. in Economics & International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) among other degrees and serves on few chosen philanthropic adjunct boards. - Kay Koplovitz
Close (X) Principal, Koplovitz & Company Founder, USA Networks
Kay Koplovitz is the founder of USA Networks and the first woman network president in television history. A pioneer in cable television networks and new media ventures, she is a visionary woman who led the emergence of cable television from the backcountry of America to challenge the mighty broadcast networks for coveted audiences. She continues to be a visionary in raising venture capital for women entrepreneurs and in launching new programming companies that challenge the frontiers of the digital age. She is the author of the forthcoming book, Bold Women, Big Ideas (May '02), which she wrote to inform and inspire women entrepreneurs to create wealth through equity.
Koplovitz & Company
Koplovitz & Company provides media advisory services to major corporations, sports organizations, advertisers and distributors and makes investments in early and mid-stage companies in media and high growth sectors.
Broadway Television Network, Chairman of the Board
Broadway Television Network was launched in November 1999 to exhibit live Broadway musicals to all televised distribution worldwide. It's programming is issued in high definition and broadband surround-sound and is seen on pay-per-view, digital cinema and television, and is distributed on DVD, home video and on broadband throughout the world. Broadway Television Network is the first and only company to successfully secure the right to telecast live Broadway Musicals through a series of collective bargaining agreements with all the unions on the Broadway scene. Further, the company is the first to telecast to digital cinema in high definition and Dolby sound, introducing live Broadway shows to local movie theater audiences. In essence, it is bringing Broadway to Main Street.
Working Woman Network, Chief Executive Officer
Koplovitz served as Chief Executive Officer from January 2000 to July 2001, implementing the transformation of the workingwoman brand into a multi-media resource of goods and services to serve the fast-growing sector of career-committed, entrepreneurial, corporate and professional woman.
USA Networks, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Kay Koplovitz is the founder of USA Networks, television's first advertiser-supported basic cable network, and was the first female network president in television history. She served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from USA's premiere in 1977 as an all sports service (Madison Square Garden Sports), until stepping down in 1998 when the network had become a leading provider of original programming around the world. During her tenure, she built USA into the #1 ranking in primetime viewership among cable networks. The company held that lead position for 13 of her last 14 years at the helm.
Under Koplovitz's direction, USA launched the SCI FI Channel in 1992, which has become one of the industry's top ranked networks in viewership according to Nielson and is distributed to over 100 million households worldwide. In April 1994, she launched USA Networks International, which now operates in Latin America, Europe, Brazil and South Africa.
Koplovitz was the first to negotiate cable rights to major league sports including Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL, among others. Upon re-directing USA Network as a general entertainment network in 1980, she engineered the acquisition of top off-network series and high-profile theatrical movie packages on a pre-syndication basis.
In 1989, USA Network became the first basic cable network to feature regularly scheduled original movies; the USA Pictures Original movie is still one if the most successful and recognizable on television. Among the award-winning movies developed under Kay's supervision was Moby Dick, staring Patrick Stewart. This Hallmark Entertainment mini-series became the highest-rated entertainment program in cable history. Her other accomplishments include establishing cable networks as distribution vehicles for off-network television series, creating original dramatic series for cable, notably Silk Stalkings, La Femme Nikita, and Farscape, three of the longest running and most successful original series in cable. She also led the field in international co-production.
Presidential Appointment: Chair of the National Women's Business Council
Koplovitz was appointed in 1998 by President Clinton to be Chairman of the National Women's Business Council (NWBC), the influential advisory board for women-owned business. In her own experience, Koplovitz recognized that the key to empowering women in the business arena is to give them access to what matters most: capital. She recognized the need for venture capital for high growth businesses when she discovered that in 1997, only 1.7% of the venture funding in the U.S. went to fund women-led businesses. That's why Koplovitz created Springboard 2000, a unique initiative to accelerate women's access to the equity markets as both entrepreneurs and investors. Springboard has been developed by, and flourished under, the joint cooperation and efforts of Koplovitz and the NWBC staff working with prominent women's business and major corporate technology partners. Since its launch in January of 2000, Springboard has generated more than $700 million of investment capital and funding for women-owned businesses. In March 2001, Springboard was registered as Springboard Enterprises, which will continue to develop and implement all of the Springboard policies on a national basis. Also in 2000, Koplovitz created Angels4Equity, a New York-based investment club for high net worth women to foster the growth of early stage companies.
Author
Koplovitz has authored a book to be published in May 2002 titled, Bold Women, Big Ideas: Learning to Play the High Risk Entrepreneurial Game. The book unveils the secrets of entering the world of equity finance to the new breed of women entrepreneurs.
Erase the Hate Foundation
At USA, Koplovitz launched a non-profit national "Erase the Hate" campaign, which grew into a public affairs initiative interacting with dozens of national organizations in the promotion of tolerance. The documentaries won numerous industry honors, including Emmy and Ace Awards. The Erase initiative with the YWCA was lauded by the U.S. Senate and honored with the designation of National "Erase the Hate Day" on April 30. Koplovitz has gone on to establish a non-profit Erase the Hate Foundation for national media distribution.
Corporate Activity
Koplovitz is a member on the corporate boards of Instinet and Liz Claiborne and previously served on the boards of Oracle, Nabisco and General Reinsurance Corporation. She is chair of the Board of Broadway Television Network, and serves on the Board if Miavita. Her time and expertise is also given as a Board of Trustee for the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City, she heads the Corporate Partners Program for, and is a trustee of, the Central Park Conservancy, and serves on the board of the New York City Partnership and the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Personal
Kay Koplovitz holds a master degree in Communications from Michigan State University. She is also a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Wisconsin, and holds an honorary doctorate degree from St. Johns University and from Emerson College. A native of Milwaukee, Koplovitz is married to private investor, William C. Koplovitz, Jr.
Awards and Inductions
Ms Koplovitz has received numerous awards from both the media and financial industries during her career. Among her many awards are the following:
- Cable Hall of Fame; Induction For Leadership in the Industry, 2001
- Babson College: Induction into Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs, 2001
- University of Michigan Business School: Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 2001
- New York Economic Development Council: Alley Entrepreneurs Award 2000.
- Anti-Defamation League's Champion of Liberty award For The Erase The Hate Campaign (1998)
- First Corporate Innovator award from the Committee of 200, America's Women Business Leaders (1997)
- Women in Film: Lucy Award for Outstanding Program Executive (1998)
- Chairman's Award from the National Association of Television Programming Executives (1996)
- Cable Ace Governor's award (1995). The premiere programming award in the industry.
- International Crystal Award from Women in Film (1993)
- Broadcasting Magazine Hall of Fame (1992)
- Woman in Business Making History award in (1992)
- The National Cable Television Association Vanguard Award for Young Leadership, 1979, and The National Cable Television Association Vanguard Award, 1982, the industry's most coveted awards. Rowland Hanson
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Rowland Hanson
Close (X) Rowland is CEO of The HMC Company (www.thehmccompany.com) and Chairman of CRH & Associates (www.crh-associates.com). Prior to consulting, he was Vice President of Corporate Communications at Microsoft, where he created and executed the company's highly acclaimed branding strategy which included the market introduction of Microsoft's most popular product—a graphical interface that he named "Windows." Several books published on the history of Microsoft document the strategies executed that led to the dominance of the Microsoft and Windows brands. Prior to Microsoft, he served as Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for Neutrogena Corporation, a skin care and cosmetics company that registered phenomenal growth thru new product introductions and global partnering before being acquired by Johnson & Johnson. J&J acquired Neutrogena for a significant premium after determining that, while it could certainly replicate the products, it could not replicate the strength of the Neutrogena brand. It was the successful branding strategies being executed at Neutrogena that captured the attention of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Together, Bill and Steve convinced Rowland that he should leave Neutrogena and help them in their quest to change the world by applying the proven branding strategies to a new emerging industry called software. As the saying goes, the rest is history.
Rowland has a BBA from Loyola University and an MBA from Wharton School of Business (University of Pennsylvania). - Dennis Cagan
Close (X) Mr. Cagan is a high-technology industry executive and successful entrepreneur for 42 years, having founded over a dozen different companies. In addition to his entrepreneurial and management activities Mr. Cagan has been a c-level executive (both public and private companies), consultant, venture capitalist, private investor, and professional board member (43 corporate Boards) for over 33 years.
Dennis is an internationally recognized authority in information technology, including: Internet, software, hardware, and communications, in the disciplines of strategy, sales, distribution channels, marketing, services, logistics and distribution. On more than one occasion Mr. Cagan has been responsible for international sales and has actively done business in 35 countries. He has authored dozens of articles and spoken frequently. In 1979 he was the Keynote Speaker at the first COMDEX Show in Las Vegas. In 1976 he founded the David Jamison Carlyle Corp. (his 5th start-up), turning it into one of the country s largest distributors of computer peripherals, and taking DJC public in 1981.
Over the years Mr. Cagan has had consulting relationships with companies large and small including AT&T, IBM, Digital, BellSouth, Kodak, Xerox, General Electric, TRW, Wang, U.S. West and others. Since 1985 Mr. Cagan has often served as an interim C-level executive usually for companies where he was already a member of the Board.
From May 2006 to July 2008 Mr. Cagan stepped in as a Board Member and served as the Chairman, CEO and President of TWL Corporation (TWLO.OB) based in Carrollton, Texas.
Prior to running TWL Dennis was the founder, Chairman and CEO of the Santa Barbara Technology Group, LLC, a private incubator and investment firm engaged primarily in working with, and investing in early-stage technology companies.
Mr. Cagan currently serves on four corporate Boards of Directors. He attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where he majored in economics, and he has an honorable discharge from the USMC. - Dr Kevin Almeroth
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Kevin C. Almeroth earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1997. He is currently a professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara where his main research interests include computer networks and protocols, multicast communication, large-scale multimedia systems, and performance evaluation. Research in these areas is lead by Professor Almeroth and is housed in the Networking and Multimedia Systems Lab (NMSL).
Within the UCSB community Professor Almeroth is involved in the Media Arts and Technology Program (MATP) -- a Master's Degree program combining the engineering and artistic disciplines; the Center for Information Technology and Society (CITS) -- a Center dedicated to studying the impact of the Internet on society; the California Digital Media Innovation (DiMI) -- a matching grant program for multimedia research, and the high speed California Research and Education Network (CalREN-2) -- California's version of the Next Generation Internet.
Outside of UCSB, Dr. Almeroth is on the Editorial Board of IEEE Network, has served as tutorial chair and on the program committees of several conferences, and co-chaired the Networked Group Communication (NGC) workshop. Dr. Almeroth is currently serving as the chair of the Internet2 Working Group on Multicast, and is a member of the IETF Multicast Directorate (MADDOGS). He has been a member of both the ACM and IEEE since 1993.
- Doug Askegard
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Doug's background is a combination of engineering systems design and product management in optical and electronic transmission systems and components. Currently Doug is Director of Product Marketing/Product Management at Santel Networks, a fabless semiconductor developer of electronic equalization chips for high-speed communications, headquartered in Newark, California. Before that, he held similar positions at Novera Optics, Centerpoint Broadband Technologies, and LaserComm, Inc. Previous to those startup companies, Doug held product marketing responsibility for Ericsson's DWDM optical networking solutions in the U.S. market. Early in his career, he designed one of the first EEPROM devices and developed memory systems for large mainframe computers. After moving to telecommunications in the mid-1980's, he developed some very successful fiber access and transport product families for ADC Telecommunications, and then later as part of an engineering team, he helped modernize Russia's telecommunications with fiber optic networks - the joint venture companies formed operate the first optical transport SDH networks to be deployed in Russia.
Doug has authored numerous papers on optical telecom transport systems and components, and has presented talks at major conferences. He has served in several officer positions for the Dallas area IEEE Communications Society chapter helping it to win Outstanding Chapter of the Year awards in 1997 and 2000.
He holds a BSEE degree from the University of Minnesota. He has taken numerous business management courses from St.Thomas University.
- Dr David Newton
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David is Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance and has headed the entrepreneurship program at Westmont College since 1990. He previously taught for five years in the M.B.A. program at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, and one year at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He is past Chief Economist for Hispanic Business magazine (1994), served three years on the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Small Business Strategy (1993-1996), and was Contributing Editor on "Growth Capital" to Industry Week Growing Companies magazine (1998-2000). Currently, he is one of the inc. magazine Online Virtual Consultants, the online "Small-Cap Stocks" moderator for www.eRaider.com, and Contributing Editor on Business Financing for "www.entrepreneur.com".
David is the author of Entrepreneurial Ethics: Values and Decision Making in Successful New Ventures (Kendall-Hunt Publishing, 1997), which remains the first and only book dealing with ethical issues from the perspective of the entrepreneur in the fast-growth new venture, which was recognized by inc. as "a landmark work on the science of entrepreneurial ethics". His other books include How To Be A Small-Cap Investor (McGraw-Hill, 1999) - selected as the November 1999 Book-of-the-Month by Money, and a 1999 Top-10 Book in Investments by Forbes - and How To Be An Internet Stock Investor (McGraw-Hill, 2000). His next book is due in late 2001, Growth Capital and Entrepreneurial Finance. David has authored or contributed to more than 80 articles dealing with entrepreneurship, new venture strategies, IPO's, business valuations, and venture capital for national academic conferences and publications such as Business Week, Your Money, Success, Your Company, Solutions, BIZ, and Entrepreneur.
He has a B.S.B.A, M.B.A. in finance, and D.B.A. in entrepreneurial finance with an emphasis on IPO's.
- Robert Bellano
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Robert Bellano is a Founder and Managing Director of cFour Partners/ITP Worldwide. He has been engaged in senior level executive search and selection since 1983. His practice focuses on the recruitment of President/CEO and Vice President talent for companies involved in -software, hardware, peripherals, telecommunications, semiconductors, networking products, information services, energy, water and commercial/defense electronics on both a domestic and international basis. He has also conducted over 20 Board of Director assignments.
He focuses on both large global technology accounts as well as pre-IPO California-based technology companies. He represents over 20 venture capital firms on a regular basis.
Prior to entering executive search, Mr. Bellano held senior level sales, marketing, technical service and human resources management roles with leading chemicals and technology oriented organizations serving the printed circuit board and related technology sectors. Mr. Bellano has also worked with companies in engineering services, and has conducted over 20 Board searches and also has met diversity recruiting requirements in several cases.
Mr. Bellano holds a Master of Science in Industrial Economics from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor?s degree in Economics from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
He is active in the Software Council of Southern California, the American Electronics Association, ICSA, LARTA, Zone Club, Red Herring, etc. and was named one of the top 25 Technology figures in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Business Journal in 1998.
- Jason Hamilton
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Jason brings experience learning and adapting to the needs of growing businesses. Prior to founding Miganza Consulting, Jason twice served as Director of Business Development for internet-based software companies. His responsibilities included strategic planning, market and competitive analysis, executive recruiting, and money raising. Jason holds a B.A. from University of California at Santa Barbara.
- John Petote
Close (X) CEO and Founder of CIO Solutions, Inc.
John Petote is the CEO and founder of CIO Solutions, Inc. CIO Solutions provides customized information technology services and products which enable organizations to operate more efficiently and effectively. CIO Solutions (formerly The Computer Network) was founded in 1986 with $8,000 in start-up capital. The company has since grown to become a leading technology solutions provider which is now generating $5,000,000+ in annual revenues. Mr. Petote is primarily responsible for formulating strategic vision, key client business development, and motivating the CIO Solutions team.
During the 7 year period preceding the founding of CIO Solutions, Mr. Petote held various technical and sales related positions in various industries. These positions included: Business Development Manager with ComDesign, Inc.; Master Console Operator with Grumman Industries (NASA Space Shuttle program); Computer Operations with Westinghouse Corporation; and Computer Programmer with Three Rivers Bank. In 1979, he graduated with Honors from the Institute of Computer Management in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- James Brown
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Mr. Brown has more than 9 years of strategic e-business product development with technology companies in all phases of their business lifecycle. Cross discipline experience in development & technology, operations & management, branding & marketing, and strategic planning. He currently consults in strategic technology planning for both publicly and privately held companies, and teaches at Santa Barbara City College. He served as the Chief Technology Officer of several venture-backed software development firms, bringing strategic and technological insights to the organizations. Mr. Brown was Vice President of Strategic Planning and a founding member of Clear Ink, a pioneering Internet development firm and one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the San Francisco Bay Area for three consecutive years. While at Clear Ink, Mr. Brown managed and engineered dozens of e-business initiatives for blue-chip companies like Ascend Communications, Pacific Bell, Cisco Systems and Sun Microsystems. He has designed and implemented integrated systems for innovative, high-volume transaction sites, which depended on available and secure services using bulletproof technology. These systems have driven online marketplaces for companies like E*Trade, AgEx.com and Harcourt Brace. Mr. Brown attended both UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College from which he respectively received a B.A. and A.A. degree.
- Johan Rugfelt
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Johan Rugfelt is the Country Manager of Result Venture Knowledge in the US. His most recent client engagements include designing and pilot testing a new spin-off Internet business for McDonalds, developing a European entry strategy for a leading Internet Telephony company and developing a US entry strategy for a finish wireless company backed by Nokia. Prior to joining Result, Johan worked 8 years at McKinsey & Company in Sweden and in the US, where he focused on the financial services, media and manufacturing industries. Johan has extensive experience in Strategy Development, M&A, Pre-merger planning and Post Merger Management and Turnaround situations.
- William Spargur
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Bill's career has been market-oriented in the high technology industry, with an emphasis on research and development related projects. His market experience has been devoted to industrial applications. Bill founded the Templock Corporation in 1976 and is the CEO and majority owner. Templock manufacturers a proprietary component used in the construction of dry cell batteries and tamper resistant security seals for food, pharmaceutical, beverage and personal care products. In 1996, Bill conceived the need for Sherlock, a new Loss Prevention system.
Bill has served as Product Manager, Director of Sales and Marketing and Chief Executive for four companies. He is familiar with the venture capital industry and has acquaintances in this industry dating back to American Research and Development, the first U.S. venture capital firm founded by George Doriot, head of the Harvard Business School.
Bill graduated from Purdue University in 1951 with a degree in Industrial Management and majors in Engineering and Economics and has performed graduate work in Marketing at Syracuse University.
- Raymond Kolbe
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Raymond W. Kolbe is a technology provider, using and developing advanced software technologies for clients.
Mr. Kolbe is a graduate of the University of Colorado, where he received several awards while attaining a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, minoring in Business, and a Master of Science in Computer Science with an emphasis in Artificial Intelligence.
While pursuing his M.S. he co-authored a successful proposal for the USAF Human Resources Laboratory. He designed and implemented an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) under the subsequent contract with the USAF. He published numerous papers describing the novel approach used to diagnose and remediate student misconceptions using automated, domain-independent inferencing techniques.
Since then Mr. Kolbe has led the development of a myriad of projects including military planning, logistics, financial investment, knowledge acquisition, mission analysis, rigid disc defect analysis and identification to name a few. He has developed bayesian belief nets, autonomous agents, generalized inferencing techniques, knowledge acquisition plans and procedures. He has implemented techniques for machine learning, computer vision, and data visualization. As part of these accomplishments, he has investigated and utilized the most current technologies applicable.
Mr. Kolbe has been an early adopter of promising technology. He was committed to Object Oriented Programming (OOP) and Object Oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD) as early as 1985. He was teaching Object Oriented techniques for Xerox Corporation in the late 1980's. He was an early proponent of CORBA (1993), and agent-based systems. He has a background strong in computer languages, from LISP to Java, including C, C++, Objective C, Prolog, Assembly, microcode, and others.
Mr. Kolbe's hobbies include skiing, scuba diving, photography, world travel, table tennis, foosball, weight lifting, watching basketball (World Champion Lakers), nature hikes, gourmet cooking, and eating. He is a board member of the Santa Barbara Blues Society and maintains their web site (SBBlues.org).
Mr. Kolbe can be reached via email at rkolbe@computer.org or he can be contacted at his home in Santa Barbara California by phone at (805) 682-7935 or USPS mail at 545 N. La Cumbre Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93110-2525.
- Carl Genberg
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Carl Genberg was most recently Ants.com's Vice President of Strategic Development. Mr. Genberg was responsible for developing third party relationships with revenue-related partners in the direct marketing and enterprise software industries as well as leading the company's enterprise software sales efforts. He was also responsible for short and long term strategic planning and corporate development activities. Mr. Genberg joined Ants as Vice President of Finance & Planning and was responsible for establishing the company's finance, accounting, human resource, legal and other administrative functions while leading a successful round of Series B financing from established venture capital firms.
Prior to Ants.com, Mr. Genberg was Managing Director for Kroll Associates (Nasdaq: KROL) in Los Angeles, California. Kroll Associates is the world's foremost business intelligence and corporate investigation consultancy with annual revenues of $300MM. At Kroll, Mr. Genberg co-headed Southern California operations and served as the Western Region Director of the firm's Business Intelligence practice and became the youngest Managing Director in the firm's history. During his tenure at Kroll, Mr. Genberg managed a wide variety of engagements including competitive intelligence, new market entry, due diligence, internal fraud, theft of intellectual property and other matters.
Before joining Kroll, Mr. Genberg co-founded America Online's entertainment subsidiary, Entertainment Asylum. As Chief Financial Officer, he was responsible for business and legal affairs, corporate development, finance and human resources. Prior to America Online, Mr. Genberg was the Chief Financial Officer and a Principal of Internet entertainment company LightSpeed Media, Inc. that his partners and he sold to America Online. The history of LightSpeed Media and Entertainment Asylum are chronicled in the first retrospective book on Internet entertainment, Digital Babylon.
Mr. Genberg previously served as Vice President of Finance and Planning for Virtual World Entertainment, Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft. Mr. Genberg guided the location-based entertainment firm through ten-fold growth in four years that included several rounds of private financing while expanding the company's operations throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia using an array of joint ventures and licensing activities. He was also responsible for the company's legal and business affairs and ultimately sold the company on behalf of its shareholders.
Mr. Genberg has also worked as Management Consultant for Theodore Barry & Associates and Arthur D. Little, Inc. His engagements included strategic and operational assignments for utility and consumer goods industries including competitor intelligence, new market entry, benchmarking, business process re-engineering, marketing strategy and organizational development.
Mr. Genberg graduated cum laude with a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Claremont McKenna College and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
He currently drives a 1990 RENNtech 560SEC.
- Kirk Peacock
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Mr. Peacock is a proven technology, finance and operations professional with eleven years of experience. Prior to Prima, Mr. Peacock served as the Chief Financial Officer of a venture-backed software developer, bringing strategic, financial and operational insights to the organization. Mr. Peacock served as Director of Accounting at Global Crossing and was primarily responsible for all of the company?s SEC filings including registration statements and periodic filings. Mr. Peacock was instrumental in the company?s secondary equity offering, the IPO of Asia Global Crossing, a joint venture between Global Crossing, Microsoft and Softbank, and the sale of GlobalCenter to Exodus. During Peacock?s tenure, Global Crossing grew from 150 to more than 14,000 employees. Prior to Global Crossing, Mr. Peacock was a Controller for a public $160 MM Promotions Company, where he was instrumental in the Company?s SAP implementation. Mr. Peacock spent seven years at Arthur Andersen, providing accounting and financial services to numerous high tech companies. While at Andersen, Mr. Peacock was a member of Andersen?s High Technology team. Mr. Peacock holds a B.A. in Economics with an emphasis in accounting from Claremont McKenna College and is a Certified Public Accountant.
- Per Petterson
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Per Pettersen co-founded Commission Junction with partner Lex Sisney in November 1998. Prior to co-founding Commission Junction, Mr. Pettersen founded Active Internet Marketing, Inc., an e-commerce software solutions company, in 1996. From September 1998 to November 1999, Mr. Pettersen functioned as COO and CTO for Commission Junction. Mr. Pettersen's technical expertise includes design of high availability systems, OLTP and data warehouse design, third generation web application development, and design for performance. Mr. Pettersen also has experience in running 24/7 technical operations.
- Edward Savage
Close (X) Managing Director
Edward is a founding member of Stanton Chase International Los Angeles and a former Chairman of its US operations. Prior to this he co-founded and was COO of Kors Marlar Savage & Associates, and served as Vice President/Managing Partner and member of the executive committee for Korn/Ferry International in Los Angeles.
Edward holds a Master's degree in Public and Industrial Administration from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in Liberal Arts from Louisiana State University. He is also a graduate of the Stanford Executive Program. He serves as a board member and committee chair for the Chief Executives Organization, area Vice President of the World Presidents Organization, and is a member of both the Stanford Business School Angel Fund and the Los Angeles Venture Association.
- Bob Sipp
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For over 15 years, Bob has worked with some of the largest companies in Silicon Valley, including Apple Computer, Andersen Consulting and Lucent Technologies. He is currently a senior analyst for Bank of America, and also Vice-President of Technology for EFL West, a software engineering consulting company specializing in configuration management and security issues. Bob has earned degrees from Ohio State University andStanford University.
- Ryan Telford
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Ryan is a commercial property insurance broker for Marsh & McLennan, a leading insurance firm. Ryan, who works out of Marsh & McLennan's Los Angeles office, was chosen as one of sixteen associates in the Pacific Southwest Region to participate in the company's intensive insurance training program. Prior to Marsh & McLennan, Ryan worked in New York City as an insurance underwriter at a leading wholesale brokerage firm and general managing agency that represents major U.S. insurance companies.
Ryan graduated from Westmont College with a B.A. in Economics and Business.
- Hugh Taylor
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Hugh is the Chief Operating Officer of Media Hippo where his primary responsibilities are strategic planning, business development, marketing and sales. Prior to that, he formed Digital Image Lab in 1995. Before that, Hugh was Vice President of Development at Edgar Scherick Associates, a leading movie and television production company. He served as Executive in Charge of Production on the ABC movies of the week, A Passion for Justice and Betrayed By Love. Taylor supervised development of numerous TV movies, including The Mike Tyson Story on HBO and The Good Old Boys on TNT.
He is the author of The Hollywood Job-Hunter's Survival Guide (Lone Eagle Books 1993), which is now in its fifth printing. In 1994, Taylor produced and directed the documentary film A Mother's Journey (Cinema Guild 1994), which won the certificate of Merit from the Western Psychological Association film festival in 1995.
Taylor earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1992 and his B.A, Magna Cum Laude, from Harvard College in 1988. Hugh began his career in New York as a printing broker and graphic designer, servicing such diverse clients as Studio 54, IBM, and Texaco.
- Michael Jones
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Michael Jones is the Executive Vice President & CFO of Lambert Television. At Lambert, Michael's responsibilities include the acquisition, management, financing and disposition of the company's television stations and interests in syndication, new media and other ventures. In addition to his duties at Lambert Television, Michael is also co-founder and Vice President of Corporate Strategy of iBlast Networks and Chief Financial Officer of Partner Stations Network. Michael has been with Lambert Television since June of 1997. Michael graduated with honors from Brown University and holds degrees in Business economics and Organizational Behavior & Management.
- Steven Petersen
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After earning degrees in Economics and Public Policy form the University of Chicago, Steve took a position with PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting Services Division in Chicago. Steve has also had the opportunity to work with industry technology providers such as Galileo and Sabre, as well as a host of on-line travel distributors like Getthere.com, Trip.com, and XtraOnline. In addition to providing on-going advisory support services for Prima Consulting, Steve's career as a consultant has focused on corporate strategy formulation and organizational change management. Steve recently completed his M.B.A. at the University of Chicago.
- Karyn Wynn
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Karyn freelances in marketing and public relations, specializing in the publishing industry and online medias. She is currently launching a multi-media magazine, Overture Music, with Veer Publishing. Prior to freelance, Karyn worked in the Corporate Communications for Gruner + Jahr Publishing, the magazine publishing arm of Bertelsmann AG in New York and the Management Commnunication Center in New Orleans.
Karyn is an active member of New York Women in Communications and New York Women's Agenda. She passionately supports several charities including Cancer Care and Habitat for Humanity. She attended Tulane University where she studied Finance and Marketing at the A.B. Freeman School of Business. She resides in Brooklyn New York.
- David J. Lack
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David has a diverse work background ranging from politics to construction and contracting. David started his own company in 1988, David Lack General Contractor. David's firm does general construction and remodeling of residential properties in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties. David played a key role in the Republican's bid for the California Senate in 1996 while maintaining his business.
- Sheila Frahm
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Sheila Frahm was born and raised in Colby, Kansas, where she and her family raise corn and wheat. She attended the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, and Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree. She got her start in politics on her local Colby school board and later the Kansas State Board of Education. She won election to the Kansas State Senate in 1988, and four years later, in her second term, became majority leader. In 1994 she was elected Lieutenant Governor of Kansas, and in 1996 was appointed to the United States Senate by Governor Bill Graves to fill the Senate seat Bob Dole held for three decades.
In addition to her position on Prima's board of consultants, Frahm currently holds the position of Executive Director of the Kansas Association of Community College Trustees. She just completed the Kansas Natural Resources Legacy Alliance where she was charged with developing a vision for the state's natural resources. She serves on the Citizens Medical Center Board of Directors, the Kansas Hospital Association Board of Directors, the Farmers Alliance Insurance Board, the Farmers Crop Insurance Alliance, and the American Home Life Board. Frahm's volunteer work includes the Kansas Small Business Develop Center Board and the Children's Campaign Board where she works to seek legislation and budget allocations for early childhood programs.
- Israel Klein
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Izzy works for Congressman Edward Markey of Massachusetts, the ranking member on the House Telecommunications and Trade sub-Committee. Prior to that, he worked for the House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt. Izzy has national campaign and development experience with a concentration in the high-technology areas of California's Silicon Valley, Boston's Route 128, Virginia's Dulles Corridor, and New York's Silicon Alley. Izzy attended Georgetown University, where earned a B.A. in Government and Theology.
Europe
- Sven-Christer Nilsson
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Former CEO of the Ericsson Group. He served at Ericsson from 1982 to 1999, except for a short period in 1988
Held several positions at Ericsson during this time. From 1985 to 1988, he served as General Sales Manager of Ericsson Components AB and between 1989 and 1992, he served as President of Ericsson Radio Systems Sverige AB, where he was responsible for sales and marketing, installation and services for the Swedish and Nordic markets
During 1992, Mr. Nilsson served as Vice President and General Manager of Ericsson Telecom AB. While in this position, he was responsible for the Business Unit Mobile Switching systems, which included design and supply of large advanced switches for digital mobile systems as GSM and the Japanese PDC. From 1993 to 1998, he served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Ericsson Radio Systems AB where he was responsible for the Business Unit Cellular Systems, American Standards. In this position, he was instrumental in developing the US TDMA to the leading cellular standard in the US
During his tenure Ericsson achieved 30% system market share in the US and over 50% in Central and South America, as well as establishing its TDMA systems in the rest of the world. Mr. Nilsson served as president and CEO of the Ericsson Group from March 1998 to July 1999
Serves in the boards of Utfors AB (a telecom operator), Establish AB (an e-commerce consulting company), and Traction AB (an investment company)
Holds a BSc in Computer Sience from Lund University
- Freddy Thyes
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Freddy is a senior independent multi-media consultant working on an international level. His expertise consists on one hand in setting-up and managing companies active in multimedia, and on the other hand advising and assisting American corporations in Europe. Freddy speaks five languages, has a multi-cultural interest and had a very successful career in top management positions. He participated in the launch of multimedia/broadcasting projects in a number of European countries. He was director and CEO of RTL 4 in The Netherlands, member of the Supervisory Board of RTL Television in Germany and President of the European broadcasting activities of SBS Broadcasting.
Freddy holds a master's degree in engineering from the Technical University of Aachen (Germany) and graduated in Business Administration and IMD, in Lausanne Switzerland.
- Jan Abrahamsson
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Jan Abrahamsson has 10 years of experience as a business strategist within the field of wireless telecom, Internet and media. He currently holds the position as CEO of the international management consulting firm A&Co. The company was founded by Mr. Abrahamsson, and is currently active as strategic advisors in South America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Prior to founding A&Co, Mr. Abrahamsson held the position as CEO of Intelligence, also an international management consulting company. As the CEO of Intelligence, Mr. Abrahamsson established the company internationally in two years, working from its Swedish base.
Before joining Intelligence, Mr. Abrahamsson worked for 3 years as the Executive Vice President Asia-Pacific for Edgecom, a telecom consulting company focusing mainly on wireless and Internet oriented companies.
Mr. Abrahamsson holds several degrees in finance, economics as well as in the humanities and journalism.
- Ioanna Kefalogianni
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Ioanna Kefalogianni established Ioanna Kefalogianni Business Consulting Firm in 1994. Prior to that her experience included working with the European Union- Economic and Social Committee as Business Analyst/Information Systems Analyst. She studied at Athens Supreme School of Economics and Commercial Studies, as well as received her diploma in Management Sciences at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 1995 she established and began operation of the Professional Training Center, "Instruct LTD." Currently she is also a Business Projects Consultant and member of the board of directors of E.T.X.E.K. SA (Appolonia Hotels Enterprises), Crete. She has been the Human Resource Development Consultant for Interbank Greece SA and the Campaign Manager and Advisor of Mr. Manolis Kefalogianni in the parliamentary elections of 1996 & 2000. She speaks, English, French, and Greek is her mother tongue.
- Thomas Westin
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Thomas is currently working with Corporate Finance at Nordea Securities executing M&A transactions and equity transactions in the Nordic region. Thomas is a member of the Life Science team in Stockholm. Nordea Securities is owned by the Nordea Group, the leading Nordic financial institution. Prior to Nordea Securities, Thomas was working at the OM Group the world's leading provider of transaction technology, offering integrated and cost-efficient IT solutions to markets around the world. At OM Thomas specialized in issues related to IPO's on the Swedish market. Before that he was working with finance and accounting at Sydkraft one of Sweden's largest energy companies.
Thomas holds an B.Sc. in Business Administration, Finance and Accounting from Mid-Sweden University and Stockholm University. After his degree he has performed CFA-studies at the Stockholm School of Economics.
- Sixto Arias
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Sixto Arias has been in the marketing field since the start of his career. He was marketing manager of Tower Communications, Icon Medialab Spain and is the present CEO of Result Venture Knowledge Spain.
Further, Mr. Arias is teaching e-marketing at El Instituto de Empresa, the most prestigious Business School in Spain (following The Financial Times ranking) and co-founder of Movilisto, operating in the wireless arena and Lagestoria.com. He writes in many magazines and in financial daily newspapers like Cinco Dias.
Mr. Arias has a degree in Communications Sciences from Complutense's University of Madrid a Master in Marketing Management from ESIC and a Certificate in International Marketing from Berkeley University.
- Anja Jeffries
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Ms. Jeffries is the owner/consultant of AvantStrategy, a strategic and operational business consulting firm. In the last fifteen years she has amassed extensive experience in the medical/pharmaceutical industry, healthcare, information technology, and business consulting.
Specializing in business and organizational development, she crafts services specifically to consulting and coaching for business and the successful businessman. Living, studying, and working in the USA for several years framed her style of consulting and her way of thinking. This unique methodology greatly benefits her clients in Germany and Luxembourg.
Ms. Jeffries is an active member of the Business Initiative in Luxembourg and supports young entrepreneurs in creating business plans, building their companies, and finding capital in the European Union.
She is a European Coaching Association certified Business Management Coach.
A published author, she writes with insight on subjects such as humanity in business, modern business strategies, and how to build family friendly environments within organizations.
She actively supports business growth in the region of Trier, her chosen residence.
- Misha Baumann
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Misha started his career by co-founding Image Computer Networks (ICN), which distributed OEM laptops in France. He furthered his education, a BSBA gained at the American Business School in Paris, where he was awarded the young entrepreneur award, by completing the International MBA program, at the Institut Superieur de Gestion (ISG). Moving to Hong Kong, he became group marketing and business development manager for Hagemeyer Asia/Pacific. Reporting to the CEO, he managed a team responsible for the expansion of the $1.6 billion group through new agencies, acquisitions and the development of new channels of distribution in 11 countries. Returning to Europe, he consulted with companies such as; Fresenius, Novartis, Finanzaria S. Anna, Osiris, Sera, UGO.com and Incos. Currently Misha is the Managing Director of Result UK.
- Jorma Platan
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Jorma has over eleven years industrial experience and ten years in the financial sector among the banking, international insurance and reinsurance industries. He has been the partner in charge of a number of company acquisitions, divestitures and set-ups. As a consultant, he has advised numerous clients, particularly in the financial sector and international operations. During recent years as investment banker, he has played an active role in the multinational IT-working group of a major bank and is one of the founding members and a board member of a fast-growing internet company.
Currently, he serves as a Board Member of AtBusiness Communications, and until recently, Jorma served as the Director of Aros Securities Ltd., Helsinki, a subsidiary of Unibank Group in Denmark. Prior to that, he was a Partner at Atrium Corporate Finance Ltd. In the early nineties, Jorma was the Senior Vice President of Atrium Corporate Finance Ltd. Meanwhile, he had served as the Director and Chairman of Sterling Holdings Inc. and Sterling Investors Life Insurance Company in Florida from 1988-1994.
Before that, Jorma was the Vice President of International Operations for Kansa International Corporation Ltd. He also served as President of the Kansa Canadian Management Services Ltd., Montreal, Canada for two years. Jorma began his Kansa tenure as Vice President of International Operations in Helsinki. Before Kansa, Jorma was the the Financing Manager with Skop-Finance Ltd. He worked at Outokumpu Ltd. for eleven years where he served as a Research Engineer, Product Managerand a Manager of Mineral Processing.
Jorma graduated from the University of Technology in Helsinki.
- Dr Rolf Schwedhelm
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Rolf is a Senior Partner in the law firm Streck, Mack, Schwedhelm with offices in Cologne and Berlin. He is the Chairman of the tax lawyers group of the German Bar Association (DAV) and a member of the supervisory board of the German Lawyers Academy (Deutsche AnwaltAkademie).
Rolf has expertise in mergers, acquisitions, company structuring and restructuring and partnership reorganization. He is a tax law expert providing counsel on tax structures, tax disputes and agreements, audits and investigations by tax authorities. He provides legal representation before the finance courts and has appealed before the Federal Finance Court. He has also lectured extensively on the fields of company and partnership law, succession law, tax law and law regarding fiscal offences. He is author of The Limited Liability Company & Silent Partner as Partnership, Company Structuring. He has contributed to the Tax Consultant's Manual (2000 edition) and the Tax Contact and Form Book (3rd ed.).
He studied at Bielefeld and Guttingen universities.
- Johan Kristiansson
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Johan is an independent management consultant, focused on the TIME-industries, working out of Stockholm, Sweden. He was formerly the CEO of a Swedish venture capital company, Adera Venture Zone. Previuosly he has been an Account Executive at the advertising agency Forsman&Bodenfors, and a consultant at Arthur D. Little. He earned an M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management, from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg and studied film at Stockholm University.
Asia
- Jurgen Kracht
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Jurgen Kracht graduated in 1970 with a B.A. degree in International Business Management in Bremen, Germany. Previously he had worked for five years with German companies in the manufacturing sector.
From 1970 to 1980, he worked with Jebsen & Co., Hong Kong, a company specialised in China trade.
From 1980 to 1982 Mr. Kracht was a Director of the German Company Continental Engineering, Hong Kong (later TTI), a company manufacturing electrical consumer goods for export to the European and American markets.
In 1982, Mr. Kracht, together with his wife, set up Fiducia Management Consultants, providing a wide range of management and business consultancy services. Their clients are mainly European companies wishing to establish or expand their business activities in Greater China.
Today, Fiducia Management Consultants employs more than 50 people in its four strategically located offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The consultancy focus is business strategy, corporate services, human resources and corporate fitness.
- Michael Tang
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Michael joined SDI in 2004 to oversee the business in Asia. Prior to joining SDI, Michael worked for Turner Broadcasting where he was the Director of Network Distribution in South East Asia. He was responsible for the distribution of CNN and Cartoon Network to cable, DTH, hotel, and mobile operators. Prior to that, Michael worked as a broadcast engineer for Television Corporation of Singapore, as a programming manager for Channel 5 in Singapore and as a sales manager for Williams Communications. Michael graduated from Imperial College London.
- Wilson Lee
Close (X) President, Web Venture Asia
Wilson is the founder and president of Web Venture Asia. Prior to WVA Wilson worked in Japan and Hong Kong as a management trainer and consultant for 4 years in affiliation with the Sony Corporation. During this period, he founded Corplay Inc. a Hong Kong-based management training services company. In 1995 Wilson joined San Francisco-based Electrogig, a video-editing software publisher, specializing in Asian Business Development. For the past 4 years Wilson has worked intimately in the Internet area in Japan, China and the United States.
Wilson was educated at the University of British Columbia, Canada in Chemical Engineering and is fluent in Japanese, Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese. His native tongue is English.
- P. Jeyaratnam
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Mr. Jeyaratnam has established himself as one of the foremost business strategist in the South-East Asian Seas. Based in Singapore, Mr. Jeyaratnam has established himself through a number of positions, including the General Manager of Saresco Travellers Pte Ltd, the Marketing Manager of SM Motors (Volvo) for their expansion into Vietnam, and as the President of the Electrolux Group. The Myriad of experiences has led him to his current positions as the Director of Blondal Sdn, Director of the Orion Capital Signapore Pte Ltd. and the CEO of Result Signapore. All three positions demand extensive business development experience, as well as thorough knowledge in management sciences and marketing. Recent strategic assisgnments have been for Tarang Software Technologies, Daimler Chrysler Corporation, and Lux Malaysia.
- Kit Davis
Close (X) Managing Director, K.D. International Pty Ltd
Qualifications:
Bachelor of Technology, Loughborough University of Technology, England
Experience:
Kit holds a Bachelor of Technology Honours degree, and has held senior sales and marketing positions in the Motor Trade, Pharmaceutical, Insurance and Travel Industries in Britain, the USA and Australia. Kit has been involved in developing Corporate Internet Strategy, Internet Marketing, Training and Implementation, since 1994, and is a specialist in wholesale marketing and distribution.
- Rex Beachley
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Rex has lived and worked in England, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia, U.S.A. and Hong Kong as well as Australia, holding positions of CEO/ Managing Director and General Manager with several multi-national corporations. This is following an earlier career in the stockbroking/securities industry as an investment analyst.
From 1989 to 1996 Rex was Managing Director - Asia Pacific for a large multinational corporation, establishing a significant presence in Asia, setting up joint ventures, regional offices, and manufacturing operations in several countries.
Prior to 1989 Rex established a chain of restaurants, assisted the revitalization of several Australian Public companies including Claude Neon, Arrowfield Wines, East- West Airlines and Collins Publishers after a successful 18 year career as an executive with The Coca-Cola Company.
- Yoshida Minoru
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Minoru Yoshida graduated in 1975 with a B.A. degree in Commercial Science in Osaka City University in Japan. In 1975, He started his career in the Daiichi Mutual Life Insurance which is second largest life insurance company in Japan. He spent most of the time in Portfolio Investment section both in Japan and USA.
From 1990 to 1992, Mr. Yoshida was the Chief Investment Officer at Manufactures Hanover Investment Advisory Japan, a company current JP Morgan Chase, managing Japan's corporate pension fund. From 1992 to 2000, Mr. Yoshida was a Managing Director , HSBC Securities Japan, a company in the Investment Banking Division of HSBC Group. He was in charge of internal equities marketing to Japanese institutional Investors and business corporations. From 2000 to 2004, Mr. Yoshida was President & COO, Axes Securities Japan, Japan's boutique Investment bank.
In 2005, Mr. Yoshida set up CJ partners Co. Ltd, a company of Cyber Japan Group ( CJG )in which he is a one of the senior managements, providing a wide range of management and business consultancy services. Their clients are mainly Japanese, Chinese, and American companies wishing to establish or expand their business activities in Japan, Greater China, US and Europe.
Today, Cyber Japan Group employs 15 people in its strategically located offices in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The consultancy focus is business strategy, corporate services and corporate fitness. Also CJG operates an E-commerce site to market Japanese high end and unique products to Chinese high net worth individuals.