Commence Technology Partners has
a team of over fourteen partners in the
U.S. and Asia, all with significant senior executive level experience
in China.
Our partners have impressive track records and experience across
most
technology segments. They are seasoned executives who have managed
pan-Asian operations, financed start-ups, built management teams
and
completed stock listings throughout Asia. Our partners’
experience includes
serving in senior management roles and consulting to early stage
and well established companies such as Compaq, AMD, Veritas, Texas
Instruments,
Cadence, Allied-Signal, Novell, Hitachi, Qualcomm, EDS, PowerFile, FMC, Visual
Numerics
(VNI), Lockheed and Kodak.
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Anthony
Golamco
Managing Partner
& Founder
Upon receipt of his MBA from Harvard
in 1968, Anthony was one of the original team to set up the
Asian Institute of Management, a graduate school of business,
where he was Dean of External Affairs and where he held The
PLDT Professorial Chair. In 1971 he joined Carter Semiconductor
in Hong Kong and expanded its manufacturing operations to the
Philippines, India, and Malaysia. He then joined Coltronics,
an electronic calculator manufacturing subsidiary of Cable &
Wireless, London, where he was in charge of worldwide marketing.
In 1974, as Managing Partner, he established the Hong Kong operations
of The SGV Group which was, at the time, the largest Asian auditing
and consulting firm. He left The SGV Group in 1980 to develop
his own firm, Commence which provides strategic planning and
roll-out services to multinational companies in establishing
their Asian operations.
Anthony brings to Commence more than
30 years of
experience in doing business in Asia. He has extensive
contacts throughout Asia and is an Angel Investor.
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Philip
Leung
Managing Partner
Philip Leung is an executive with extensive experience in information technology, including computer, data storage, internet and semiconductor.
Mr. Leung is President of Greater China in Rackable Systems, a Silicon-Valley based provider of high-density computer servers. He spearheaded Rackable’s entry into China with sales channels, strategic alliances, and service/manufacturing partnerships. He cultivated global accounts (Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo, and others) as well as local customers in internet, oil & gas, telecom, and other industry verticals. He is implementing plans for R&D in China, as well as for sales and service coverage in Japan, Singapore, India, Australia and other parts of Asia-Pacific, in an expanded role as President of Asia-Pacific.
Previously Mr. Leung served in senior executive positions in Compaq Computer, including Managing Director of East Asia, Deputy Managing Director of Greater China, and board member of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea. Under his leadership Compaq was the best-selling computer brand in Greater China. Other positions he had held include: President for the US$600 million Asia-Pacific business of Quantum Corp.; CEO of Vtech Computer; CEO of Chinese Books Cyberstore; CEO of ITVentures; and Taiwan Manager for AMD, where he grew the business from US$5 million to US$200 million.
Mr. Leung is chairman of China Business Committee in AmCham, and was previously Chairman of its IT Committee as well as past VP of its Board of Governors. He is Adjunct Professor in City University of HK. He was President of the Harvard Business School Association in HK, and was Advisor in the HKSAR Legislature's I.T. functional constituency. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from HKU. He was born in China, lived in various cities in US and Asia, and currently resides in Hong Kong.
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Naresh
Batra
Advisor
Naresh Batra has over 30 years of high technology (Semiconductors,
Communications & Networking) industry experience in Design
& Development, Marketing, P&L management. He also has
extensive experience in Start-Up companies during which time
he was a Board member and consultant to Display Research Lab.
From 1998-2000 Naresh served as Interim Chief Executive Officer
of UptimeOne Inc.
Prior to UptimeOne, Naresh was President and CEO of XaQti Corp.
San Jose CA, a Gigabit Networking Chip company that
he co-founded. XaQti was acquired by Vitesse Semiconductor Corp.
in July 1999. Before XaQti, he was Vice President and General
Manager, Multimedia Group at Sierra Semiconductor (now PMC Sierra).
Prior to Sierra, he was Vice President and General Manager at
Brooktree Corp. (now Conexant),
San Diego for over five years. He was part of the team which
took Brooktree public. Before joining Brooktree, he spent 11
years at Texas Instruments, Dallas (1977-1988), in various Executive
positions. From 1985-1988, Mr. Batra directed the Worldwide
Linear Strategy at Texas Instruments under Tom Engibous, who
is now the Chairman, President & CEO of Texas Instruments.
Naresh’s career started at A.B. Dick Co. (now a division
of GEC) in 1973, where he spent four years as Project Manager
designing advanced office information products.
Naresh holds MSEE and MBA degrees. He is a member of the IEEE
and also a registered professional engineer from the
State of Illinois. From 1996-1998, he was Chairman, Scientific
Advisory Committee of IMSC, USC Los Angeles. He is a
Partner in Sand Hill Angels, LLC and a limited partner in
Satwik Ventures LLC
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David
Kiang
Partner
Prior to becoming the CEO of First Sino
Bank, a joint venture commercial bank in Shanghai, David was
Managing Director of Rothschild & Sons, responsible for
the Group's investment banking activities in Greater China and
other Asian countries.
His key focus is on merger and acquisition, "back-door"
listing, IPOs, private equity and privatization advisory services.
Before that, David was Chief Operating Officer of Ka Wah
Bank, in-charge of the 37 retail and wholesale branches. He
also held the position of Chief Executive of Ka Wah International
Merchant Finance Co.
Other positions he has held during his 25-year banking career
include Executive Advisor to President at Bangkok Bank,
where he was responsible for the management of core
banking activities and strategic development of new businesses,
focusing on capital market and merchant banking capabilities.
He was also a Managing Director at Standard Chartered Bank and
a Senior VP and General Manager at First Interstate Bank.
David holds an MBA Degree from Harvard, and an Master of Science
from M.I.T.
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Kevin
Amazon
Advisor
Mr. Amazon's 25 years experience in high-technology
includes executive and senior-level assignments in sales, marketing,
business development and general management. Kevin has
been the Managing Director and co-founder of Python
Marketing a 13 year old, international strategic marketing consulting
company focusing on the telecommunications, networking and enterprise
software markets. In this capacity, Kevin has developed compelling
strategies that have allowed clients to expand into new markets,
reach their customers
more effectively, enhance productivity and provide a
substantial return on investment. Kevin has worked with
many high-technology companies and government agencies
including Lucent Technologies, China Unicom, Lenovo,
China’s Ministry of Information Industry, NTT DoCoMo,
KIDDI, China’s State Agency of Radio, Film and Television,
Hitachi, Verity, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, MicroAge, China
Mobile and China Telecom as well as several system
integrators and resellers in China and Japan.
During a sabbatical from Python Marketing, Kevin was the President
and CEO of Omnitrix Technologies, a core
technology provider of Enterprise-based messaging, collaborative
computing and performance measurement applications and tools
for the emerging Asian wireless
market.
Prior to Python Marketing and Omnitrix Technologies, Kevin
held numerous senior and executive level sales and marketing
positions with high-technology companies in the San Francisco
Bay Area including Novell, The Wollongong Group, Memorex
and Hughes Network Systems.
Kevin received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science
and completed post graduate business education at California
State University. He has been doing business in
China for the last 10 years, has lived there for two years and
is conversational in Chinese Mandarin and French.
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Robert
P. Piccus
Partner
Bob Piccus has over 40 years of general management and consulting
experience in Asia Pacific, Europe and the US. He spent the
last 32 years in Asia Pacific, focusing on area management,
market-entry strategies and strategic alliance development.
He moved to San Francisco at the end of 1999 where he heads
up Commence's representative office.
Bob began his career with ITT in 1959. After six years in
Europe in marketing and product planning at Bell Telephone
and ITT Europe headquarters followed by three years in New York
as worldwide Director of Telecommunications Market Planning,
he was posted to Hong Kong in 1968 as ITT's Vice President and
General Manager, Asia Pacific. In 1974, he was appointed ITT's
Director of China Trade. Bob initiated the Shanghai Bell telecommunications
and semi-conductor joint venture in Shanghai, now known as Shanghai
Alcatel and Shanghai Belling. Signed in 1984, these were among
China's earliest and largest advanced technology joint ventures
in the telecommunications and integrated circuit sectors. They
are among the most successful and profitable foreign ventures
in China today.
Bob left ITT in 1977 to establish Continental Can's regional
headquarters in Hong Kong, where over the next six years he
established major packaging joint ventures in Hong Kong,
Korea, China, Taiwan and Indonesia.
Since 1983, he has concentrated on strategic consulting, first
with The MAC Group and since 1992 as a partner in XRG. He
has advised major multinational companies on their Asia
Pacific activities and the critical issues in establishing viable
positions in this dynamic, rapidly changing area. His particular
areas of expertise are market entry strategy, joint venture
development and strategic alliances.
Bob is the author of Strategic Alliances with Japan - Cross
Border Options for Asia Pacific, published by the Economist
Intelligence Unit. Bob holds degrees in chemical engineering
and economics from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He
also completed studies in advanced financial management at Stanford
Business School. He has been a frequent speaker at international
conferences and a visiting lecturer at the Chinese University
of Hong Kong and Jiaotong University in Shanghai China.
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Chee
Lung Tham
Partner
Chee-Lung Tham has over 20 years experience in sales,
market-research, human resources and general management with
US Multinationals and Asian start-up companies. Chee-Lung has
worked extensively in the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia,
on market-entry as well as market-defence strategies, new market
launches and frontline sales and distributor management.
Over a 12-year period as Regional Director, Chee-Lung helped
grow the Gore business in the Far East region ten-fold with
teams in eight locations. He has been intimately involved in
the development of a regional apparel retail chain, start up
of an environmental control equipment manufacture in the PRC,
and the introduction of new technologies to the region in the
fields of apparel, electronics manufacture, surgical implants
and industrial production. Chee-Lung then served as CEO of Magically
Asia Limited – a leading communication and collaboration
service provider to telecommunication
companies and enterprises, as well as director of PCCW Schoolteam
Limited; which provides a community platform to schools in Hong
Kong.
Committed to contributing towards the community, he has served
as Vice President on the Executive Committee of the American
Chamber of Commerce, and is currently on the
Board of Governors and Chair of the Community Relations Committee.
He is a Past President of the Harvard Business School Alumni
Association of Hong Kong and is a Director of
the Association. He is on the Executive Committee of the
AHKEA – American Hong Kong Electronics Association and
chairs the HR Working Group. He has served on the Lucent Global
Science Scholar selection panel for the last five years.
Educated in Malaysia and the US, Chee-Lung has a First-Class
Honours undergraduate degree in Agricultural Science from
the University of Malaya and an MBA from the Harvard Business
School.
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Carl Tong
Advisor
Carl is CEO of Nasdaq-listed Creative Master,
the world's largest collectible replica manufacturer which also
produces game controllers and e-entertainment content. Carl's
expertise is in business development and marketing. For the
Lai Sun Group, he was involved in acquiring Crocodile Garments
and in the take-over of ATV, one of HK's main television stations.
He
increased ATV's licensing of programs five-fold and its market
penetration from seven to 20 countries.
Carl was an Automotive Engineer with Howells of UK, an Institutional
Banker with Citibank, and a Chartered
Accountant with Citibank. He was an elected member of the District
Board, and in 1985/86 was the youngest member of HK's Legislative
Council.
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Don Vong
Advisor
Don's area of practice revolves around the internet, electronic
commerce and internet related telecommunication. He has advised
various entities ranging from Start-Ups to established corporations
in matters relating to the internet and telecommunications.
He has assisted in the structuring of various technology and
communication businesses in Greater China. In addition to legal
advice, he provides advice as to the commercial, technical and
marketing fields, including web designing for an effective online
business and fund raising and structuring. Carl gives seminars
and contributes articles on areas of electronic commerce and
intellectual property issues relating to the Internet.
Don graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLb) degree from the
University of London and is admitted as a Solicitor in Hong
Kong, England and Wales and currently practices at Stephenson
Harwood & Lo, an international law firm.
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Carson
Wen
Advisor
Carson Wen is a partner of Siao, Wen and
Leung, which has
one of Hong Kong's most active corporate law practices. He
has advised Internet start-ups gaming, online stock trading,
entertainment, eCoupons, ASPs as well as B2B and B2C e-commerce.
His firm also advises many of the leading
corporate Groups in Hong Kong on their Internet acquisitions
and was Hong Kong counsel in the NASDAQ listing of Chinadotcom.
Carson has particular experience and insight
in the structuring of Internet deals in China.
Carson has been named variously in Who's Who of the Law,
Asia Pacific Legal 500 and China Top 200 as a leading adviser
on Chinese law.
On the community service front, he is a Deputy to the
National People's Congress of China, member of the
Selection Committee of the First Government of the HKSAR, and
sits on a number of government boards and tribunals.
Carson obtained his MA from Oxford University and BA from Columbia
University.
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