StartUP Macau Forum
Jury
Jury
Brett McGonegal
Brett McGonegal is a founding Partner, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Capital Link International Holdings Limited with more than 20 years of industry experience.
Over the course of his career, Mr. McGonegal has successfully built one sell side and two investment banking platforms.
As founder and CEO of Reorient Group (376-HK), developed a successful investment banking business from scratch that was ultimately sold to Jack Ma and his associates in May 2015. An initial investment of US$11mn in the platform yielded a market capitalization at sale in excess of US$3bn.
As co-head of equity sales and trading at Cantor Fitzgerald in Hong Kong, grew a brownfield business from 4 to 120 employees and turned it into a leading institutional market player in Asia. He pioneered execution trading in Hong Kong and was responsible for the development of the Firm’s corporate finance / investment banking capabilities in Asia.
As a Senior Managing Director at Charles Schwab Capital Markets, built a large scale institutional sales and trading platform that was sold to UBS in 2003.
He also served as a member of the board for Reorient and EQ Partners (Korea).
He is also a frequent guest on CNBC and Bloomberg TV. Mr. McGonegal is a graduate of Hobart College and The Lawrenceville Prep School.
Grant R. Bowie
Grant R. Bowie is Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of MGM China Holdings Limited. In this role Mr. Bowie is responsible for the overall management, strategic development and expansion of the company as well as the operations at the MGM Macau property.
Mr. Bowie joined MGM Grand Paradise Limited in August 2008 as President of MGM Macau. Prior to this he was President and General Manager of Wynn Macau from 2003 to 2007. Before coming to Macau Mr. Bowie spent 16 years with Park Place Entertainment in Australia, holding senior positions in Casino, General Finance and Hotel Operations. His last position held was Area Senior Vice President for Park Place Entertainment overseeing their Australian operation.
He is the Governor of The American Chamber of Commerce in Macau; the Member to Advisory Board, The Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming - University of Macau; the Adjunct Professor, Tourism and Leisure Management - University of Queensland. He was the member of Australian Federal Government’s Tourism Forecasting Council, the Chairman of Queensland’s Responsible Gambling Advisory Committee and the member of the National Advisory Body on Gambling.
Mr. Bowie was educated in New Zealand and obtained a Bachelors Degree in Commerce from the University of Otago in 1980.
Carlos Abade
Degree in law, Carlos Abade is Turismo de Portugal, I.P. board member since February 2016. He has been Chief Coordinator of the investment support office of Turismo de Portugal, I.P. since 2007 until January 2016.
He is also member of the board of SPGM – Sociedade de Investimentos S.A., Turismo Fundos, SGFII, S.A., and ENATUR, S.A., as well as President of the Committee of the VC tourism innovation, Vice-President of the general council of FIEAE (special fund for support tourism companies) and member of the general council and advisory board of FINOVA (innovation support fund).
Carlos Abade has lot of knowledge regarding tourism business reality and tourism sector in Portugal, and a vest experience in creating and managing financial support mechanisms for innovative business projects in tourism.
Tara Loader Wilkinson
Tara Loader Wilkinson is an Oxford-educated, Hong Kong-based writer and editor with a decade of experience, mainly in the financial, luxury and wealth sectors.
She has written for a variety of publications including The Wall Street Journal in both London and Hong Kong, Dow Jones Financial News, Tatler, MillionaireAsia and the South China Morning Post, The Financial Times, among others.
She worked for five years in London and moved to Hong Kong in October 2011, where she is now editor in chief for Billionaire.
Donald Tang
Donald Tang is Chief Executive Officer of the D. E. Shaw group’s Greater China business and a member of the Board of Directors of D. E. Shaw & Co. (Asia Pacific) Limited, in which capacity he oversees the operations of the D. E. Shaw group’s main investment office in Asia, located in Hong Kong.
As head of the D. E. Shaw group’s Greater China investment team, Mr. Tang focuses on opportunistic investments in private and public markets across the capital structure in the Greater China region, including private investment in public equity (PIPE) transactions, growth capital, cross- border buyouts, and various types of debt instruments. He has been a member of the firm’s Greater China business since its formation in 2007.
Before that, Mr. Tang was based in the firm’s New York headquarters and focused on convertible bonds and special situations investments globally. Prior to joining the D. E. Shaw group in 2004, he worked at Citadel Investment Group, L.L.C. Mr. Tang is an SFC responsible officer (Types 1 and 9) and a member of the Asia-Pacific Steering Committee of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.
In 2016, he was named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders and was nominated to the Milken Institute’s Young Leader Circle. Mr. Tang graduated with honors from Carnegie Mellon University with B.S. degrees in computer science and business administration and a minor in computational finance.
Mr. Edward Liu
Mr. Edward Liu is a Partner at WI Harper Group. Mr. Liu served as Vice President at WI Harper Group. He is responsible for investments in the TMT sector, and value added relationship management among current and existing portfolio companies as well as LPs, strategic partners, seed initiatives, and fundraising activities.
Prior to joining WI Harper, he was Head of China Operations at The Piacente Group. Mr. Liu served as Director of Investor Relations for Xinhua Sports & Entertainment Limited since September 2008. Prior to XFMedia, he served as Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations at Linktone.
Mr. Liu served with Silicon Valley Bank as a Credit Analyst and Associate, where he co-managed a $100 million portfolio of venture backed, early stage technology and life science companies and helped consult on debt structures, compliance, and banking services. He is an Investor Relations Professional with broad experience in finance and emerging growth companies. He serves as a Director of Roam&Wander; Beijing Leiyoo Information Technology Co., Ltd.; Pandai; Health2Sync; and Admaster.
Mr. Liu has more than seven years experience in deal structure and strategy, risk management, business development, commercial banking, and investor relations. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Finance and Marketing from University of San Diego, and has an M.B.A. with honors from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Uwe v. Parpart
Uwe v. Parpart is a founding partner and the Head of Strategy of Capital Link International Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong based financial services provider linking China and Western markets. He brings over three decades of experience in finance, journalism and academia to the firm.
He was most recently Executive Managing Director, Chief Strategist and Head of Research at Reorient Group and before that Chief Economist and Strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald HK Capital Markets. Prior to joining Cantor Fitzgerald Uwe served as Senior Market Strategist at Bank of America, Hong Kong, responsible for Greater China and Japan coverage as well as global strategic risk issues.
Uwe’s experience in Asia dates back to the late 1980s, when he worked with the Mitsubishi Research Institute in Tokyo and later served as an adviser to former Thai prime minister Chatichai Choonhavan, to Manila Bank and to the Asian Development Bank.
He has contributed to numerous magazines and publications, was Deputy Editor of Asia Times (1995 – 97), contributing editor of Forbes magazine and a columnist for Shinchosha Foresight magazine, Tokyo. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, Reuters and NHK TV.
After serving as an officer in the German Navy, Uwe received a Fulbright scholarship for graduate work in mathematics and philosophy at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught at Penn and Swarthmore College.
Dr. Yanming Xiao
Dr. Yanming Xiao is the Chairperson and CEO of Cornucopiae Asset Management Ltd. (CAM), a Hong Kong SFC licensed asset management company. Prior to setting up CAM, Dr. Xiao was Managing Director of UBS in Hong Kong, and had worked at Credit Suisse, Citi Bank and HSBC before that.
In addition to business, Dr. Xiao lectures at financial institutions in China and Hong Kong and is an adjunct professor at PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University in Beijing. She also worked at the Chinese Foreign Ministry before going to the U.S. to pursue graduate studies.
Dr. Xiao received a law degree from China Foreign Affairs University, and MA and Ph.D. from Harvard University. She was the president of Harvard Club of Hong Kong.
Markus T. Krautli
Markus T. Krautli, a Swiss national, graduated with a BBA from Babson College in 1981. Instead of pursuing a higher academic degree, his first entrepreneurial experience was to buy and run a small manufacturer of hand held automotive equipment in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He successfully sold this company in 1986 and moved back home to Switzerland to join the family firm Krautli AG, a warehouse distributor of vehicle parts in the automotive aftermarket. Krautli had then warehouses in Switzerland, Belgium and Italy.
In 1990 Mr. Krautli started Krautli Portugal, which today is one of the Top 10 companies in Portugal in the automotive aftermarket field, and in 2002 sold Krautli Italia to Siemens. In 2003 he started Turiboat, a leisure boating and fishing charter company operating in Lisbon. For the past three years he has made several investments in real estate and start-ups ranging from coffee shops to renewable energy. He visits China regularly in search for innovative products.
Mr. Krautli currently serves on the Global Advisory Board of Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and is a member of YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) with active roles in the Zurich and Lisbon Chapters.
Calvin Choi
Mr. Calvin Choi currently serves as the Chairman and President of AMTD Group, Assistant President of China Minsheng Investment Group (“CMIG”), Executive Chairman and President of China Minsheng Investment Hong Kong and Vice Chairman of Hong Kong Youth Association.
AMTD is a leading non- bank financial services group based in Hong Kong offering a wide spectrum of capital markets, asset management, insurance brokerage and risk management solutions to clients across Asia.
Mr. Choi has over 20 years of experience in investment banking and professional accounting. Prior to joining AMTD Group, Mr. Choi served in UBS as Managing Director of Investment Banking and Asia Management Committee Member of Global Family Office in UBS Wealth Management.
He previously served in Citigroup Global Markets as China Chief Specialist and Head of Strategic Alliance Department alongside his role in Investment Banking Department. In addition, Mr. Choi also previously served in various roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Arthur Andersen.
Philip Cheng
Mr. Cheng is the Director of Galaxy Entertainment Group. He has over 30 years’ experience in operation and management. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell University, USA and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University, USA. In addition, Mr. Cheng is also an early investor in WOWODX.
Martim Avillez Figueiredo
As a partner of Fábrica de Startups, Martim was for the last six years the Chief Operating Officer and head of New Business at Impresa Group (the biggest private Portuguese Media Company).
As a former journalist with a well consolidated general management experience, he has gathered a full experience in sales, team leadership and entrepreneurship: with his team he founded the daily newspaper i, elected European newspaper of the year in 2009. Before that he did several editor-in-chief positions for Portuguese newspapers and magazines and has been in the founding process of either print, TV and digital new brands.
He teaches Management at the ISCTE University Master in Media. With a BA in Journalism, he holds a MA in Political Science from Catholic Portuguese University and an AMP from Kellog University, and was a Visiting Student at St Catherine´s College.