2005 China Study Trip

Biography of Participants

Professor Zhiwu Chen Professor Chen is an expert on finance theory, securities valuation, emerging markets, and China's economy and capital markets. Dr. Chen is a frequent contributor to top economics and finance journals with research papers ranging from novel means of valuing stocks and pricing options, to studies of foreign exchange, market integration, mutual funds and profitable investment strategies. In the last few years, Dr. Chen has been actively doing research on market development and institution-building issues in the context of China's transition process and other emerging markets. What institutions are necessary for markets to develop? What roles do financial innovations play in a country's economic development process? These are among the issues which Dr. Chen's research focuses on. Dr. Chen's work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Barron's, Far-Eastern Economic Review, and many newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong and China. He is also a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines in China, on economic policy and legal reform issues.

Nilanjan Adhya Nilanjan is a second year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Finance. Prior to attending Yale, he was a senior consultant at i2 Technologies, a firm specializing in supply-chain optimization for Fortune 500 clients. During his time at i2 Technologies, Nilanjan worked with many of the world's largest automobile manufacturers in improving the efficiency of their production and distribution processes. He has varied interests that lie at the intersection of technology, public policy and economic development. In 2004, he interned at the United Nations in New York and developed a strategy for e-governance programs for many of the U.N's member nations. Nilanjan is also an avid tennis fan who religiously attends major tennis events every year. His next goal is to visit all four grand slams in the same year and attend the Tennis Master's tournament in Shanghai. Nilanjan holds a bachelor's degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and a Master's degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Jeffer Choudhry
Jeffer is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Strategy and Finance. As a lead engineer at LSI Logic Corporation, Jeffer helped clients transform their designs into cutting-edge semiconductor products. Prior to graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, Jeffer completed internships with LSI Logic Corporation and Intel Corporation, where he received an award for streamlining the Pentium 4 microprocessor design process. Jeffer studied Mandarin Chinese at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and intends to make a permanent transition into corporate finance, business development or strategic planning in the Greater China region.

Iliya Filev Iliya is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Finance and Strategy. Prior to attending Yale, Iliya worked as a management consultant for PA Consulting Group in their London headquarters. He enjoys traveling and seeks to extend both his business and cultural knowledge through this trip to China. Iliya holds a B.S. in Business Administration with majors in Finance, International Business, and Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis.

Karen Guo Karen is a first year MBA student at Yale School of Management concentrating in Finance and Strategy. An honors graduate of UCLA, Karen grew up in China and has worked in consulting for her entire career. She worked at Ernst and Young and Sun Microsystems as a senior consultant, focusing on business and technology strategies for Fortune 500 clients. Prior to attending Yale, she founded her own consulting firm, Improf, and partnered with Sun Microsystems to work on a project with the Ministry of Railroad in China. As the team lead, she helped MOR develop an internal security strategy that would expand to 63 locations throughout China. In her spare time, if any, Karen plays sports, including tennis and softball. Last year, she was a member of the champion Yale intramural volleyball team.

Mahmud Hiraj Mahmud is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Finance and Strategy. He received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he graduated with Great Distinction. Prior to attending Yale, Mahmud worked as an Associate at CNL Advisory Services, a boutique investment bank in Orlando, Florida. Prior to that, he worked as a Financial Analyst in the investment banking division at Salomon Smith Barney (Citigroup) in New York in the Global Consumer Products Group. Mahmud's interests lie in the financial services industry and the capital markets.

Todd Horton Todd is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Strategy. He holds a B.A. in English from Boston College. Prior to attending Yale, he worked in Boston for Salary.com. Salary.com provides employee compensation data, software, and services to enterprises, small businesses and individuals. Todd worked as a product manager bringing human capital management and compensation planning software tools to the marketplace, and he worked on teams that developed award-winning products.

Mike Huang Mike is a second year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Finance. He holds a B.S. in Geology and Geophysics from Yale University. Mike spent this past summer interning at Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong, where he worked in the Commodity Finance group. At Yale, Mike is a co-coordinator for the Greater China Student Club and the Sailing Club, as well as a member of the Club Steering Committee. Prior to attending Yale, Mike worked for Babcock & Brown, LP, a boutique investment bank in San Francisco, specializing in aircraft financing. Prior to that, he worked in the oil and gas industry as a geophysicist for Schlumberger in Texas, Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico. After graduating from Yale, Mike will join the Risk Management Leadership Program at General Electric in Connecticut.

Chi Lai Chi is a second year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Strategy and Finance. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received dual-degrees in Economics (BA) and Engineering (BSE). Prior to attending Yale, Chi worked at Deloitte Consulting as a senior consultant, focusing on business and IT strategies for Fortune 500 clients and U.S. government agencies.

Bilal Lakhani Bilal is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Strategy and Leadership. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Brandeis University. Prior to attending Yale, Bilal worked for two years in marketing and brand management for Colgate-Palmolive in Karachi, Pakistan. He also worked at Tetley-Clover, a joint-venture company, in launching the Tetley Tea brand in Pakistan. Bilal's interests include the history and culture of East Asia, squash and traveling.

Peter Lees Peter is a first-year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Strategy. He has had a long-standing interest in Asia - he studied Mandarin in high school and college, including a semester at a university in Taiwan, and worked for several years in Tokyo and Hong Kong. More recently, he spent five weeks in 2003 brushing up on his Mandarin while on sabbatical from his work as a consultant for a Silicon Valley software company. He is greatly looking forward to returning to China in March, revisiting Hong Kong and Beijing and seeing Shanghai for the first time. Peter holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics/Economics, magna cum laude, from Brown University.

North Lennox North is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of Management, concentrating in Finance and Leadership. Prior to attending Yale, North was a founding member of Glass, Lewis & Co., an independent equity research firm focused on the corporate integrity and financial transparency of public companies, where he advised institutional investors on their voting rights and conducted research for long/short hedge funds. Previously, he was an analyst with Banc of America Securities in their investment banking group specializing in the technology industry. North's interests include emerging markets finance, corporate governance, globalization, cross-cultural perspectives, and entrepreneurship. He has a BA from Amherst College.

June Liang June is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of Management, concentrating in Marketing and Strategy. Prior to attending Yale, she was the marketing associate at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., managing audience development projects and direct mail and telemarketing campaigns. At Yale, she is the General Manager of Food for Thought, the student-run café and is a member of the Yearbook Club and Internship Fund executive committee. June received her B.S. from the University of Virginia, majoring in Commerce and East Asian Studies.

Karen Liu Karen is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of Management, concentrating in Strategy, Marketing, and Operations. She completed her undergraduate studies in Finance at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 1998. Prior to attending Yale, Karen worked at CSMC Technologies Corporation, China's leading mainstream semiconductor foundry, and Marketing Metrics, a boutique management consulting firm in the US. She is a U.S. citizen interested in working for a global manufacturing company in China, to improve the lives of people in China. She is a co-coordinator for the China Study Trip and active member of the Greater China Student Interest Group.

Corine Pao Corine is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Strategy and Marketing. Prior to attending Yale, Corine, as an analyst, helped set up the equity trading operations at Goldman Sachs, Taipei branch. She later worked as a consultant for PYI Management Consulting doing market feasibility studies for Krispy Kreme in Thailand and debt restructuring and turnaround strategy for Ban Pong Sugar group. Corine has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from the National Taiwan University. She is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Thai. Corine enjoys swimming, ballroom dancing and doing Yoga in her pastime.

Evangelos Perros Evangelos is a second year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in finance. He will be joining JPMorgan Investment Bank after graduation. This past summer, he interned at MBIA, the largest global monoline insurer, where he worked on several structured finance deals. Prior to attending Yale, he served as a Reserve Office in the Hellenic Naval Forces. He started his career as an Equity Research Analyst and then became an Equity and Equity Derivatives Trader before joining the Navy. He earned his CFA designation in 2003.

William Pott William will graduate in 2005 with a Master's of Environmental Management and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. William and his wife are moving to Shanghai in late summer 2005. Prior to attending Yale, William enjoyed considerable success and challenging work in the construction sector. As a project manager with the Dawson Corporation, he managed teams of employees on several project sites in New Jersey. As a consultant with the Louis Berger Group, an international firm of consulting engineers, William was responsible for contract administration and site supervision over several multimillion-dollar construction projects in northern New Jersey. William has a keen interest in the environmental aspects of development in China's industry and infrastructure sector. He hopes to find a challenging setting in Shanghai where he can apply his business and leadership skills.

Joel Stevenson Joel is a second year student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Finance. Joel received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Illinois. Prior to attending Yale, Joel held various senior sales and marketing positions at enterprise software firms such as Tradex Technologies and Ariba where he was recognized as one the company's top performers. After graduation, Joel will join ZS Associates, a leading sales and marketing consulting firm.

Irina Vekselberg Irina is a second year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Finance. Over the summer, she rotated through various positions as a summer intern for Renova USA, an investment management company with branches in New York, Zurich, and Moscow. Prior to attending Yale, Irina worked in Moscow, Russia in the Strategic Development department at a major natural resource company. She also worked as a financial analyst for Investment Banking Division at Salomon Smith Barney in New York. Irina earned a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics in 2000 from Babson College. She has traveled to Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America.

Seamus Walsh Seamus is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Finance. Prior to attending Yale, Seamus worked at Walsh King Chartered Accountants, a boutique tax and audit firm in Vancouver, British Columbia, specializing in private companies in a variety of industries. Seamus holds a B.A. in History from the University of British Columbia.

Kelli P. Washington Kelli is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of Management concentrating in Finance and Strategy. Prior to attending Yale, Kelli spent nearly four years as a portfolio manager for the Edward Jones Trust Company, providing financial and estate planning advice to individual investors. Prior to working in trust and estate portfolio management, she worked as a due diligence analyst focusing on performance and style measurement of portfolio managers. Kelli is interested in pursuing a career as a portfolio analyst/manager in an endowment office. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and Hartford Society of Financial Analysts.