Founder, CEO
Tess Hau is an investor & advisor to high performing startups globally, deep tech companies and extraordinary founders across the world. She is sought after speaker, lecturer, and advisor on venture capital, startups, entrepreneurship, and strategy, Southeast Asia expansion and growth. Tess is an internationally recognized champion of health issues, women’s leadership, and diversity initiatives relating to gender and race.
Among her many roles: Founder of VC Fund and Tess Ventures; Venture Partner at Spike Ventures, a venture capital fund for alumni of Stanford University; and as a previous advisor to the Stanford Office of Technology Licensing, Tess was COO of GCBC Stanford Graduate School of Business, Chairwoman to a stealth startup. She also serves as Chief Ambassador - as was appointed by the Dean of Engineering - at the University of Waterloo.
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Educator
Doug has taught at Stanford and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Organization, and M&A to undergraduates, MBA students, and executives from around the world. He holds degrees from Harvard (A.B.) magna cum laude with highest honors, University of Michigan Law School (J.D.), and Stanford GSB (Ph.D. in Strategy and Organizations). Doug is former President of the Harvard Club of Silicon Valley and is active in the community. Among his numerous accolades he has been named to America’s Top 100 Bet-the-Company Litigators and to the SuperLawyers list – top 5% of attorneys in Northern California.
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Educator
Kelsey Morgan is the Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Nex Cubed, a frontier technology venture capital firm. Previously she was a Managing Director for NextGen Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital fund with offices in DC, NYC, Boston, Chicago, and Austin. While at NextGen, she launched the NYC office, helped spearhead its first $22 million fund, $22 million fund, led investments for NYC and the Bay Area, and built a coalition of 150+ technologists, capital partners, and angel investors who served as venture partners.
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Educator
Wayne is a Partner at Tess Ventures and Venture Partner at CoCoon Ignite Ventures. He is a seasoned corporate development and marketing leader with experience in developing new markets and geographies. He is an effective client relationship builder and negotiator. Wayne has deep experience in finance, driving loyalty and customer acquisitions in the casino gaming and hospitality industries, having served in senior leadership positions at Caesars Entertainment, Sands China and Regal Hotels International.
Wayne started his career in Silicon Valley, where he spent seven years leading marketing at prominent pre-IPO e-commerce firms, achieving profitability and customer milestones.
Wayne holds an MBA in finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s in business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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Educator
Tony Chen is the CEO of PrimeVax Immuno-Oncology, a cancer biotech start-up. Tony’s experience spans management and strategy consulting, clinical research services, and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Prior to leading PrimeVax, Tony helped launch drugs in immuno-oncology and rare diseases. Prior to this role, Tony helped implement the Affordable Care Act at HHS.
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Educator
Marta Jamrozik is the CEO and Founder of VanGo, a platform for working moms to get help with household and childcare work. Marta is experienced in both B2C and B2B, and she has grown businesses from the ground up. At VanGo, she grew our revenue 7X annually while decreasing their CAC by 5X. She is passionate about solving real problems that set individuals and companies up for success.
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Educator
Pearl Sullivan is a Professor in the Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering department at the University of Waterloo. She was the eighth Dean of Engineering at Waterloo (July 1, 2012-December 31, 2019) and the first woman to hold that post. In addition, Professor Sullivan was the fourth woman across Canada to head an engineering faculty. Professor Sullivan is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, a Chartered Engineer, and Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in the United Kingdom. She holds a Professional Engineer designation from Professional Engineers Ontario.
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Educator
Nenone leads the University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering's marketing and communications, development and alumni affairs teams, while working to build a connected alumni base in Asia, the UK, California and New York. She is a strategic thinker who consistently builds strong relationships and fosters beneficial alliances and partnerships. Professionally fundraising since 1998, Nenone has been with Waterloo Engineering since 2004 and has been instrumental in building the dynamic Waterloo Engineering alumni network, while helping to establish significant scholarships and endowment funds for the Faculty, most recently as Campaign Director for the successful ($100M raised) Educating the Engineer of the Future fundraising campaign.
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Sandra Wu
Educator
Sandra Wu is a lawyer by training but investor at heart. She has a global portfolio of various asset classes derived from actively investing in technology opportunities, investment funds, and real estate. She is a frequent public speaker and thought leader on the topics of fund formation, decentralized ledger technology and its disruptive impact on legal & financial markets, and the regulation of digital assets. She has made a commitment to mentor and pass on her knowledge to future generations.
As President and Chairperson of the Association of Corporate Counsels, she serves as President or Treasurer on the board of notable organizations. Ms. Wu was the former Head of Legal & Compliance and Chief Compliance Officer for Mercer Investments (HK) Limited. She is a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Wu is admitted as a Solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong and Barrister & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia.
She specializes in VC/ Hedge fund/private equity fund formation, corporate law, and Mergers & Acquisitions, both in traditional assets and alternative assets.
She was a leader at the following companies where she was employed:
Weil Gotshal & Manges
Kirkland & Ellis
Skadden Arps
Slate, Meagher & Flom (Hong Kong)
Mercer Investments
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Educator
Jonathan is the founder of Iterative Law, a business law firm focused on delivering practical business-first legal services to entrepreneurs, startups and growth-oriented companies.
As a business lawyer and advisor, Jonathan has over a decade of experience in securities, M&A, corporate finance and corporate/commercial matters in both private practice and as company in-house counsel, working with entrepreneurs, startups, SMBs and blue chip companies in a variety of industries, including software and technology.
Prior to founding Iterative Law, Jonathan was head of legal at RockTree Capital, where he oversaw a team of multi-jurisdictional lawyers and led business development and strategic partnership initiatives in North America, creating opportunities for blockchain companies that were seeking international compliance, transaction execution, global expansion and overseas financing solutions. Prior to RockTree Capital, Jonathan was Senior Legal Counsel at GFL Environmental Inc., a leading North American provider of diversified environmental solutions, and Legal Counsel at Xplornet Communications Inc., Canada's largest rural broadband Internet provider. Jonathan was also a lawyer at Bennett Jones LLP, Canada’s leading energy law firm, and a partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada's leading business law firm.
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Educator
Mickey is an investor who has sourced and managed $38M AUM of direct investments ranging from VC and other private equity, tech public stocks, as well as asset-backed financing. HEC Paris Financial Economics graduate, and ex-Goldman Sachs distressed credit analyst. Fluent in English, Japanese, Chinese, French and Russian languages.
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Educator
Adam is a dedicated senior transportation professional and manager with over 18 years of experience working in transit agencies around the world and on transit expansion projects.
His areas of experience include planning, strategy, public communications, multi-modal operations (rail and Bus), P3 design and executive transit leadership.
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Educator
Sosan is a renowned speaker, nutrition wellness expert, media nutrition expert, founder of Simply Sosan Inc and Director of Training for Transition Lifestyle System Program.
Sosan Hua graduated from the University of Toronto. Along with her designation as a registered dietitian, she is also a certified diabetes educator. She is a consulting dietician and operates a successful private practice in various locations across Greater Toronto Area. For the past 17 years, she has helped thousands of individuals achieve their nutrition and dietary goals through her realistic and comprehensive care plan comprised of dietary advice, exercise and/or clinical based recommendations on the use of nutritional supplements. Her warm and approachable style of delivery empowers people with simple steps to take back the reigns of their health and live their best life. Combining her love of nutrition and passion for disease prevention, she serves as program director for Nutrition and Wellness programs in many medical clinics.
She is also actively involved with different ethno-cultural communities and often invited to speak at churches, for profit and non-profit organizations on a variety of topics. She was also an Instructor at Centennial College teaching two courses - Food Safety and Nutrition & Health.
In addition, Sosan is often interviewed by the Ming Pao and Sing Tao Chinese newspapers and has appeared on OMNI television, Fairchild and Toronto Chinese radio as an expert on nutrition and food issues. She writes a quarterly nutrition column in different magazines including Dish magazine. Her advice can be heard weekly on AM 1430 as she shares her practical tips and educates the public on nutrition, supplements and healthy lifestyle.
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Educator
Paul Chen is an entrepreneur seeking to fight depression and anxiety using technology. His startup Flourish Tech seeks to be the world’s best platform for helping families achieve flourishing mental health. In his previous endeavors, he brokered deals between Asian and Western companies. He worked at Goldman Sachs and Alibaba's strategic investment team.
At Alibaba, he was a senior investment manager covering North America, Europe and Israel. He completed several minority investments and one acquisition. At Goldman Sachs, he was in the TMT Banking Group in NYC and SF.
He has an MBA from Stanford and MPA from Harvard. At Stanford, he studied entrepreneurship and venture capital. He was admitted to the selective seminar on foreign policy taught by the former U.S. Secretary of State Dr. Condi Rice. He also organized the Stanford China trip with 30 MBAs.
At Harvard, he studied U.S.-China relations. He helped co-chair the student council of the Center for Business and Government, directed by Larry Summers. He wrote an article on China's quest for an innovative economy in Harvard Kennedy School Review, which stems from his study advised by Stanford Professor Myron Scholes, Nobel laureate in Economics.
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Educator
Po Chi Wu is an educator, venture capitalist, and entrepreneur. He has a Ph.D. from Princeton and studied undergrad at Berkeley. He works to inspire and guide talented innovators, contributing to dynamic, healthy ecosystems where people build value for themselves and for others. His goal is to drive change through inspiration and challenge.
He utilizes a transdisciplinary approach to complex problems, innovative learning programs, an entrepreneurial mindset, and structured mentoring. He is a creative visionary, passionate about learning about almost everything, with a high tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. His track record in the US and in Asia includes several successful venture capital funds that yielded billion-dollar, high-tech companies.
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