Moderator
HAYNE E. LELAND

Hayne E. Leland is the Arno Rayner Professor of  Finance at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.  He received B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from Harvard, and an M.Sc. (Econ.) degree from the London School of Economics.

He has served as President of the American Finance Association (1997) and Director of the Berkeley Program in Finance (1991-2001). He is on the scientific advisory committees of Goldman Sachs (fixed income indexes) and of EuroPlace Institute of Finance. 

Professor Leland has published articles on investment theory, optimal portfolio choice, and dynamic hedging.  Recent work has focused on credit risk, capital structure, structured finance, and risk management by corporations.  His research has received several prizes for excellence, and he has given keynote speeches at the American Finance Association, the Financial Management Association, and the AIMR.  He presented the Bendheim Lectures in Finance at Princeton University in 2006, which will be published by the Princeton University Press.

His work developing dynamic asset allocation and portfolio insurance has been widely cited and applied to portfolio management.  As a founding principal of Leland O’Brien Rubinstein (LOR),  he was named a Fortune Magazine“Businessman of the Year” in 1987.  His profile and the story of portfolio insurance are contained in Peter Bernstein’s book, Capital Ideas.
In 1990, LOR developed and launched the first exchanged-traded fund (ETF).

GEORGE BAEDER

George Baeder is a Vice President of Monitor Group, based in the firm’s Shanghai office.  George has spent the majority his professional career in Asia, assisting major international firms to establish and expand their Asian businesses profitably and to meet the global competitive challenges originating in the region. 

During his three decades living in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, George has focused on the region’s emerging markets.  He has worked across a broad spectrum of industries – including fast moving consumer products, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, oil and gas, natural resources, telecommunications, IT, consumer electronics and financial services.  He has also worked in the private equity arena on behalf of both financial investors and clients seeking funds.

After studying economics and Chinese history in the US and Taiwan, he joined Business International Corp, a New York based business advisory firm in 1973.  In 1976 he moved to Hong Kong to build the company’s Asian operations.  As Vice President and Regional General Manager of Business International Corporation and a member of the parent company’s board of directors, he led the company’s fastest growing business and its largest contributor to corporate profits.

From 1986-97, he founded and led the Pacific Rim Consulting Group, Asia’s leading independent strategy consulting firm, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei Beijing and Shanghai and New York. 

During the past 10 years, much of George’s work has focused on the analysis of key strategic issues in Asian that shape investment decisions and competitive success, and particularly on China’s emergence as a driving force in global industries.  This theme permeates his work with multinational clients at Monitor Group, his support of Private Equity investors in Asia and his role as a Director of Research-Works, the Asian region’s leading independent equities research firm.

 

LU GANG

Mr. Lu jointed Legend Holdings in 2004 and acts as an Investment Manager. As the parent company of Levono Group Limited (formed by former Lenovo Group and IBM Personal Computing Division. Headquartered in Purchase, New York), Legend Holdings Limited is one of the most famous companies in China. As a strategy-driven investment holding company, Legend Holdings adopts the parent-subsidiary governance structure composing of five business subsidiaries covering four major industries—IT, Venture Capital, Private Equity and Real Estate. Meanwhile, Legend Holdings firmly seizes opportunities for business development and actively explores new orientations for industrial development. In 2006, the total assets under management of Legend Holdings has reached US$ 5.8 billion.

Mr. Lu is responsible for the company’s venture capital business, including invests in venture capital funds and supervises these VC managers. He acted as the Limited Partner’s representation, negotiated fund terms with VC managers and invested more than US$200 million in several venture capital funds. He has a BSc from Xi’dian University in Shaanxi, China and a MBA from Tsinghua University in China.

 

CHRIS HAZEN

Christopher Hazen co-leads a team of 135 people throughout the United States who specialize in providing business solutions to environmental management issues.  As part of his role on the global management team of WSP Environmental (www.wspenvironmental.com), a 900 person globally-integrated consulting firm, Chris also has a responsibility for developing business opportunities and corporate development strategies in the Far East. 

Chris has over 16 years of professional experience and a global track record of completed projects in the practices of supply chain management, product strategy and market entry, performance metrics and reporting, mergers and acquisition, compliance assurance, and regulatory analysis, including climate change.  Several clients have successfully developed industry-leading programs. Mr. Hazen has conducted business development consulting for over 30 multinational corporations seeking to expand their environment-related businesses in the Asia-Pacific region and worked in Hong Kong and Shanghai continuously from 1991 to 1998.  Prior to joining WSP, Chris was a Partner at ERM (www.erm.com), including 3 years leading the growth of the company’s office in Shanghai, China, and was prior to that employed by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of Commerce in Hong Kong (see www.usaep.org) as an environmental technology specialist.  Chris is fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin.