Global Operations Management
The Global Operations Management panel aims to explore operations strategy in response to the impact of the economic crisis in Asia. Most of the Asian economies have continue to show some resilience; however, Asia continues to be not only the foremost targeted region for manufacturing and production, but also a major player in the consumer markets sector. The services industry is not far behind since many professional services firms have targeted Asia for market expansion over the last few decades. Our panel will focus on the shift in strategy and challenges faced by companies in this context – including but not limited to impact on production level, employment, and future market development.
Panelists
Kevin Schwartz, Partner, PRTM
Kevin Schwartz is a Partner with PRTM Management Consultants, a global operational strategy consulting firm. In his 11 years as a consultant, he has worked with corporations from start-ups to large multinationals to improve the performance of their core operations, particularly in new product development and commercialization. He has worked extensively in Asia, particularly Japan, China, and South Korea, both with local Asian corporations looking to improve their operational management and with US companies struggling with Asian operations or manufacturing partners. Kevin has worked across a wide range of industries but specializes in consumer products and electronic equipment.
Prior to joining PRTM, Kevin held a series of positions with General Electric and Lockheed Martin in product development, business development, and supplier management. Kevin has Engineering degrees from Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He lives in the Bay Area and works out of Mountain View, CA.
Michael Tamaru, Restructuring and Turnaround Consultant
Michael Tamaru is a financial and restructuring consultant focused on high tech and consumer electronics companies. He has held management roles in a variety of multinational, high tech companies. This includes Chief Financial Officer for the Linksys subsidiary of Cisco Systems and Vice President of Finance and Human Resources for Magellan GPS Navigation. In these roles he has managed global finances, planning and administrative functions. In his Cisco roles, he was involved with the transition of contract manufacturing plants from North America to China and Southeast Asia. In his Linksys and Magellan roles he worked with Taiwanese ODM suppliers. In addition, he was a key team member in the opening of a Customer Call Center, Sales and Marketing operations and R&D facilities in Mainland China. Prior to his Cisco and Magellan roles, he was a Business Group CFO for Philips Electronics and held management consulting roles at Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand.
Michael received a Bachelor of Science from University of California at Berkeley, an MBA from the University of Chicago and is a Certified Public Accountant. He has spoken on finance and supply chain issues at US and Asian universities and various industry forums.
Greg Caltabiano, President & CEO, Teknovus
Greg Caltabiano joined Teknovus from his position as President & COO of SOMA Networks. He was responsible for corporate strategy, creation and execution of all business and technical functions, spanning sales, marketing, engineering, and manufacturing. Mr. Caltabiano was instrumental in securing multimillion dollar carrier contracts worldwide. Prior to SOMA, he served as Division Vice President & General Manager for Comverse Asia, building and managing Comverse's 15 sales and support offices and four R&D centers. Mr. Caltabiano also held technical and management positions at IBM Microelectronics and Honeywell/Data Instruments. He accumulated more than 14 years of work in Japan and China.
Mr. Caltabiano received his BSEE/CS Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University's School of Engineering and his MBA from Stanford University, where he received a FLAS Fellowship. Mr. Caltabiano also completed post graduate and executive education at the Inter-University Center in Japan and INSEAD in France.
Fu-Chang Lo, Executive Advisor, SMIC
Fu-Chang Lo joined Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) in 2005 as Senior Fellow co-managing Logic Technology Development Group. Currently he is an Executive Advisor of SMIC. Prior to that he was with Intel for 21 years and retired from the Company. At Intel, Dr. Lo was an Assistant Director of Components Research where he managed advanced mask technology research, and coordinated a 32nm node logic technology research forum and patent program. In late 1990s, he was a group manager and ran Intel Mask Operation.
Dr. Lo received his MS in Physics from the University of Cincinnati in 1974 and his MS and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 1976 and 1979, respectively. Dr. Lo holds several U.S. Patents, has published more than 25 technical papers, and gives invited talks in various electronic conferences and prominent US and China universities.
Moderator
James A. Wilcox, Professor, Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley 
Jim teaches courses on macroeconomics, on financial markets and institutions, and on risk management at financial institutions. He has won several awards at Berkeley for his teaching. He has also served as Chair of the Finance Group at the Haas School. Jim has published widely on banking and credit unions, housing and mortgage markets, monetary policy, and interest rates.
From 1999-2001, Jim was the Chief Economist at the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency. Previously, he had served in Washington
as the senior economist for monetary policy and macroeconomics for
the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and as an economist for
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.