Advisors

Michael Marks
Founder & Managing Partner, Riverwood Capital

Michael E. Marks currently manages a private equity fund called Riverwood Capital, LLC which invests in rapidly growing private companies in North America and in emerging markets.

Prior to Riverwood, Michael spent a year as a member of Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts (KKR), and continued to serve as a senior advisor after he left to start his own fund. Preceding KKR, Michael served as Chief Executive Officer of Flextronics, a leading Electronics Manufacturing Services provider headquartered in San Jose, CA. Under his leadership, a nearly bankrupt Flextronics realized steady growth from $93 million in 1993 to over $15 billion in 2005. After leaving Flextronics he served as Chairman of the Board until December 2007 and helped the company grow to annual revenue of $35 billion.

Michael also sits on the boards of publicly traded SanDisk Corporation (Sunnyvale, CA), Crocs, Inc. (Boulder, CO), Schlumberger Limited (New York, NY), and Sun Microsystems (Sunnyvale, CA) as well as the non-profit's V Foundation for Cancer Research (Gary, NC) and the National Parks Conservation Association (Washington, DC). In addition, Michael teaches a course in global supply chain management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a sometimes columnist for Forbes.com.

Michael received Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from Oberlin College in Ohio. He subsequently received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1977.

Tsui Sung Lam (S.L)
General Partner, Shaw Kwei & Partners,
President, Starfill Assets Singapore

S.L. Tsui is a general partner of Shaw Kwei & Partners, based in Hong Kong, specializing in private equity investments in the Greater China region of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. S.L. is also President of the investment company, Starfill Assets Limited.

Prior to Shaw Kwei and Starfill, S.L. was a Director of Flextronics International. He was the principal manager in the management-led buyout of Flextronics International from its parent, Flextronics Inc. in June 1990. After the buyout of Flextronics International, Mr. Tsui became Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Earlier in his career he held various positions at National Semiconductor (HK) Ltd., GTE Sylvania Far East Ltd. and NCR (Mfg.) Hong Kong Ltd.

S.L. received Diplomas in Production Engineering and Management Studies from Hong Kong Polytechnic, and a certificate in Industrial Engineering from Hong Kong University.

Dr. Robert Austin
Professor of Business Administration, Harvard University

Robert D. Austin teaches a second year MBA course at Harvard University called "Managing in the Creative Economy" and chairs the school's executive education program for Chief Information Officers (CIOs).

Professor Austin spent time in industry as a senior executive in a new business created by a major technology company, and as a technology manager at Ford. In his time with Ford, he worked in a variety of businesses, including after sales service, parts operations, consumer credit, vehicle assembly, and technical support.

Dr. Austin earned his Ph.D. in Management and Decision Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University, where his dissertation received the Herbert A. Simon Award. He holds an M.S. in Industrial Engineering and Management Science (Operations Research concentration) from Northwestern University and bachelors degrees in Engineering and English Literature from Swarthmore College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi.

Professor Austin's research focuses on management of innovative and knowledge intensive activities, especially as applied in creative industries and information technology management. He has written on these subjects in five books, The Broadband Explosion: Leading Thinkers on the Promise of a Truly Interactive World (co-edited with Steve Bradley), Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About How Artists Work (co-authored with Lee Devin), Corporate Information Strategy and Management, Creating Business Advantage in the Information Age (both co-authored with Lynda Applegate and Warren McFarlan), and Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations, as well as in academic and trade journals.

Nicholas E. Brathwaite
Founding Partner, Riverwood Capital

Nicholas E. Brathwaite is a founding Partner of Riverwood Capital, which is a strategic investor in privately held Riverwood Solutions.  Nicholas has spent the past 25 years developing, evaluating, and commercializing technology for some of the world's largest technology companies.  Prior to founding Riverwood Capital, he served as Chief Technology Officer at Flextronics, a leading Electronics Manufacturing Services provider headquartered in San Jose, CA. At Flextronics, Nicholas’ innovative, strategic thinking drove the company's move into product development and ODM activities.  He oversaw the conceptualization, development, and rapid growth of several of Flextronics’ largest business units. Prior to joining Flextronics, Nicholas was a founding member of the process technology company nChip, where he was responsible for development of industry-leading advanced multi-chip module assembly processes. His unique combination of technology know-how, business acumen, and unparalleled contacts in the technology industry bring significant value to Riverwood Solutions during this period of rapid growth.

Nicholas earned a M.Sc. Degree in Polymer Science Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada and a B.Sc. (Honors) Degree in Applied Chemistry from McMaster University, Canada. He is currently the Chairman of the Board for Aptina Imaging and serves on the board for Power Integrations, Tessera Technologies and Globant.