SView Executive Team
George Lee – George Lee is a founder and Managing Member of SView, LLC. He is a pioneer of and has specialized in U.S. and Asia cross-border public and private sector commercial relationships for over 25 years utilizing his vast business network.
George and his partner, John Paul Dejoria, Founder/Chairman and CEO of John Paul Mitchell System and Patron Tequila, were the first American businessmen to visit Pyong Yang, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), where they spent time as State guests of Kim Jong-Il. These subsequent meetings proved to be an effective bridge between DPRK and the West, and were instrumental in starting the Six-Way talks. Mr. Lee and his partners also managed a major humanitarian aid effort to the people of DPRK. He founded JPG, which was the first US company granted an exclusive license from the U.S. Treasury Department to import Magnesite from the DPRK.
Mr. Lee serves as the current Chairman of PMK, a consumer products company based in Seoul, Korea; is a board member for the Pacific Council on International Policy (PCIP); and is also a Managing Director (Asia), for the Cappello Group, Inc.
Early in his career, Mr. Lee was a defense contractor in South Korea and was one of the largest Korean electronic goods traders. Well versed in development projects, Mr. Lee has advised Asian countries on infrastructure projects.
Mr. Lee is a graduate of the Marshall School of Business at University Southern California with a major in marketing and management.
Rob Deutschman – Mr. Deutschman serves as a Managing Member of SView, LLC and Vice Chairman of Cappello Group, Inc. and President of Cappello Partners, LLC. Mr. Deutschman is a member of the California Bar, having practiced corporate law with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher following his graduation from Columbia Law School in 1982. Mr. Deutschman has been the seed investor and operator for numerous startup companies. Mr. Deutschman currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Enron Creditors Recovery Corp. (formerly Enron Corp.), a position he assumed upon Enron’s emergence from bankruptcy; to date the creditors of Enron have recovered in excess of $21 billion. Mr. Deutschman also currently serves on the board of the RAND Center on Corporate Ethics and Governance. Mr. Deutschman previously served on the board of First Bank of Beverly Hills, F.S.B. (Chairman) and as a member of the Board of Directors of Beverly Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHBC).
Alexander L. Cappello – Mr. Cappello serves as a Managing Member of SView, LLC and as the Chairman and CEO of Cappello Capital Corp. and the Cappello Group, Inc., a global merchant bank whose principals have completed transactions exceeding $140 billion in aggregate value in over 50 countries. Mr. Cappello has served on the board of numerous public and private companies and organizations, including YPO International (Young Presidents Organization; Chairman 2003 – 2005), Inter-Tel (Chairman), a leading global telecom solutions provider, Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE, Board Member), CytRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CYTR, Board Member), Koo Koo Roo Inc. (Board Member), USC Board of Trustees, U.S.C. Marshall School Board of Leaders, California Republic Bank (OTCBB:CRPB, Board Member), the largest capitalized new bank in California history, Genius Products Inc. (NASDAQ:GNPI, Board Member), Geothermal Resources International (Chairman), City of Hope Board of Trustees and the RAND Corporation (CMEPP – Center for Middle East Public Policy & RAND Russia Forum).
International Operating Units
Randy Xu – Mr. Xu serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SView China Limited. Mr. Xu is also the founder and CEO of Victorway Consulting Limited, a China business consulting firm. With over 20 years of China business experience, Mr. Xu has gained rich and hands-on experience from serving as a central government official, CEO of wholly owned foreign enterprises, and successful founder and CEO of several private companies. With clients ranging from $100 million to $100 billion in sales, in multiple industries and from over 30 countries, Mr. Xu is expert in structuring deals, market entry, risk and crisis management. Mr. Xu was born and raised in Beijing. He was one of founding members of the YPO Beijing chapter. He was educated in China and also received his M.B.A. in the U.S.
Ted Sugiki – Mr. Sugiki has 13 years of experience in corporate management and new business development. During these 13 years, he has founded 3 engineering firms in Japan and 1 trading firm in China. He also has 27 years of experience as an aerospace engineer developing spacecraft systems for Japanese and Asian space agencies and private firms.
In addition to the above, he is presently pursuing an advanced concentrated photovoltaic solar power system development with a US firm to be commercialized by year 2012.
Mr. Sugiki received Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from University of Southern California and Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University.
Andy Hwang – Mr. Hwang serves as the CEO of SView Taiwan. He has five years of mobile business experience and specializes in mobile value-added services. Before joining SView in 2008, Mr. Hwang worked for the ROK Entertainment Group, as VP of the Asian market. Mr. Hwang was based in Taiwan and established new offices in Singapore and Hong Kong. He also assisted the United Kingdom-based company in fostering better communication with customers in China and arranging business opportunities in Shanghai, Beijing, Harbing, and Guangznou.
In 1995, Mr. Hwang formed a marketing company and for six years promoted Hollywood night clubs to the Chinese community, inviting many popular Asian artists to host concerts in Los Angeles. Mr. Hwang has built up solid connections with the Hong Kong movie industry, Taiwan TV stations and record companies.
SView LLC, Board of Advisors
Bo Hedfors – Bo Hedfors has 40 years of global telecom experience in both wire line and wireless. He founded his own telecom/internet consulting practice, Hedfone Consulting, Inc., in 2002. Previously, Mr. Hedfors was Executive Vice President of Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT) and President of its global wireless infrastructure business based in Chicago. He came to Motorola in 1998 from LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (OM:ERIC B), where he spent 30 years in different management positions. These included President of Honeywell Ericsson Development Co. in Anaheim, California 1984-1986, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of LM Ericsson in Stockholm, Sweden 1990-1993 and President and CEO of Ericsson, Inc. in Dallas, Texas 1994-1998. Mr. Hedfors is a member of the board of directors of Tellabs Inc. (NASDAQ:TLAB) in Illinois and four private companies: Silicon Valley-based Kineto Wireless, Firetide and Purewave Networks and San Diego-based E-Band Communications. Mr. Hedfors has served as an advisor to Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA), Compaq Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ). Mr. Hedfors holds a Master of Electrical Engineering degree from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Rob Rodin – Mr. Rodin holds the office of Chairman and CEO of RDN Group, a management consulting firm. From 1999 through October 2002, Mr. Rodin served as Chairman and CEO of eConnections, a provider of extended supply chain intelligence solutions. From 1991 through 1999, Mr. Rodin served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Marshall Industries. He remained in this position until the Company was acquired by Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) in 1999. Mr. Rodin then became President of Global Supply Chain Management and Electronic Commerce Solutions for Avnet, Inc. and served on the Advisory Board of the Company. Mr. Rodin also previously served as a member of the Board of Directors and Compensation Committee of Inter-Tel. He also serves on the Board of Napster Inc., where he serves as the Chairman of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Audit Committee. Additionally, he serves as Vice Chair and Executive Director of CommerceNet. Mr. Rodin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Connecticut.
Todd Tappin – Mr. Tappin is a Managing Director at The Gores Group, LLC where he is responsible for portfolio company financial management and financial due diligence activities. Prior to joining Gores in 2009, Mr. Tappin was the founding CFO at Helio, LLC and was responsible for all financial, legal and administrative aspects of running the company. As he was also the founding CFO of Overture Services, Inc., the pioneer in paid Internet search, Mr. Tappin understands the challenges and responsibilities of building a company from the ground up. Mr. Tappin began his tenure at Overture in 1998, in its infancy with 15 employees and no revenue. He helped raise more than $35 million in private equity before taking the company public in 1999. Mr. Tappin co-led the sale of Overture to Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) in 2003 for $1.8 billion, when it was poised to generate more than $1.5 billion in revenue, had more than 1,400 employees and was successfully operating in nine countries. Prior to Overture, Mr. Tappin served as senior vice president of finance for Twentieth Century Fox, where he oversaw all finance, strategic planning and business development for the Home Entertainment and Interactive divisions. Mr. Tappin began his professional career as a CPA with Deloitte, Haskins and Sells. He holds a B.S. in business from the University of Colorado.
Max Nikias – Dr. Nikias is the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs of the University of Southern California. Over his two-decade career as an active scholar, Dr. Nikias has been internationally recognized for his pioneering research on digital communications and signal processing, digital media systems and biomedicine. He was principal or co-principal investigator for research grants and contracts of more than $50 million. Dr. Nikias served as a senior consultant to a range of organizations that included Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA), Battelle, Mathworks, Ikanos Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:IKAN), Bourns Inc., and Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC). He also was a high-level consultant to the United States government, holding a security clearance for fifteen years. His innovations and patents in signal processing have been adopted by the U.S. Navy in sonar, radar and communication systems.
Gale Bensussen – Since 1997, Mr. Bensussen has served as an Operating Advisor at North Castle Partners, LLC, a private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts, growth capital infusions, and strategic acquisitions. Mr. Bensussen was also previously President, Founding Partner, and Director at Leiner Health Products, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of vitamins, nutritional supplements and over-the-counter drugs. At Leiner, Mr. Bensussen’s management of complex legal and regulatory affairs contributed to the company’s success in new product development, contract manufacturing and over-the-counter (OTC) product development. Mr. Bensussen developed international partnerships, building a manufacturing plant in China and establishing product development agreements with OTC and pharmaceutical companies in numerous countries. He is a past representative of the Transatlantic Business Partnership. Mr. Bensussen is a frequent speaker on health-related topics and serves on numerous boards and committees that develop standards for manufacturing and promote consumer protection.