Johann Tse
Chief Executive Officer

Prior to founding Aquarian Capital, Johann Tse was Director for international M&A with Yum! Brands, where he led acquisitions, divestitures and franchising transactions across its quick service restaurants portfolio across many countries. He previously created and managed the corporate venture capital program for Rohm and Haas Company focusing on new materials and material-enabled technologies, and helped broaden the Company's avenue for growth, in addition to corporate strategic planning and M&A responsibilities.

Mr. Tse began his career with Swire Group, an UK/Hong Kong conglomerate, where he assumed increasing general management responsibilities in various countries, including marketing Coca-Cola products in Hong Kong, turning around a snack foods business in China, and establishing a profitable limousine service company in Hong Kong. He was also in charge of Swire Group's government relations, corporate development and overall strategies for China, where he established 13 companies across numerous industries.

Mr. Tse was the founding Deputy Chairman of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, sat on the board of the British Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, and was an Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in China. He is a frequent guest speaker at international M&A and investment conferences. Mr. Tse has served as a judge for Dallas Business Journal's annual M&A Awards from 2005 to 2007; is on the Corporate Associate Board of Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University; President-Elect of The Dallas Business Club; member of China Task Force, Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce; board member of Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce; board member of Asian American Citizens Council; Executive Board Member of Circle Ten Council, Boy Scouts of America.

Mr. Tse has an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France, and a Bachelor of Science (Hons.) from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Electronics Engineering.

David Basson
Director

Based in Israel, Dr. David Basson focuses on M&A, private placement, and provision of strategic advisory and financial services to clients. He has 30 years of international experience in strategic planning and investment banking. After finishing his doctorate in chemical engineering in 1976, he joined ICI where he worked in design of chemical plants and later in project assessment, planning and techno-commercial functions. In 1981, he joined Albright Wilson subsidiary of Tenneco with responsibility for corporate and strategic planning and as a senior member of the M&A department.

In 1989, Dr. Basson joined Manufacturers Hanover to develop the bank's UK domestic and cross-border M&A operations. At the bank, he initiated M&A relationships with major UK companies and advised clients across several industrial sectors: food & drinks, engineering, textile, and utilities. He has strong personal contacts with financial institutions in Europe, US and Israel (fund of funds, pension funds, banks, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, family offices), venture capital and private equity funds as well as with industrial companies, in particular, in the chemical, engineering, textile and food industries.

Dr. Basson has MSc. and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester and MBA from the University of Middlesex. He is a member of the institutes of chemical engineers in the US (AIChE) and the UK (IChE).

James Brannick
Director

Jim Brannick is a senior treasury executive with 30 years of experience. His assignments included three HLT/LBO's and a corporate spin-off. He has held financial positions at several multinational corporations in various industries (chemicals, consumer products, durable and disposable, insurance, heavy industry, telecoms¡­etc.). Mr. Brannick has expertise in debt financing, both international and domestic; liquidity/working capital management; creation of IHB (in-house banks), and foreign exchange, including exotics and restricted currencies. He was also responsible for cash, credit, financial risk and insurance risk management. He has been a corporate officer of several global companies. His positions over the years included VP & Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer, Manager of Corporate Finance and positions in Treasury Operations and Export Credit functions. These experiences have made him a skilled financial leader and 'change agent' in treasury operations, debt compliance, and crisis management. His focus in the LBO assignments was to protect and enhance the private equity firms' investment.

Mr. Brannick created his own treasury consulting service, Global Treasury Services, LLC. His last corporate assignment was Vice President and Treasurer for Acterna LLC and World Kitchen. In those assignments, he took actions, in difficult circumstances, to improve working capital, generating cash to support the acquisition debt and remain in covenant compliance. While at Duracell International and Bush Boake Allen, his focus was on improving liquidity and FX exposure management to pay down debt, support global expansion and create a core bank group behind the business. His earlier assignments at Union Carbide, Reichhold Chemicals, Johnson & Higgins and Great Lakes Carbon gave him excellent hands-on-experience in the global arena which was put to use at his later senior positions.

Mr. Brannick holds an MBA in Finance from St. John's University and a BA in History at Fordham University.

Joe Chan
Director

Joe Chan was previously Managing Director for Central and North China, American President Line (APL) Logistics China Ltd. from 2002 to 2004. From 1985 to 2002, he served as General Manager for a number of joint ventures and wholly owned operations of the Inchcape Group in China, after assuming executive management positions with the Swire Group and New World Development Ltd., mostly in logistics and trading sectors.

Mr. Chan is one of the pioneers in China trade who started dealing with China in the early 1980's when China first opened to the outside world. He has successfully negotiated and established joint ventures and wholly-owned foreign operations in China, and assisted multinational clients conduct business in China as the country undergoes transformation. His sector specialty include logistics and supply chain management services, which are very complex, dynamic and challenging in China, but also critical to any operation's ultimate success in the country. His other assets include extensive good working relationships at various municipal, provincial and ministerial levels of the Chinese government, as well as with the vast private sector.

Mr. Chan received Bachelor of Social Science (Hons.) from University of Hong Kong, and was the founding Chairman of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai in 1995.

Michele Lee
Director

Ms. Lee has 20 years of professional experiences, with extensive knowledge of local Chinese rules and regulations. She has advised numerous multi-national clients in setting up their presence in China. Further, Ms. Lee has advised foreign parties on corporate structures, performed financial and accounting due diligence and negotiated with Chinese parties. She has also assisted Chinese companies with domestic and overseas acquisitions. In addition, Ms. Lee has reviewed, designed and implemented numerous internal control structures for companies early on in the start-up phase. She has also designed banking reform strategies for major Chinese banks.

Ms. Lee has assisted companies in maximizing value and minimizing risk during both pre- and post-merger acquisition processes by analyzing revenue projections, quality of earnings, net assets, working capital, cash flows, income statements and balance sheets. In addition, she has assessed and validated deal assumptions, identified potential issues and suggested amendments to legal and financial agreements. Ms. Lee has also advised companies on merger integration issues, including corporate structure, business processes, operational improvements, synergy effects, back office integration savings and potential opportunities to broaden the base of core competencies.

Prior to joining Aquarian Capital, Ms. Lee spent 15 years in China, where she was a director in KPMG’s Risk Advisory Service practice and the general manager at Watson Wyatt. Notable clients include Ford Motor Company, Citroen, Nissan, American International Assurance, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Chanel, Philips, BP, PetroChina, China Mobile, China Telecom, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Mitsubishi Bank, American Express…etc.

Ms. Lee holds a B.A. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. She is a certified public accountant in California.

Leslie Oschmann
Director

Leslie Oschmann is a management consultant with over 25 years experience in consulting, sales and marketing. Prior to Aquarian Capital, she was Vice President of Rare Medium, an e-commerce integrator, where she led research and pre-sales activity for the firm as well as establishing the knowledge management function. She has held senior positions with Andersen Consulting, Price Waterhouse and process consulting firm Kepner Tregoe. Major clients have included Texas Instruments, FNC, MEMC, Compaq, Ericsson, IBM, SEMATECH, Oklahoma Gas & Electric, M&M Mars, Phillips Petroleum, and Miller Brewing.

Ms. Oschmann's corporate experience includes consumer products companies Frito-Lay (Pepsico) and Kimberly Clark. At Frito-Lay, she grew the all commodity volume for East coast major chains and opened the first wholesale delivery relationships. At Kimberly Clark (formerly Scott Paper Co.), she opened, negotia ted and managed national contract accounts in the manufacturing and service sectors for such companies as DuPont, ICI Americas, Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock, British Petroleum, Shell Oil, TV Guide, US Steel, Perdue, W.L. Gore & Co., Campbell Soup, Ford, Merck Sharp & Dhome, Wyeth Labs, Sperry Univac, McNeil Labs, Trammel Crow, Gerald Hines, Cadillac Fairview, ARCO, General Motors and Bell Helicopter.

Ms. Oschmann is President of the Dallas Democratic Forum, a 600 member non-profit public issues group, which features monthly guests including Presidential and Congressional candidates as well as current national, state and local officials as individual speakers and panelists who debate and discuss various public policy issues. She has been on the Corporate Associate Board of the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University for nearly 20 years and has served on the Executive Committee of the World Affairs Coun cil of Greater Dallas for over five years. She is a member of the Asia Society of Houston and New York and has served as a board member for charitable organizations. She has also served as a Vice President of the Society of International Business Fellows headquartered in Atlanta.

Ms. Oschmann holds a B.A. cum laude from Ohio University and has done graduate work at the London Business School and with Business Design Associates of Emeryville, California.

Manmeet Singh
Director

Manmeet Singh is an experienced banker and entrepreneur with financial and strategy consulting experience. He started his banking career with ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank in their International Banking Group as Regional Manager, Asia-Pacific in charge of the bank's correspondent banking business in the region. He relocated to Shanghai in 2003 to establish ICICI's representative office with overall responsibilities for North Asia. He has a strong background in the areas of investment advisory, capital raising, private banking, correspondent banking, international trade finance and corporate finance.

Mr. Singh focuses on advising small and medium sized companies in their China and India corporate and market strategies. More recently the firm has focused on advising clients in their fund raising activities from VC/PE firms as well as in cross-border M&A transactions between India and China. The firm has helped clients in the IT, Automotive, Wireless, Steel, Energy, Biotech and Pharmaceutical industries.

Born in Australia, he has traveled extensively plus having lived in Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Maldives, India, Switzerland, USA, Brazil and China. He is fluent in English, Hindi, Punjabi and French, and is proficient in Mandarin, Japanese and Portuguese. Mr. Singh has an MBA from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai (India), and earned dual undergraduate degrees from Washington and Lee University, Virginia (USA) with a BS in Physics-Engineering and BA in both Economics and French.

Wayne Trimmer
Director

Wayne Trimmer has over twenty years's international business experience in aerospace services and manufacturing. He began his career in the United States Marine Corps. After learning the skills of a ground Marine he then joined Marine Corps Aviation in the "light attack" community. He subsequently joined DynCorp specializing in the administration of commercial and government contracts as Director of Contracts. He later worked for Aerospatiale/EADS, managing various government and commercial business development activities on a global basis, followed by Lockheed Martin as a Director for Advanced Programs. Mr. Trimmer most recently assumed responsibilities for sales and business development at Merrill Corporation as a Vice President as well as IBS International capital markets. His current focus is on providing clients with fund-raising and M&A and services.

Mr. Trimmer is very much an involved leader in the community. He is a member of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations (DCFR) and World Affairs Council. He is an Executive Director and a past President (2003 - 2006) of the North Texas National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). He is a member of the Downtown Rotary Club.

Mr. Trimmer holds an MBA from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Illinois University.

Mei Zhu
Director

Ms. Zhu has over 20 years of experience in government relations, strategic planning, corporate development and public affairs. She advises top management of multinational companies on China strategies, builds government relationships, and manages public relations, media relations, regulatory affairs and lobbying, as well as provides crisis management services.

Ms. Zhu has a consistently demonstrated her ability in strategic planning and execution, and has a strong knowledge of how various government agencies operate in China, plus extensive relationships at national and regional government levels. She has successfully served international clients such as Nielsen Media Research, Reuters, Time Warner, Manchester United, Whirlpool, Sony, Imax¡­etc.

Previously, Ms. Zhu was Director of BMG Music Publishing (Bertelsmann AG), Managing Director (China) of Motion Picture Association of America, Director of Shandwick Public Relations, Director of Lenovo's Internet Information Service Group, and Researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Ms. Zhu is a member of Foreign Correspondents' Club in Beijing, and is Founder and President of Media & Press Council of China.

Joseph Chou
Advisor

Dr. Joseph Tao-Hsiung Chou has been active in the IT industry in both the US and Asia for over four decades. He spent 18 years with IBM in the US, was Chairman and President of IBM Taiwan between 1968 and 1971, and led the first IBM delegation to open the mainland China market in 1973. He won many awards during his tenure, including the "IBM Outstanding Contribution Award," the highest honor in IBM. He subsequently became Chairman and President of ITT Far East Ltd. and Vice-President of ITT Asia-Pacific, covering 13 countries in Asia, followed by being Chairman and President of Burroughs Asia Ltd. (the predecessor of Unisys), covering 11 countries in the region.

Dr. Chou obtained his Ph.D. in Econometrics at Iowa State University and his Master's Degree in Agricultural Economics at Cornell University.

Wilson Chu
Advisor

Wilson Chu is a partner in the Dallas office of K&L Gates LLP. HIs practice focuses on mergers, acquisitions, distressed M&A, joint ventures, venture capital/private equity investments, and other strategic transactions in a broad range of industries, including, automotive, cable TV, energy and natural resources, entertainment, financial services, fitness, healthcare, insurance, real estate, and technology (internet, software, personal computers, and peripherals). He has significant experience in cross-border investments with the Asia-Pacific region.

Mr. Chu is the creator of a widely-recognized "Deal Points Study" of negotiated M&A terms. His Study has since been adopted by the Committee on Negotiated Acquisitions of the American Bar Association, for which was a Founding Co-Chair of its M&A Market Trends Subcommittee.

He is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on M&A issues. He is active in several legal industry associations, including: the American Bar Association's Negotiated Acquisitions Committee, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. He is a member of the Committee of 100 for which he serves as its General Counsel and on its Board of Directors, and he chairs the organization's Corporate Board Initiative, which is a national initiative with several national organizations, including several of the world's leading executive search firms, to increase representation by Asian-Americans on Fortune 500 Boards of Directors. He is also a member of the Salesmanship Club of Dallas and past member of the Board of Trustees of the Dallas Museum of Art. He has also served on the Advisory Board for Genesis Campus Fund, an early stage venture capital fund.

Martin Roll
Advisor

Martin Roll is founder and CEO of VentureRepublic, a strategic advisory firm on Branding Excellence to corporate boards and top-management across the world. Martin delivers the combined value of an experienced international branding strategist, a senior advisor to boards and management teams and an internationally renowned speaker and sought-after workshop host. He brings more than 15 years of experience from the international advertising industry, and has served in various management positions, focusing on global marketing and branding strategy, advertising and corporate communications.

Mr. Roll regularly lectures at INSEAD and the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, and is a frequent international speaker and workshop host. He currently serves as the Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador to Singapore for Wonderful Copenhagen and Copenhagen Capacity, two leading trade and business promotion associations in Denmark. He was the chair of the Danish Marketing Management Board, and board member at the Danish Business Association of Singapore. He holds an MBA from INSEAD in France, a bachelor degree from The Copenhagen Business School and a diploma from The International Advertising Association (IAA). He is the author of the book "Asian Brand Strategy: How Asia Builds Strong Brands? "