Mr. Hsiao is a well-recognized entrepreneur in the mobile telecommunications industry. Since 2000, he has founded three start-ups including InphoMatch, which was acquired by Sybase (Now SAP) for $425M in 2006. Currently, he serves as CEO of Hooks Mobile, bringing his extensive expertise in the wireless industry to the company. Mr. Hsiao has been appointed by the Governor in Virginia, Bob McDonnell, to serve on the Board of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority in Virginia. Hsiao also serves on the Board of Governors at MIT Sloan School of Management, Monte Jade DC Chapter, Confucius Institute at George Mason University (GMU), and Advisory Board at Rutgers University College of Engineering. Hsiao has a Honors BSEE from Rutgers University and SM (MBA) from MIT Sloan School of Management.
Gavin Ye is a patent attorney and a partner at Bayes PLLC. His decade-long
experience includes patent asset creation and transaction, portfolio management, client
counseling, patent litigation before federal district courts and Section 337 investigations
before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), and post-grant proceedings
before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO). He leverages his extensive experience in patent prosecution and
patent litigation to strategically protect his clients’ intellectual properties and to defend
the clients against patent infringement claims.
Brian is a startup evangelist, advisor, and angel investor. He is the director for Startup Grind DC and Managing Partner at the SparkLabs Cyber+Blockchain (formerly Fishbowl Labs), which is the premiere startup accelerator in the Washington DC area. He is also the Director of Technology for Curator Solutions, which is an edtech startup that creates video business cases for the classroom.
He was also formerly the global COO of Startup Grind, which is the one of the largest hi-tech startup communities in the world with over 2,000,000 startup entrepreneurs in 600 cities.
Prior to Startup Grind, he has over 18 years professional experience in web/online/mobile product development. He has experience in developing innovative consumer and enterprise products and services. Brian has started three previous startups – Logistics Information Technology, VA Care ($20M in Revenues), and Securva. He has previously worked at AOL as a senior software developer and Merrill Lynch as a software developer for hi speed trading platforms.
He has been featured in Forbes as “17 Top Business Gurus to Follow”, DCInno 50 on Fire for 2017 and 2018 and other publications such as TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Politico, and Washington Business Journal.
He has a BS in Information Systems/Policy & Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Sindy Yeh is the Senior Business Ambassador for Arlington Economic Development. She brings to her position more than 20 years of experience in business development and program management. In her current role, she assists Arlington companies to expand and/or relocate in the community in an effort to grow the economy of Arlington, Virginia. She is also a Certified Economic Developer.
Prior to joining Arlington Economic Development, Sindy was employed in the telecommunications industry concentrating on international business development and licensing. She has worked for Iridium, an international satellite telecommunications consortium, as well as the fixed wireless company, Teligent. Sindy utilizes this experience in her current position, encouraging domestic and international companies to locate in Arlington, and working to retain those companies already doing business in the County.
Sindy has a B.A. in Economics and Music from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts; and a M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. She serves on the board of the Washington Network Group and the Northern Virginia Technology Council (International Committee); and is a member of the International Economic Development Council and the Virginia Economic Development Association.
As the current Chief Architect and Co-Founder of ThreatQuotient, Wayne Chiang utilizes his 10+ years of cross-functional industry experience to deliver elegant solutions to complex problems in Cybersecurity, FinTech and AgTech. Wayne is a perpetual optimizer and can’t stop constantly analyzing strategies to improve existing processes. Additionally, Wayne serves as a Board Advisor for the Virginia Tech Apex Center for Entrepreneurs. He is actively involved in the DC startup ecosystem and fantasizes about normal working hours.
Amy Gao is the founder and President of Spatial Front Incorporated (SFI), a technology company that excels in geospatial and enterprise IT solutions. SFI develops software products for data consolidation and provides IT services to many federal agencies, state and local government, and commercial customers.
Prior to founding SFI, Amy worked for Fortune 500 companies including IBM and SAIC, as well as various government agencies, and worked as an adjunct professor at a local college. Amy is passionate about technologies and the creative use of them to improve people’s life.
Michael is founder and principal of MZ Capital Management, a fiduciary advisory firm serving entrepreneurs and physicians in DC metro area. He is also a published author, public speaker and comedian. He won best storyteller awards in multiple cities. He’s the host of a popular monthly story comedy show and he produces a quarterly musical improvisation show. Michael is passionate about living a simple and flourishing life and enabling his clients to do so.
In September 1992, Haiwen Lee Mackleer came to the United States of America from Taiwan, Republic of China. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from West Virginia University in 1995.
Soon after her graduation, she and her husband resided and taught English in Japan for two years.
Haiwen came back to the States with her family in 1998 and started her banking career first at Provident Bank, then Chevy Chase Bank, and finally Capital Bank since 2003. Other than full time working at bank institutions, Haiwen has also been heavily involved in Asian community organizations.
Currently, Haiwen is serving on the Board of Directors for the Monte Jade Science and Technology DC chapter, Asian American Chamber of Commerce (AACC), and is the Chairperson for the Maryland Council of AACC.
She is an active member of many local non-profit organizations such as KOBE Government Contracting Alliance. She is also an advocate for Asian Pacific American Advisory Group ( APAAG) for Montgomery county, MD (Executive office and council).
Haiwen recently joined Cathay Bank in Rockville, Maryland as a Vice President and Branch Manager.
Haiwen’s passion and determination lead her to find success wherever she goes!
Kenneth Lew rose through the ranks of the software consulting company, Noblestar Systems, Inc., to become CEO in 2005. Mr. Lew believes innovation is the key to successful technology implementation; a belief he fully embodies in The Innovation Network, IN to which he founded in 2010.
Mr. Lew began his career at Noblestar in May 1996 as a consultant who implemented solutions using PeopleSoft solutions. He acquired much of his global work experience through the deployment of ERP implementations throughout the US, Europe, and Asia Pacific. As Managing Director, he built the ERP and packaged software practices at Noblestar.
From Noblestar, Mr. Lew founded the Innovation Network, IN At IN, Mr. Lew leads IN and delivers expertise in grants program management, process improvement, assessments, audits, IT strategy, and software implementations. IN focuses on outcome, providing real time insight, enhanced collaboration for the non profit organizations including foundations, research organizations, and government organizations. IN delivered SaaS grant solutions to manage the full lifecycle of grant making and grant seeking.
Mr. Lew is a member of the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association and a frequent guest speaker on technology and innovation at conferences and other events. Mr. Lew holds an M.S. in Software Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in Information Systems from the University of Maryland. He has a passion for contributing his leadership to youth organizations such as the Colonnade Society of the University of Maryland and the Chinese Youth Club. Mr. Lew also supports a number of non profits and small emerging companies. He is on the board for IFC Martial Arts and Fitness to promote health and fitness through martial arts. Mr. Lew also supports Stocks In the Future (sifonline.org), a non profit to provide students real-world financial education and improve financial literarcy in society. Mr. Lew also serves on the Advisory Board for Cybertech, a next generation recruiting, resourcing, and outsourcing organization.
Today, Mr. Lew is the Director of Digital Services for eTRANSERVICES. eTRANSERVICES acquired IN in 2021, where Mr. Lew is providing the UDPaaS no code, low code capable automation framework. UDPaaS is a complete development framework that allows one to transform their organization to the cloud and streamline business processes. UDPaaS supports a product store that provides grant management, case management, and host of other SaaS products that are configurable. See UDPaaS.com for more details.
Chufeng Huang is a dedicated board member at The Monte Jade Science and Technology Association of Greater Washington, with a strong background in software development, IT consulting, and information security. With over 5 years of active involvement, Chufeng plays a vital role in maintaining the organization’s website and supporting events. Passionate about working with startups, Chufeng leverages their expertise to connect people and provide valuable resources for their success.
Fang Liu is the co-founder and a senior partner of VCL Law LLP. VCL Law LLP is a boutique corporate and securities law firm located in the Greater DC area and Texas. Ms. Liu focuses her practice in the areas of corporate and securities law, with an emphasis on initial public offerings. Ms. Liu has deep experience in advising globally-based companies on going public in the US and advising FINRA registered broker dealers on underwritten offerings. Ms. Liu is also the co-author of widely publicized annual reports on the overview of Chinese IPOs in the US.
Fei Xing, with a Ph.D. in mathematics, serves as the Director of Analytics at Mathematica. At Mathematica, Fei spearheads data science initiatives that enhance operations and bolster decision-making for a diverse array of federal, state, and commercial stakeholders.
Fei holds board positions in several non-profit organizations, including the North America Federation of Tsinghua Alumni Association (NAFTHAA), the Chinese American Data Science and Engineering Association (CADSEA), and the Tsinghua Alumni Association in Greater Washington DC, alongside Monte Jade.
Richard is the Founder/CEO of maka.AI, a Boston-based tech AI start-up, incubated from MIT
Innovation headquarters. Richard serves as an advisor for the Tech AI program of MIT Schwarzman
College of Computing.
Richard is also a co-founder of Veritas Education and BranchOut!. Veritas Education is an education
institution that provides holistic education (K-12 enrichment class and college application counseling)
to students with offices in DC/MD/VA, NY/NJ, and Boston. BranchOut! is a youth education
leadership community service program focused on promoting STEAM for students in underserved
communities in the DMV area and Boston since 2015.
Richard was with Freddie Mac for more than 10 years focused on capital market and investment, big
data, machine learning, technologies, etc. Before Freddie Mac, he was a consultant at
PricewaterhouseCoopers. Concurrently, Richard was involved in the Fairfax County Public School
(FCPS) system in VA actively. He served on the various committees of FCPS for a few years.
Richard completed his visiting fellowship at MIT Sloan School of Business. He earned his master’s in
business administration from the University of Maryland and a M.S. in computer science from
Southeastern University.
