Advisory Boardt
John Treat
Mr. Treat is Vice President of Booz-Allen & Hamilton and a lead partner in the
firm's Energy and Chemical Practice. He has been involved in a variety of
strategic assignments for the top petrochemical companies around the world
including: development of an e*strategy for a major international petrochemical
company, development of international market entry strategies for two major
North American oil companies, war games for a number of multinational companies
on future strategies in Asia/Pacific, evaluation and restructuring of a major
enterprise in Mexico, establishment of a major new subsidiary for the largest
company in Venezuela, reorganization of a large company in the Middle East,
restructuring of the strategic portfolio of one of the largest petrochemical
companies in Italy.
Prior to Booz-Allen, Mr. Treat served as President of Regent International, a
venture capital company. During 1985-87, he served as Executive Publisher of
Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, and from 1984-85, he was a partner in the
investment-banking firm of Bear, Stearns and Company.
As president of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) from 1982-84, he led
the Exchange to international prominence. He also strengthened the Exchange's
market surveillance program and financial control systems.
Prior to NYMEX, Mr. Treat was responsible for international energy and strategic
materials policy in the White House as a member of the National Security
Council Staff under Presidents Carter and Reagan. He also served in a variety
of senior posts in the U.S. Department of Energy, including appointment as
Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs.
Mr. Treat is a frequent speaker in international conferences and is widely
quoted in general business publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New
York Times, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, Business Week and Fortune, as
well as specialized trade publications. He has also appeared frequently on
radio and television broadcasts, including the major networks, CNN and PBS. Mr.
Treat is the author/editor of several books, including 'Energy Futures: Trading
Opportunities for the 1990s', and the recently released 'Dinosaurs Can Fly:
Creating A High Performance International Petroleum Company'. He is listed in
Who's Who in America and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a
former trustee of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the San
Francisco Committee on Foreign Relations and the International Association for
Energy Economics. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the American
University in Cairo.
Mr. Treat received his BA degree in international economics from Princeton
University's Woodrow Wilson School and an MA degree, also in international
economics, from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International
Studies.
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Norman Wong
Norman Wong is currently Managing Director for Eastman's Greater China located
in Hong Kong responsible for all of Eastman's sales and investment activities
in Greater China, and Director of New Business Development for Eastman in Asia
Pacific responsible for exploring new business opportunities outside the
traditional "product-based" businesses of Eastman's. Prior to returning to Hong
Kong in December 1999, Norman Wong spent 7 months as Staff Assistant to
Executive Vice President in the Headquarters of Eastman Chemical Company at
Kingsport, Tennessee. He joined Eastman in 1996 as Business Development
Director, Greater China, after spending 15 years with the Dow Chemical Company
in Canada, Japan and Hong Kong.
Norman Wong has a thorough understanding of the chemical industry's technical
and management functions, having worked as a process computer engineer in
Canada and as a business analyst and planning manager in Japan and Hong Kong.
He has also been engaged in business development activities in China and Asia
Pacific for over 15 years.
He received bachelor's and master's degrees in biochemistry and a bachelor's
degree in chemical engineering from the University of British Columbia in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He also received a master's of business
administration degree in strategic marketing from the University of Hull.
He was a member of the Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong and Chartered
Institute of Marketing of UK.
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Michael Eckstut
Michael Eckstut was Senior Vice President of Business Development at
ChemConnect, a leading chemical on-line exchange based in San Francisco. He
drove the development of strategic partnerships and alliances of ChemConnect.
Mr. Eckstut has a broad range of business, technical, marketing, organizational,
and operational experience across all segments of the chemical industry, most
recently as head of the chemicals practice at A.T. Kearney, Inc. He developed
numerous business strategies for companies working in olefins and polymeric
composites, as well as supply chain strategies for specialty and commodity
companies, aiding in the post-acquisition integration of global chemical
companies. He also devised a successful turnaround action plan for a leading
Japanese chemicals and plastics producer.
Previously, Mr. Eckstut spent 14 years with Booz-Allen & Hamilton, the last
eight as Vice President, Head of Chemicals/Pharmaceuticals Practice, and a
member of Booz-Allen's Board of Directors.
Mr. Eckstut received his BA and MS in chemical engineering from Rensselear
Polytechnic Institute, and he graduated as a Baker Scholar from the MBA program
at Harvard University.
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Chao-Chyan (C.C.) Pai
C.C. recently retired from Dow Chemical after 26 years of service. He was the
Purchasing Director responsible for Dow Chemical's global raw materials and
energy sourcing, the world-wide business director managing Dow Chemical's
Specialty Coatings and Water Soluble Polymers Business and was actively
involved in mergers and acquisitions activities for eight years during Dow
Chemical's restructuring period starting 1985. In addition, C.C. represented
Dow Chemical as a board member for Meriden Corporation, a company engaging in
consortium purchasing.
C.C. received his MBA from the University of Houston in 1979 and MS in Chemical
Engineering from the University of Washington in 1975. He graduated from the
National Taiwan University in 1971 with a B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering.
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Dr. David Mueller
Dr. Mueller has been with Chevron Corporation for 27 years, the last 5 as
Managing Director and General Manager of Asia Pacific for Chevron Chemical,
based in Singapore. He has broad general management experience in multinational
operations, grassroots investment, company formations, licensing, joint
ventures, technology commercialization, restructurings and divestitures.
As General Manager of Oronite, a division of Chevron Chemical, and the lead
director for Oronite's Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Korean, and Australian
operating units, Dr. Mueller was responsible for management of its US$200
million world scale facilities. During his tenure, Oronite doubled its market
share to become a market leader in the Asia Pacific Region.
As General Manager of International Business Development of Chevron Chemical,
Dr. Mueller managed a team responsible for development of Saudi Chevron
Petrochemical, a $600 million, project-financed joint venture with the Saudi
Venture Capital Group, and evaluated projects in the Former Soviet Union, Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Mexico, Australia and Japan.
Dr. Mueller received a Ph.D. degree in Organometallic Chemistry from MIT and a
B.S. in Chemistry from Northwestern University (Phi Beta Kappa). He also
completed Senior Executive Program at London Business School.
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Dr. William Overholt
Dr. Overholt is director of Asian Policy of the RAND Coporation; former
Executive Director of Nomura Security International.
Before joining Nomura, Dr. Overholt was Managing Director at Bank Boston's
regional headquarters in Singapore. Prior to that, he worked at Bankers Trust
for 18 years, managing a country risk team in New York from 1980 to 1984 and
then serving as regional strategist and Asia research head based in Hong Kong
from 1985 to early 1998. From 1971 to 1979 Dr. Overholt worked at the Hudson
Institute, where he directed planning studies for the U.S. Department of
Defense, Department of State, National Security Council, National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, and Council on International Economic Policy. He
became Director of Hudson Research Services, which provided strategic planning
services to corporations.
Dr. Overholt is the author of five books, including most recently 'The Rise of
China' (W.W. Norton, 1993, and nine foreign editions), which won the
prestigious Mainichi News/Asian Affairs Research Center Special Book Prize. The
others are 'Political Risk' (Euromoney, 1982), and (with William Ascher)
'Strategic Planning and Forecasting' (John Wiley, 1983). He is principal
co-author of: 'Asia's Nuclear Future' (Westview Press, 1976) and 'The Future of
Brazil' (Westview Press, 1978). With Zbigniew Brzezinski, he founded the
semi-annual 'Global Assessment' in 1976 and edited it until 1988.
Dr. Overholt serves on the Executive Committee of the Business and Professionals
Federation of Hong Kong and was a Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce
in Hong Kong for six years. He serves on advisory boards for Harvard
University's Asia Center; the Hang Lung Center for Organizational Research at
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; and ChinaVest Ltd.
He has been a consultant on strategic planning and foreign affairs to the
Conference Board, the U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute, the Foreign
Service Institute, Dean Witter Reynolds, A.G. Becker, and numerous
corporations. He has served as political advisor to several of Asia's major
political figures and has done consulting projects for the Korea Development
Institute, Korea's National Defense College, the Philippine Ministry of
Agrarian Reform, and Thailand's Ministry of Universities.
Dr. Overholt received his B.A. (magna) from Harvard and his Master of Philosophy
and Ph.D. from Yale.
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Robert Tufts
Mr. Tufts is a partner of Tufts Stephenson and Kasper, LLP. He specialized in
general corporation presentation, with particular specialties in Silicon Valley
startups and emerging business and financings, mergers and acquisitions and
corporate taxation. Mr. Tufts is a member of California and New York Bars,
Certified Tax Specialist in corporate taxation, and the State of California
Board of Legal Specialization.
Mr. Tufts has served and is serving as directors and/or officers in various
corporations. He currently serves as a Governor and Secretary of the San
Francisco Symphony and a director of the Friends of the Bancroft Library
(University of California, Berkeley). He was the Chair of San Francisco Bay
Conservation and Development Commission, Trustee of the San Francisco Art
Institute, and President of the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association.
Mr. Tufts has written (and lectured) extensively on corporation matters and
corporate taxation, and has published works include 'Drafting Agreements for
the Sale of California Businesses', 'The Taxable Merger', and 'Transfer of a
Corporate Business to Another Corporation: Taxable Sale and Purchase of Stocks
or Assets'.
Mr. Tufts received B.A. from New York University and J.D. from Harvard Law
School
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Bruce Gilliat
Mr. Gilliat is President and CEO of Amazon.com's Alexa subsidiary, leading the
company's overall strategic development, sales, marketing, and business
development efforts.
Mr. Gilliat has a recognized background in sales and marketing in the networking
and information services industries. He was vice president of sales and
marketing at WAIS Inc., increasing revenues 400% in one year prior to the
company's purchase by America Online in 1995. From 1985 to 1994, he was vice
president of sales and marketing at Fibronics International, a fiber optic
distribution and FDDI manufacturer with $60 million in annual sales. Prior to
Fibronics, he was in marketing and technical support with AT&T.Mr.
Gilliat holds a B.S. in Information Science from Golden Gate University and has
completed studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and UC
Berkeley. He is a sought-after industry commentator and has been featured in
top media sources including the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio and
PC World.
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Brewster Kahle
Mr. Kahle is President of the Internet Archive Organization. He was formerly CEO
of Amazon.com's Alexa subsidiary in San Francisco, California. He co-founded
Alexa Internet with Bruce Gilliat in April 1996 and sold it to Amazon.com
(NASDAQ: AMZN) in June 1999.
Prior to that, Kahle invented WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) and in 1989
founded WAIS Inc., a pioneering electronic publishing company responsible for
putting Dow Jones, the New York Times, Encyclopaedia Britannica and other
companies on the Internet. He sold WAIS to America Online in 1995.
Earlier in his career, Kahle helped start Thinking Machines, a parallel
supercomputer maker in 1983. There he served as lead engineer and scientist and
architected a system used for mining large text collections.
Brewster Kahle earned a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT). He is profiled in Digerati: Encounters with the Cyber Elite (HardWired,
1996). He was selected as a member of the Upside 100 in 1997, MicroTimes 100
for 1996, 1997 and 1998, and Computer Week 100 in 1995 and has been extensively
profiled in the media. Kahle has spoken at numerous industry conferences
including keynote addresses for Internet World and Online World.
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Dr. Bernard Munk
Dr. Munk is the Principal of Munk Advisory Services, an investment advisory
service for professional investment managers and private investors and a Senior
Fellow at The Wharton School. Dr. Munk founded and operated six different
companies in international and domestic business active in Europe, the Far
East, Central and South America and Africa. The companies include: Penndel
Energy, Bemico Corporation, Protimex Corporation, Western Hemisphere
Industries, etc.
Dr. Munk's previous experiences include serving as the Chief Economist at Bowman
Capital Management, Visiting Professor of Board Of Governors, Federal Reserve
System, and a Fellow at The Brookings Institute. In 1991, he joined the Wharton
School of the University of Pennsylvania as Adjunct Professor of Management and
Senior Fellow in the SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management. At Wharton,
he created the Geopolitics course now offered as part of the new Wharton
curriculum and at the Wharton Executive MBA program.
Mr. Munk received his PhD (Economic); M.A. (Economics); and BA (History) from
the University of Chicago.
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Andrew Boccone
Mr. Boccone is a world famous expert in the specialty and fine chemical field.
He is currently a partner with Chemical Advisory Partners (CAP), a unique
consultancy focused exclusively on providing advice to senior executives on the
issues and challenges confronting the global chemical industry.
Before CAP, Mr. Boccone is the President of the Kline & Company, a leading
international business research firm. In his 27 years with the firm he
developed growth strategies and provided business solutions for senior
management of the firm's multinational specialty chemical and fine chemical
clients.
He is a member of the Board of Directors and past President of the Soci▅t▅ de
Chimie Industrielle-American Section; past President of the Commercial
Development and Marketing Association; and a member of the Board of Directors
of the Joseph Priestley Society of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. He
currently serves on the Board of Directors of United-Guardian, a publicly
traded manufacturer of performance chemicals for the health and personal care
industries, and he is a member of the Advisory Board of Inmat, Inc., a leading
supplier of aqueous-based nanocomposite barrier coatings.
He has been a frequent contributor to industry journals, The Wall Street
Journal, and has lectured at various business schools in the United States. In
addition, Mr. Boccone has presented papers on the opportunities, trends, and
critical success factors in the specialty and fine chemical industries at
numerous business forums in the United States, Europe, Mexico, Japan and
Singapore.
Mr. Boccone holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Hofstra University
and an MBA from Seton Hall University.
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