CNBC was more interesting than CNN. Wall Street Journal was more intriguing than New York Times. Securing two college internships on Wall Street exposed me to investment banking and my mind was mad once I got staffed on transactions. Every incoming investment banking analyst from my generation can probably attribute some influence to reading “Liar’s Poker” or “Predators’ Ball” in aspiring to be either Gutfreund or Milken. Today, I've accumulated a more balanced view of the business, which leads me to find humor and irony in the “Monkey Business” satire.

My father spent hours talking to me during my teens about his journey to his present, never forgetting to remind me about my identity and to learn Chinese so that I could straddle opportunities that he believed would be coming. During my twenties, I ambitiously wrote in my business school application essays that my plans post-graduation would entail going to China to apply Wall Street-style training in M&A and PE investing given its industry infancy. Perhaps I was a thoughtful planner and or a diligent worker, but in reality, I admit luck played a starring role (as with most event-driven situations in life). About three years ago, Houlihan Lokey gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to devise from a clean sheet of paper, and execute with global support, its market-entry strategy into China.

In relocating to Beijing, I had planned for the best and ended up learning more in two years than my preceding decade given the situations that arose in managing the business during the unpredictable aftermath of the global financial crisis. I learned what is (and what is not) transferrable, executable, controllable, and believable. The depths of my personal resolve were tested and the characters of others revealed. The list of lessons is extensive and my exploits in China could be written as a compilation of war stories like others preceding me. For the invaluable journey, I am thankful for two former mentors, Mr. Zukin and Mr. Flanigan, who separately extended unequivocal support from my first to last days while working for them.

People -- relationships upon relationships, from the US to China, from professional to personal, were utilized to build a trusted and reliable local infrastructure. China is notorious for having intricate weaves of interconnected relationships that merge social and commercial interests, thus identifying kingmakers and rainmakers and where unspoken mutual interests may cross was necessary. Prior experience from having traveled to China to work with executives and having learned differences in communications and expectations provided a foundation for the challenges. Knowing how to apply contradictory behaviors from humility versus confidence, speed versus patience, indirect versus direct, and ambiguity versus commitment, was exhausting. Aside from work, I used certain third-party service providers who simplified my life between the US and China; HSBC Premier, for example, was convenient for their instantaneous global wire transfers and a credit card that does not charge transaction costs on foreign purchases.

Unlike other online social mediums in which there is no selectively, I find the invite-only and selectivity of Privy in its membership a primary advantage. I trust the friends and extended friends within the exclusive network, and rely upon their recommendations when I travel to new cities. Because I travel frequently, I like having the benefits of knowing who is in town and being able to synchronize my itinerary with friends and extended friends. In addition, I like having the option to learn what my friends suggest as their Privy 5 in the event that their choices align with my interests.

Running came easy and I won cross-country races as a teenager, and then Mt. SAC in high school, but I hated the pavement pounding and found myself transitioning into cycling to cross train.  What started as riding from city to city transitioned to county to counties, and then became racing as a junior. The majority of my twenties were spent logging thousands of miles in the saddle dreaming of racing through the French Alps and crossing the Avenue des Champs-Élysées finish at the Tour de France. Life did not turn out that way because I discovered my mediocrity, which meant placing second at collegiate conference championships was peaking. Swimming started in my thirties when I picked up racing IRONMAN on a dare, so that became my first triathlon in a string. My swimming form was lousy as I struggled to stay afloat, thus my goal became perfecting the technique in order to go faster and farther as to not handicap my other splits. If work was optional, I would move to the white sand beaches of Hawaii and plan out my calendar in order to train and race again around the world.

Read. Write. Family. I enjoy topics on businesses, financial markets, and biographies for the serious stuff, and architecture, industrial design, kitchens, fashion, automotive, and, of course, pro cycling for the leisure stuff.  Print is better than online, and I sink into a comfortable chair in a quiet corner sitting at a book store reading and browsing for hours. Since I spend so much time reviewing mountains of financial analyses for work, I enjoy doing the opposite to relax, hence, enjoy writing despite my inferior composition skills. I also spend as much time as possible when at home in the US with my father, mother, and sister and tend be a homebody to make sure I do not miss out on sharing quality time while they are healthy. If my kids [one day when married] would desire such close relationships with me, then I would be blessed.

I was recruited by BOCI or the full-service global investment banking arm of Bank of China in order to develop, lead and build the cross-border M&A practice. BOCI has the strongest brand name and the highest league table rankings in equities underwriting among Chinese investment banks and ranks top-3 among global investment banks in Hong Kong. While its equities underwriting business will continue to drive the platform, M&A represents another financial product that can add strategic and financial value to its clients. I will be tapping into the expansive client base to advise on what I believe will become a larger wave of cross-border M&A, and in more sophisticated transactions.  

It did not start that way, but this is how it has ended up, at least for now. I started in corporate finance and leveraged finance, and along the way dabbled in sales & trading in fixed income and equities. The transition was attributed to choosing a financial product that would involve broader strategic decisions. To simplify, think of corporate finance as husband giving wife money in a one-way transaction based solely on her merits, and M&A as a pre-arranged conditional marriage in a two-way transaction based on joint and separate husband and wife merits for combining assets and liabilities in a two-way transaction, yet also involving husband giving wife money.  It is a twisted comparison, I know.

It is perhaps the world’s worst kept secret that we will witness profound changes in the shifting of global economic, financial and political powers during the next two decades as leadership regimes, markets and policies unfold within China, and international alliances are formed. Think globally.  Choose wisely.