Team
Kyung H. Yoon, Founder & CEO
Kyung is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Talent Age Associates. Prior to founding Talent Age, Kyung spent 14 years with Heidrick & Struggles, Inc.,
(NASDAQ: HSII), a global leader in the executive search industry, most recently
as Vice Chairman. During her career with Heidrick & Struggles, Kyung was a leader in the firm’s expansion in Asia with management responsibility for the Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai and Seoul offices. Kyung’s client list includes Fortune 500 and global multinational companies, including CP Group, CapitaLand, Dell, Hubert Burda Media Group, IBM, Komag, Maxtor, McKinsey, Merck, Microsoft, Nokia, NOL, Philips, Samsung, Seagate, Singapore Technologies, SK Telecom, Sybase, TSMC and Unisys. In the financial services field, Kyung has worked with international investment banks and private equity/ venture capital firms such as Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, DFJ, Doll Capital Management, DT Capital, GGV, Globespan Capital, GSR Ventures, H&Q Asia Pacific, IDG, IVP, JPMorgan Partners, Keytone Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield Fund, Menlo Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Newbridge Capital, PAMA, Venrock Associates, Walden International and Warburg Pincus.
In the field of executive coaching, Kyung is a certified coach with Newfield
Network and has designed and
led CEO and executive coaching programs for the
Asia America MultiTechnology Association (AAMA), and corporate and
individual executive clients.
Prior to Heidrick & Struggles, Kyung was President of Benten Investments,
Inc., President of Pacific Union Asset Management and Vice President of
Dillingham Development Company. Kyung began her career with Banque Nationale
de Paris.
Kyung earned a B.A. degree in economics and French from Goucher College in
Baltimore, Maryland, and holds an M.B.A. degree in finance and marketing
from the University of Chicago.
Kyung serves on the board of directors of SVB Financial Group (Nasdaq:
SIVB). She is Trustee, past
Chairman of the Board and President of the Asia
America MultiTechnology Association. Kyung also serves
on Stanford
University's Project on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE)
Greater China Networks Project Advisory Board and the Advisory Board of Asia
Society.
In 2008, Kyung received the “Women of the Year - Guiding Light Award for
Leadership” from the Society of Asian Women Leaders. Kyung was also awarded
the "2004 Asia Pacific Leadership Award" by the University of San Francisco
Center for the Pacific Rim for building bridges of understanding between
Asian cultures and the U.S. Kyung was recognized among the "Most Influential
Women of 2003" by the American Cities Business Journal. She also was
selected as one of the top executive recruiters in the world in Nancy
Garrison-Jenn's book, "The Global 200 Executive Recruiters." In 2001, Kyung
was awarded the Heidrick & Struggles Globe Trotter Award for her role in
helping to expand the firm's presence internationally.
Kyung is frequent speaker at international and other executive conferences,
including the World Economic Forum, Harvard Business School, State of the
World Forum, the Corporate Governance Seminar in Singapore, The Asia
Society, the Global Human Resource Institute, the Mexico Business Summit on
Corporate Governance, the 17th Annual California Governor's Conference for
Women and the Global Summit of Women and Korea Information Technology
Network Conference (KINCON).
Kyung has been featured on CNBC's Managing Asia, Working Women in Asia and
SmartMoney Asia, as well as in newspaper and magazine interviews in the
Sunday Times, The Business Times in Singapore, Han Kook Il-Bo, Business Weekly in Korea, South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and
Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.
E-mail: kyung@talentage.com
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Brenda Kwee McNulty, Principal, Financial Services and Cross-border
Brenda is responsible for conducting search assignments in
the financial services industry and nonprofit organizations. Brenda’s
professional background is steeped in managing relationships and
facilitating financial transactions involving individuals and institutions.
She brings over three decades of financial and management experience
advising individuals and institutions to navigate through the cycle of
wealth accumulation to wealth management often with cross-border attributes.
Her areas of specialty are business development, sales and marketing,
diversity and community outreach.
Prior to joining Talent Age Associates, Brenda worked in the finance and
treasury functions of a major corporation before focusing on the banking and
wealth management, working for global leaders such as Citibank, Warburgs,
Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo and UBS. She has worked and lived in
international finance markets including New York, London, Hong Kong and the
Bay area and has developed an acute cultural sensitivity in facilitating
cross-border transactions. Her last project to develop an international
program for UCSF has sparked a personal interest to help non-profits apply
sales and management skills effectively to achieve defined goals.
Brenda earned a B.A. degree with Honors in Economics from Le Moyne College
in Syracuse, New York, an M.B.A degree in Finance from Syracuse University
and an A.P.C. in Accounting from New York University. She was registered as
a Financial Advisor with the Securities and Finance Commission in Hong Kong
and was designated a General Securities Representative in California.
She is fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin and retains a basic
knowledge of French.
Brenda serves on the board of directors of the Association of Asian American
Bankers and is Chairman Emerita of the Asian Business League of San
Francisco. She has served on the board of directors of Singapore American
Business Association, Institute of International Education, Western Region,
Hong Hong Students Association and The American Club in Hong Kong. She is an
active supporter of the Asian Art Museum and has served on the Connoisseur’s
Council and the Exhibitions and Publications Committee. While at Wells
Fargo, Brenda co-founded the Asian Connection, an employee affinity group
and was an acting inaugural member of the board of Asian Pacific Islander
Scholarship Fund where Wells Fargo is a founding corporate sponsor. She has
been awarded Annual Recognition for Diversity at Wells Fargo for three
consecutive years for her contribution to diversity.
Grace E. Niwa, Principal
Grace is responsible for executing top level executive search assignments focusing on marketing, media, consumer, financial, ecommerce and non-profit organizations. Grace brings over 12 years of working in
public relations and marketing for multinational corporations, institutions and NGO’s including Anheuser-Busch Inbev, GlaxoSmithKline, AZN TV, AsianWeek Foundation, Stanford University, San Francisco-Shanghai Sister City Committee, International Media Distribution, White House Initiative For Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Asia Society & Museum, International Sejong Soloists and Korea’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Prior to joining Talent Age Associates, she was Founder and Principal of Niwa Public Relations, a full-service communications agency with expertise in strategic counsel and program development, message development, positioning high profile talent, integrated social media campaigns, community relations, fundraising, event management, corporate and government affairs.
A former concert pianist, Grace holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. She made her New York debut at Carnegie Hall in 1996 and has made solo, orchestra and chamber music performances in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Seoul, Pusan and New York City.
E-mail: grace@talentage.com
Teresa Tan-Vial, Principal
Teresa is responsible for CEO, Vice-President and Director-level searches.
She brings more than 13 years of international professional and academic experience in executive search, information technology and financial services, working with global investment banks and leading executive search firms in Europe, Asia and the US.
Prior to joining TalentAge Associates, Teresa focused on managing senior-level searches for public and venture-backed organizations in Singapore and at Spencer Stuart in San Francisco, supporting the technology and life sciences practices.
Before entering the search profession, she spent 6 years at leading investment banks including Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch in the UK and Japan where she was supporting global software development and responsible for regional deployment.
Teresa was born in Hong Kong, grew up in Singapore and was educated in the UK. She brings a great degree of cultural sensitivity to international business as she has traveled around the world and lived and worked in Europe, Asia and now the US.
Teresa earned a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Computer Science from Kingston University, UK and a M.S. degree in Organization Development from the University of San Francisco. Teresa is fluent in English, Mandarin and retains a basic knowledge of Japanese.
E-mail: teresa@talentage.com
Rebecca Chou, Partner, Leadership Development
Rebecca is responsible for the Talent Age leadership development practice
area. Rebecca is also President
of Chou & Schmidt, Inc., a San
Francisco-based consulting organization that focuses on helping startups and
multinational firms increase their business capabilities through building
better people systems, coaching, training and development programs with
special emphasis on North American and Asian companies.
Rebecca brings over 25 years of combined consulting and Fortune 500
executive experience in human resources and professional development to the
team. In her consulting capacity, she has provided an array
of human
resource services, coached executives, and helped train managers of
multinational firms and high technology startups. Training topics included
leadership, front line management, performance management, coaching and
feedback, building high performance teams, managing across cultures, and
personal speaking styles. A partial client list includes Medtronic,
Honeywell, Cray Computers, HP, Sun Microsystems, Siemens, Lacoste, PG&E,
NSP, IDS, Applied Materials, LSI Logic, Channel A, and ComputerLand of
Silicon Valley.
She has trained executives across the United States and in
Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and
Great Britain.
Rebecca’s Fortune 500 experience includes Vice President of Human Resources
at SYNNEX Corporation
(one of top 10 Silicon Valley corporations), and
executive positions at Northwest Airlines (Delta), Pillsbury (General
Mills), and global management at Amdahl (Fujitsu) Corporation.
To help companies in China and Chinese speaking clients in the US, Rebecca
has designed and conducted customized training workshops in Mandarin
Chinese. The topics included leadership, management, career development for
Asian professionals, sales and customer service.
Rebecca earned a B.A. degree in English Literature from the University of
Tamkang, Taiwan, and a M.A. degree in Counseling, with clinical emphasis,
from the University of New Mexico. She is a graduate of a yearlong
Intergovernmental Leadership Program and an Executive Development Program in
Customer
Service Excellence, Kellogg Graduate School of Business. She is a
certified trainer of Achieve Global and Inscape Publishing. Rebecca serves
on the Board of Directors of the Asia America MultiTechnology Association.
Rebecca is past President of the Organization of Chinese Americans, the
Industry Liaison
Group of Northern California.
E-mail: rebecca@talentage.com
Wayne B. Snyder, Partner, Interim Financial Management
Wayne is responsible for the Talent Age interim financial management
practice area. Prior to joining
Talent Age, Wayne was an independent
financial consultant working with early-stage, venture-backed companies in a
wide variety of industries including enterprise application software,
network storage devises, optical components, software and hardware
networking solutions. As interim Chief Financial Officer, Wayne established
the processes and infrastructure for accounting and financial control,
financial reporting, budgeting, and longer-term financial planning. In
addition, he assisted with business plan preparation and fund raising.
Prior to 2000, Wayne was Chief Financial Officer for public and private
companies including Zip2 Corp.
(online, localized portal-building
technology, sold to Altavista, Compaq), MoSys, Inc. (semiconductor),
Siebel
Systems, Inc. (enterprise software, sold to Oracle), Anthem Electronics,
Inc. (electronic component distribution, sold to Arrow Electronics), and
W.G. Holt, Inc. (semiconductor). He began his career in the oil
and gas
industry with Chevron.
Wayne earned a B.A. degree in economics from the University of California,
Santa Barbara and an M.B.A. degree in finance from Indiana University,
Bloomington.
E-mail: wayne@talentage.com
Lin L. Chan, Partner, Interim Financial Management
Lin has over 25 years in international finance with start-ups and
multinationals. Her industry experience includes commodities, manufacturing,
cleantech, nanotechnology, internet, communications, storage, semiconductor
and consumer products. Lin's experience includes finance and accounting,
public and private financings, mergers and acquisitions, commodity
transactions, licensing transactions, overseas outsourcing and
manufacturing, legal and IP, systems implementation, international tax
planning, HR, board governance and investor relations.
Lin heads up a consulting practice since 2001 and a partial list of her
clients include: Aperto Networks,
a wireless broadband technology provider
(www.apertonet.com), Ugobe, a consumer robotics company (www.pleoworld.com),
InSkin Media, an online advertising format company (www.inskinmedia.co.uk),
Pacific Investors, a late stage private equity investment company
(www.pi888.com), Pictopia, a photo ecommerce provider (www.pictopia.com),
Optiva Inc., a nanomaterials company, GeoCOM International Ltd.,
a South
American wireless carrier company, and Emergency Filtration Products, a
filtration medical
products manufacturer.
Lin was the CFO and EVP for Crystal Technology Inc.
(www.crystaltechnology.com, a spin-off from Siemens AG), the world's largest
producer of Lithium Niobate crystals for the multimedia industry from 2006
to 2008 (featured on KRON4 news as one of "Silicon Valley's Best Run
Companies"). From 2002 to 2005, she served as the CFO and VP of
Administration for BitMicro Network Inc. (www.bitmicro.com). From 2000 to
2001,
Lin served as the CFO for MeetWorldTrade, Inc. (dba MeetChina.com), a
privately held Internet B2B company. Lin also served as Corporate Controller
for PC-Tel, Inc. (www.pctel.com) from 1997 to 2000, where she established
the infrastructure that enabled it to become the fastest growing company in
Silicon Valley, while managing the company’s IPO and secondary offering,
raising a total of $200 million, and creating a market capitalization
exceeding $2 billion. Additionally, she led PC-Tel’s largest acquisition of
a wireless company, which resulted in the doubling of the company’s market
capitalization. Her career also includes stints as Controller for SOLA
International (www.sola.com), a $500 million global healthcare product
manufacturer, where she was involved in SOLA’s listing on the NYSE, as well
as Controller for Pilkington plc (www.pilkington.com), a $4 billion UK
multinational.
Lin is a Board Member for Digislide Holdings Ltd. (www.digislide.com.au), a
microprojector public company in Australia. She served as a board member for
Nanosig Association, which promoted the commercialization of nanotechnology.
She has also served on the boards of Nanospire Inc., GeoCOM International,
and Planned Parenthood as Treasurer and Strategic Planning Chairperson. Lin
holds an MBA from Santa Clara University (1993) and an Accounting and
Finance degree from the University of Tasmania, Australia (1983).
E-mail: linlchan@aol.com