Overview

Gender

male

Brian is an experienced internet executive and angel investor with 16+ years of experience of management and operations experience in ecommerce and media in Greater China, SE Asia, India, the US and Europe.

He presently manages his private investments through Seacliff Partners Limited providing seed capital and mentoring to consumer-oriented start-ups in ecommerce, digital media/entertainment, and hospitality and F&B (QSR) industries.

Most recently he served as CEO of a portoflio company, alive.cn, an online network that connects celebrities and sponsors for creative collaborations and brokers celebrity endorsements with major brands through social media.

Prior to this, Brian was a senior executive at the Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce company for nearly 10 years. As the 52nd employee, he helped build the business from an apartment start-up to a multi-billion dollar operation that is now one of the world’s leading e-commerce companies. Brian played a myriad of roles during the Alibaba.com’s development from Chief Web Producer, to head of International Marketing, Senior Director of Strategic Business Development, VP of Global Sales, and most recently VP of Supplier Development. During that time Brian established and managed numerous teams and businesses groups in China, India, US, SE Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Prior and in between Brian’s time at Alibaba.com he held roles as an executive at the McGraw-Hill Companies, as a management consultant in Hong Kong and San Francisco, and as Special Assistant to Mayor Willie L. Brown of San Francisco.

Brian grew up in Palo Alto, CA, and earned his BA from Swarthmore College, a Master’s Certificate from The Johns Hopkins University (SAIS)-Nanjing University Center, and an MBA from The Wharton School. He is a member of the Wharton Executive Alumni Board, the Hong Kong Forum, AngelVest Group, and a board member of the 1990 Institute.