TsaiComms

Lillian A. Tsai is a 25-year marketing and communications veteran and President of TsaiComms. The daughter of a Chinese Davis Cup player, Tsai's Malaysian-Chinese upbringing and diverse cultural experiences living and working in Asia, Europe and the U.S. have given her a unique perspective and appreciation of different cultural styles, especially in the corporate environment.

Ms. Tsai's diverse work experience from the Silicon Forest to Singapore to Stuttgart includes companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Mentor Graphics, GemStone Systems, Brokat Technologies and Encorus Technologies.

In addition to strategic marketing, TsaiComms also offers cross-cultural workshops and Asian community outreach services. TsaiComms was listed on the Portland Business Journal's 2003 Top 25 Minority Owned Businesses after its first year of operations.

Prior to partnering with TsaiComms LLC, Ted Cruise was the General Manager of Blount, Inc.'s $16 Million, 100,000 Sq. Ft. manufacturing plant in Fuzhou, China. Ted directed the project from concept to production in 14 months. He selected, hired, trained, and managed the staff of over 60 at all levels of the operation. Ted brings more than 15 years of manufacturing experience and more than six years of direct China work to his clients. His areas of expertise include:

• Risk Identification and Mitigation
• Manufacturing Systems and Lean Manufacturing
• Supply Chain Management
• Total Quality Management and Statistical Quality Control
• Human Relations Management and Compliance in China
• Managing Expatriates

Earlier in his career, Ted worked as a Supply Chain Manager, Project Manager, and Manufacturing Engineer. He holds an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering and a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering from The Ohio State University and Michigan Technological University respectively. He has taught at Clark College and Clackamas Community College. Ted is conversant in Mandarin Chinese.

Dr. Jason Patent has over two decades of experience with China, including over seven years living in China. His work has spanned the worlds of education, for-profit business, and non-profit organizations. Jason is deeply grounded in Chinese culture through a rare combination of blue chip education, language mastery, in-country experience, and scholarly research. He is known for his uncanny ability to teach, and to find practical uses for theoretical concepts. Jason is committed to using his talents to foster understanding and successful collaboration between people in the U.S. and in China.

Jason's passion for China began when he was a child, hearing stories from his father and grandparents, who, as stateless Jews, lived through the Japanese occupation and Communist revolution in Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s. As an undergraduate at Harvard, Jason studied Chinese language and history. A year after graduating he went to China for the first time: to the industrial northern Manchurian outpost of Qiqihar. The painful lessons Jason learned that first year planted the seed of his commitment to preparing Westerners properly before they go to China. He went on to earn an M.A. from Stanford in East Asian Studies and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in Linguistics. From 2004–2007 he served as inaugural Director of the Stanford Program in Beijing. Since 2007 Jason has been consulting in the private sector, and helping both Chinese and Westerners understand their own and the others' mindsets, so that precious dollars and hours are not wasted, and ventures are poised for maximum success.

Jason is a frequent speaker at organizations interested in learning more about Chinese culture from an American perspective. He is currently Vice President, Communications & Marketing for Orchestrall, Inc.