advisors
Chandran Nair
Chairman and Advisor
Chandran is an advisor and chairman for Avantage Ventures, as well as the founder of the Global Institute For Tomorrow. He seeks practical, long-term solutions through Global Institute For Tomorrow's Young Leaders Program. The Young Leaders Program is an innovative executive development program which takes participants from around the world to define a social enterprise business opportunity in Asia. Chandran was also Chairman of Environmental Resources Management in Asia Pacific from 1991 to 2004. When he left in 2004, he had developed the consulting company from an office of 10 people in Hong Kong to a strength of 500 employees in 12 countries.
For more than a decade Chandran has strongly advocated a more sustainable approach to development in Asia, and has helped governments of Taiwan and Hong Kong instill these principles into their key decision-making processes. He continues to advise the Hong Kong government, devising a new approach that gives the public a bigger role in key policy making decisions. He provides strategic management advice and coaching to business leaders with a focus on achieving growth targets and bringing about organisational change. Corporations seek his advice on how to meet the challenges of doing business in Asia as well as on globalisation, on investment geo-politics, on leadership development, ethics, sustainability, and on corporate social responsibility. He has addressed many of these issues at forums around the world, notably at speaking engagements in London, New York, Washington, and Sydney, and all of the major Asian capitals.
Chandran is a also visiting scholar at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s School of Business, running a course "Leading in Asia for the Future" as part of the university MBA program. He brings a wealth of experience and commitment to his role as Chairman at Avantage Ventures.
Chandran believes that "at a time when so much of what has been taken for granted about investment strategies and the world we live in is being de-constructed, Avantage Ventures provides a platform for smart investors to diversify and support social entrepreneurs who will create some of the most interesting and valuable businesses of the future”.
Bernard Fung
Advisor
Bernard Fung is the Chairman and CEO of AON Asia Pacific. Mr. Fung was appointed to this role in 1997. He is a member of Aon Corporation’s Executive Committee and is responsible for Aon’s Asia Pacific operations headquartered in Hong Kong. Aon is the world’s largest insurance broker and has operations in 125 countries. It is a Fortune 500 company and listed on the New York and London Stock Exchange.
From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Fung served as Chief Executive Officer of Inchcape Insurance Brokers in Asia which became part of Aon in 1997.
Prior to returning to Hong Kong in 1994, he headed Aon’s Canadian retail broking operations in Toronto. Previously, he was Global Managing Director of Aon’s Risk Management Consulting operations, based in New York.
Mr. Fung has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from St Mary’s University in Halifax, Novia Scotia, Canada and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Ontario, Canada in 1996 with KPMG. He attained his Associate in Risk Management (ARM) degree through the Insurance Institute of America, and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business Administration.
Bill Hart
Advisor
Bill Hart has worked around the world for international mining and resource companies since 1984. He is currently employed by Cliffs Natural Resources and heads up their Asia Pacific sales and marketing operations. Prior to Cliffs, he was with Rio Tinto in a variety of roles including fours years heading up community relations for Rio in the Pilbara, Western Australia. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the Australian National University, a Masters in Agricultural Science from Kyushu University and a Masters of Business Administration with Honors from Chicago University.
Bill has a particular interest in studying the impact resource development has on the host community and in exploring possibilities for creating positive legacies which can endure when resource extraction ceases. In 2008, Bill participated in the Australia 2020 Summit hosted in Canberra by the Australian Government. He was appointed to a Committee established by the Australian Government which reviewed the 1993 Native Title Act. He is a Director of the Michael Leslie Foundation which promotes performing arts in remote communities in Australia. He is also an investor in a construction project working in conjunction with an Aboriginal corporation, that aimes to provide short term accommodation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Bill comments that “resource companies can make a positive contribution to local communities by partnering with social entrepreneurs. Everyone benefits, including the resource company, if the local economy is vibrant and diversified. The challenge is efficiently bringing the social entrepreneur together with potential investors and this why the Avantage Ventures’ model is so exciting."
Cristobal Garcia
Advisor
Cristobal Garcia's background spans from investment banking and management consulting to micro-finance and philanthropy. His career began in his hometown of New York City, where he initiated a not-for-profit economic development group and chartered a community development bank in the Chinatown/Lower East Side area of Manhattan. Cris then went to the Community Development Group within Bankers Trust (BT), where he co-managed a $600m portfolio of loans and private equity investments, as well as $8m in annual corporate contributions via BT Foundation. After Harvard Business School in 1999, Cris worked at Marakon Associates, a strategy consulting firm to Fortune 500 companies. He then moved into capital markets at investment banks such as Citigroup in New York and Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. Cris has also been involved with the Clinton Global Initiative in Hong Kong.